FreeNAS - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

FreeNAS is a free network-attached storage

Network-attached storage

Network-attached storage is file-level computer data storage connected to a computer network providing data access to heterogeneous clients. NAS not only operates as a file server, but is specialized for this task either by its hardware, software, or configuration of those elements...

server, supporting: CIFS (Samba

Samba (software)

Samba is a free software re-implementation, originally developed by Andrew Tridgell, of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol. As of version 3, Samba provides file and print services for various Microsoft Windows clients and can integrate with a Windows Server domain, either as a Primary Domain...

), FTP

File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...

, NFS, rsync

Rsync

rsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...

, AFP

Apple Filing Protocol

The Apple Filing Protocol is a network protocol that offers file services for Mac OS X and original Mac OS. In Mac OS X, AFP is one of several file services supported including Server Message Block , Network File System , File Transfer Protocol , and WebDAV...

protocols, iSCSI, S.M.A.R.T.

Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology

S.M.A.R.T. is a monitoring system for computer hard disk drives to detect and report on various indicators of reliability, in the hope of anticipating failures....

, local user authentication, and software RAID

RAID

RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...

(0,1,5), with a web-based configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 64 MB once installed on CompactFlash

CompactFlash

CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...

, hard drive or USB

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

flash drive

USB flash drive

A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...

. FreeNAS is currently distributed as an ISO image

ISO image

An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...

and in source

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

form. Through version 7.x, it was possible to run FreeNAS from a Live CD

Live CD

A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...

, with the configuration files stored on an MS-DOS-formatted floppy disk or USB thumb drive. There is also a VMware

VMware

VMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....

disk image available (Last updated in 2006). With the release of 8.x, Live CD isn't currently supported. FreeNas 8.x needs to be installed on a Compact Flash, USB, or dedicated hard drive. Using the dedicated hard drive will use that drive just for the operating system, and files cannot be stored on it.

The minimal FreeBSD

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...

7.2 distribution, web interface, PHP

PHP

PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

scripts, and documentation are based on m0n0wall

M0n0wall

m0n0wall is an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CDROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs...

. FreeNAS is released under the BSD license

BSD licenses

BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses. The original license was used for the Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix-like operating system after which it is named....

. It was reported December 2009 that FreeBSD

FreeBSD

based development would be halted and put into 'maintenance-only mode' with Debian Linux as the new development target OS

OS may refer to:* O.S. Old Stonyhurst, an old boy of the ancient Jesuit public school, Stonyhurst College* O.S. Engines, a Japanese manufacturer of model aircraft engines* Ocean Science, an Oceanographic Journal published by the European Geosciences Union....

.
This decision was reverted shortly afterwards, when iXsystems offered to sponsor the further development of FreeNAS.

Features

Protocols: CIFS
Server Message Block
In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...

(via Samba
Samba (software)
Samba is a free software re-implementation, originally developed by Andrew Tridgell, of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol. As of version 3, Samba provides file and print services for various Microsoft Windows clients and can integrate with a Windows Server domain, either as a Primary Domain...

), TFTP
Trivial File Transfer Protocol
Trivial File Transfer Protocol is a file transfer protocol known for its simplicity. It is generally used forautomated transfer of configuration or boot files between machines in a local environment....

, FTP, NFS, SSH
Secure Shell
Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...

, rsync
Rsync
rsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...

, AFP
Apple Filing Protocol
The Apple Filing Protocol is a network protocol that offers file services for Mac OS X and original Mac OS. In Mac OS X, AFP is one of several file services supported including Server Message Block , Network File System , File Transfer Protocol , and WebDAV...

, UPnP, BitTorrent (protocol) and iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

.
Extensions (plug-ins) for: SlimServer
SlimServer
Logitech Media Server is a streaming audio server supported by Logitech , developed in particular to support their Squeezebox range of digital audio receivers....

, Xbox Media Stream Protocol.
rsync
Rsync
rsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...

server, client and local sync.
Unison
Unison (file synchronizer)
Unison is a file synchronization program. It is used for synchronizing files between two directories, either on one computer, or between a computer and another storage device Unison is a file synchronization program. It is used for synchronizing files between two directories, either on one...

support.
iSCSI targets feature to create virtual disks.
iSCSI initiator.
Dynamic DNS client for: DynDNS
DynDNS
Dyn is an infrastructure as a service company that provides Internet DNS and email delivery services for commercial and private users. It originally provided a free dynamic DNS service, which allowed users to have a subdomain that points to a computer with regularly changing IP addresses, such as...

, ZoneEdit, No-Ip
No-IP
Vitalwerks LLC is the parent company of No-IP which is a Dynamic DNS provider for paid and free services. No-IP offers DNS services, email, network monitoring and SSL certificates...

, and freedns.afraid.org.
File systems: ZFS
ZFS
In computing, ZFS is a combined file system and logical volume manager designed by Sun Microsystems. The features of ZFS include data integrity verification against data corruption modes , support for high storage capacities, integration of the concepts of filesystem and volume management,...

, UFS
Unix File System
The Unix file system is a file system used by many Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It is also called the Berkeley Fast File System, the BSD Fast File System or FFS...

and ext2
Ext2
The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system ....

/ext3
Ext3
The ext3 or third extended filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian...

are fully supported, NTFS
NTFS
NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7....

read/write and FAT32
File Allocation Table
File Allocation Table is a computer file system architecture now widely used on many computer systems and most memory cards, such as those used with digital cameras. FAT file systems are commonly found on floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital cameras, and many other portable devices because of...

read/write supported.
Hard drive: P-ATA/S-ATA
Serial ATA
Serial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...

, SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...

, iSCSI
ISCSI
In computing, iSCSI , is an abbreviation of Internet Small Computer System Interface, an Internet Protocol -based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage...

, USB
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

and FireWire.
GPT
GUID Partition Table
In computer hardware, GUID Partition Table is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. Although it forms a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface standard , it is also used on some BIOS systems because of the limitations of MBR partition tables, which restrict...

/EFI
Extensible Firmware Interface
The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware...

partitioning for hard drives larger than 2 Terabytes.
Network cards: All wired and wireless cards supported by FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...

7.2.
Boot from HDD, USB key, CompactFlash, CD-ROM + floppy disk, or USB flash.
Hardware RAID
RAID
RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...

cards: All those supported by FreeBSD 7.2.
Software RAID levels: 0, 1, 5, JBOD, 5+0, 5+1, 0+1, 1+0, etc. (using GEOM
GEOM
GEOM is the main storage framework for the FreeBSD operating system. It is available in FreeBSD 5.0 and higher and provides a standardized way to access storage layers. GEOM is modular and allows for geom modules to connect to the framework. For example, the geom_mirror module will provide RAID1 or...

and g raid5
Geom raid5
geom_raid5 is a storage module created for the FreeBSD operating system. It facilitates RAID5 functionality without the need of a hardware RAID controller....

). Also RAID-Z and RAID-Z2 (as part of ZFS
ZFS
In computing, ZFS is a combined file system and logical volume manager designed by Sun Microsystems. The features of ZFS include data integrity verification against data corruption modes , support for high storage capacities, integration of the concepts of filesystem and volume management,...

).
4KB sector formatting support for hard drives using advanced formats
Advanced Format
Advanced Format is a generic term pertaining to any sector format used to store data on the magnetic disks in hard disk drives that exceeds 512 to 520 bytes per sector. Advanced Format is also considered a milestone technology in the history of hard-drive storage, where data has been processed in...

such as Western Digital WD10EARS, WD15EARS, WD20EARS, and WD30EZRS.
Disk encryption with geli
Geli (software)
geli is a block device-layer disk encryption system written for FreeBSD, introduced in version 6.0. It utilises the GEOM disk framework. It was designed and implemented by Pawel Jakub Dawidek.- Design details :...

.
Management of groups and users (Local User authentication or Microsoft Domains
Windows Server domain
A Windows domain is a collection of security principals that share a central directory database. This central database contains the user accounts and security information for...

).
S.M.A.R.T.
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology
S.M.A.R.T. is a monitoring system for computer hard disk drives to detect and report on various indicators of reliability, in the hope of anticipating failures....

support.
Remote syslogd forwarding.
SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol
Simple Network Management Protocol is an "Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and more." It is used mostly in network management systems to monitor...

monitoring (Netgraph and MibII).
Email log and reporting notification.
VLAN support
Link aggregation
Link aggregation
Link aggregation or trunking or link bundling or Ethernet/network/NIC bonding or NIC teaming are computer networking umbrella terms to describe various methods of combining multiple network connections in parallel to increase throughput beyond what a single connection could sustain, and to provide...

and link failover interface
UPS (Uninterruptible power supply)
Uninterruptible power supply
An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails...

support
Apple Time Machine support

Awards

VMware - "Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge, Consumer"
sourceforge.net - Project of the Month January 2007
InfoWorld - Best of open source in storage

External links

FreeNAS Homepage
Step by step installation guide for FreeNAS
Learn FreeNAS
Radio World - Aug 11, 2009 - FreeNAS: A Simple Data Storage Solution
Washington Post/PC World - Aug 27, 2008 Network-Attached Storage on the Cheap
Videotutorial with German Translator Falk at sysops.tv - Nov 5, 2010 079 – FreeNAS entfesselt

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Features

Awards

See also

External links