The first thing that you will need to know in order to run FreeNAS is the type of system you need. This is what I love about FreeNAS because it needs practically nothing to work. You need a little bit more hardware for the installation but after that, you are back to bare bones. Many of you may, in fact, even have enough equipment sitting in your back closet to build a FreeNAS server without even needing to buy anything!
System Requirements
To run FreeNAS, you will need, at a minimum, the following:
- Motherboard with x86 processor
- 128 MB RAM
- 32 MB free disk space
- Network card
- BIOS that supports bootable CD-ROMs
- Another workstation with a modern web browser and access to the network FreeNAS is on
For the initial installation, you will need to have access to the above system requirements plus the following:
- Monitor (for text mode console)
- Keyboard
- CD-ROM drive
- Another workstation with Internet access, CD burner, and CD burner software that can burn an ISO
Skill Requirements
The skills needed to perform a basic setup of FreeNAS might require a bit of background understanding in some different fields but a good setup tutorial (I’m working on those as you read this) will walk you through those hurdles. But, here are some skills that will make it easier for you to set up FreeNAS:
- TCP/IP
- Basic FreeBSD hardware naming conventions
- Basic computer hardware installation
To properly run and configure FreeNAS will also require a few other skills. Having the following skills will help you in the long run:
- Windows shares and samba (CIFS)
- Disk partitioning and file systems
- FTP
- rsync
- Active Directory
- DNS
- NFS
- Software RAID
Don’t let the configuring skillset scare you away from FreeNAS . Again, some good FreeNAS tutorials should be able to walk you through these hurdles.
If you are comfortable with many of these general concepts (you definitely do not need to be a master of all these areas), you will be in good shape to setup and configure FreeNAS. If you spend some time reading and getting familiar with their concepts, you will be ready to go.
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November 30th, 1999 at 12:00 am
Daily Cup of Tech » FreeNAS System and Skill Requirements
November 30th, 1999 at 12:00 am
had a FreeNAS week. If you’re not altogether comfortable getting FreeNAS up and running, why not have a look at FreeNAS Week series of howtos? Have you seen the “FreeNAS, how it works” video? FreeNAS Week - day 1: System and Skill Requirements FreeNAS Week - day 2: Installation HowTo FreeNAS Week - day 3: Basic Configuration FreeNAS Week - day 4: Configuring Disks FreeNAS Week - day 5: Windows Shares FreeNAS Week - day 6: Setting Up FTP Access in FreeNAS
November 20th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
I have been using FreeNAS for about a year now it works great. Instead of wasting a hard drive or space on the hard drive to install the OS, I have been using a 64mb Compact Flash card to install FreeNAS on it.
So, my current setup is an 133mhz system with a PCI IDE card to handle a 300gb hard drive for storage. The CompactFlash to IDE Adapter shows in BIOS just like a regular hard drive, just 64mb. To top it all off, the adapter is $4 and I found the Compact Flash Cards on Froogle for $6 plus shipping.
I can’t say enough about this software, it is the greatest!
November 20th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
I’m willing to bet that we are going to see a lot of comments like this!
Tim
March 28th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Creating a Basic TrueCrypt Volume on a USB Drive Creating Windows Shares on FreeNAS DCoT Discounts DCoT Webmaster Tools Disable IE7 Installation Via Windows Update Folder Recursion in AutoIt FreeNAS Basic Configuration FreeNAS System and Skill Requirements Have Your Lost USB Drive Ask For Help How To Be A Better Blogger HowTo Backup Your Website Files HowTo Install FreeNAS Infrastructure Automation Primer InstaCalc Contest Installing AutoIt Installing TrueCrypt
June 13th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I’ve been looking for a while on how to create a NAS on an old box for small office file storage. Tried it with Xubuntu and it worked, but it was just too bloated for this purpose.
Tried FreeNAS yesterday and it worked like a charm, even for a newbie like me. I love the fact it’s so “light”, yet so powerful.
But, I know nothing about FreeBSD and the UFS file system FreeNAS uses. What if my motherboard fries? How am I going to access the data?
To test it, I removed the FreeNAS UFS formatted disk with data on it and placed it in a Linux box, using gparted to read the disk partitions. Although, it can detect the disk and partition size, it says this the file system is not valid.
At this stage, I feel uneasy about using UFS, since it can’t be read straight in Linux (in case of an emergency). I read about building the the UFS kernel module in Linux, but this is too complicated for me.
Any suggestions as to how to setup FreeNAS with a more compatible (yet stable) file system, such as Ext3?
Nic
July 27th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Take a look at UFS Tools:
Windows:
http://ufs2tools.sourceforge.net/
Linux:
http://ufs-linux.sourceforge.net/
August 17th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I just set up FreeNAS as a front end to my music server using Debian 4 and MPD. It rocks!!! I have the system hooked up to three sets of speakers in my house. It’s nice to sit on my deck with a wireless laptop to select music to play.
September 8th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Thanks for the tutorials but after a few months of use Ive came to the conclusion that I need more features (web server, print server, etc.)
So now I have one concern..
I currently have 2 500gb ufs hd’s set up as a raid 1. I am switching to ubuntu and have to format the hds to ext2/3. Can I remove the mirror raid, format one to ext2/3, then transer all data over from ufs to the ext2/3 without data loss or corruption?
Thanks for your help
February 21st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Hi,
Any ideea on how to configure a second NIC and make it connect to a pppoe server? This also would be the main internet connection.
April 27th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I am having a terrible time getting freenas to work, it wont recognise any of my hard drives, all it says it I have 78mb of space on the drive, (there are 6 1TB drives hooked to it)
where am i going wrong
June 11th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Andrew, there is a careful sequence of steps to getting drives set up.. “disks/management” then “format’ then “mount point”. The other thing to check is that the pc and cables are set correctly (master/slave jumpers) - can you see the drives in BIOS?
November 5th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Andrew,
You need to think about it the same way you would elsewhere… YaST, Windows server, whatever. The disks need to be recognized, configured individually for software RAID, put in the array, formatted, and assigned a drive letter.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:35 am
[…] Posted on November 16, 2009. Filed under: NAS | Tags: FreeNAS | http://www.dailycupoftech.com/freenas-system-and-skill-requirements/ […]
February 9th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I am planning on implementing one of these systems using old parts I have laying around. Question I have is about the raid. I would like to add several hard drives, but can only use 4 on the 2 ide channels. How can I increase this? Do I have to purchase a sata raid card? Will freenas be able to utilize this? Do the hard drives have to be the same capacity or can they be different? Can the hard drives on the ide channels be striped with the separate sata drives in this situation to create one? Thanks for any help.
Ron