Best way to sort files (move, copy) on NAS via GUI?

[emk2203]

I have several zfs filesystems in my pool and want to organize the contents.

This implies moving or copying huge files from one filesystem to another. I would like to do this administrative work from a Windows laptop via WLAN, but the files can be several GB in size, and via WLAN, it takes hours. Add a flaky WLAN because of congestion, and it's impossible.

SSH is also not an option: Files or directories have names like

Code:

[얼티메이트] [130306] 猫物語(黒) 劇伴音楽集 & OPテーマ -「perfect slumbers」／羽川翼(CV.堀江由衣) (320K+BK)

- in case you don't notice, there are 4 to 5 different language scripts involved, often several within one filename. I'd love to hear from someone who is able to do this via SSH. I don't even get the Unicode characters over SSH.

I am waiting for SSCO (server side copy offload) coming with Samba 4.1, but I am not holding my breath.

So, any GUI options?

 

[joeschmuck]

No GUI options. So Putty SSH doesn't work?

 

[Dusan]

SSH is also not an option: Files or directories have names like

Code:

[얼티메이트] [130306] 猫物語(黒) 劇伴音楽集 & OPテーマ -「perfect slumbers」／羽川翼(CV.堀江由衣) (320K+BK)

- in case you don't notice, there are 4 to 5 different language scripts involved, often several within one filename. I'd love to hear from someone who is able to do this via SSH. I don't even get the Unicode characters over SSH.

1. Create a new user via GUI and give him a home directory.
2. Login as this user and create file .login_conf in his home directory with this content:
   [panel]me:\
   :charset=UTF-8:\
   :lang=en_GB.UTF-8:[/panel]
3. Exit and login again via SSH (Putty) for the settings to take effect.
4. Ta-da! (you may need to also set Window->Translation->Remote Character Set to UTF-8 in Putty, but I think it's the default):

 

[joeschmuck]

I bow at your feet!

 

[Dusan]

Ah, it's not that hard. A non english speaker has to figure this out sooner or later. A quick search of the FreeBSD documentation reveals the answer (http://www.sk.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/using-localization.html).

 

[emk2203]

1. Create a new user via GUI and give him a home directory.
2. Login as this user and create file .login_conf in his home directory with this content:
   [panel]me:\
   :charset=UTF-8:\
   :lang=en_GB.UTF-8:[/panel]
3. Exit and login again via SSH (Putty) for the settings to take effect.
4. Ta-da! (you may need to also set Window->Translation->Remote Character Set to UTF-8 in Putty, but I think it's the default)

Nice! That takes care of the options to view.

But: It doesn't help at all entering the filenames. Keep in mind: I have at maximum a Japanese keyboard installed, but no Thai, no Korean, no Chinese input options. Even if I would have them, I wouldn't know how to operate them.

This is the reason why I didn't look to deep into setting up the UTF-8 via SSH correctly - I still can't work with the files. Imagine a couple hundred of similar names, I don't think it's feasible to work with them via tab expansion, clever copying and the like.

Or am I missing something here? How would you work with them - copying or moving them, not with a wildcard, but selected ones based on what you want to do with them (no set rules)?

 

[Dusan]

Or am I missing something here? How would you work with them - copying or moving them, not with a wildcard, but selected ones based on what you want to do with them (no set rules)?

"pkg install mc" in a jail installs Midnight Commander -- a file manager instantly usable by anyone who ever used Norton Commander :):

Does this help?

 

[emk2203]

I can try MC, but isn't a jail specifically made so that programs running in it can't break out and access the other datasets? I haven't tried, but that thought kept me from trying. For Transmission and BTSync, I had to link all needed datasets manually.

Looking at your example, you seem to roam your datasets unrestricted, or did you simply link the MC jail to / on your pool?

 

[Dusan]

Looking at your example, you seem to roam your datasets unrestricted, or did you simply link the MC jail to / on your pool?

The screenshot is just an example from a VM. You need to map ("Add storage") your pool into the "mc" jail to manipulate the files.

 

[N00b]

I bow at your feet!

+1
@dusan love your precise and apt answers!

 

[emk2203]

Just as a followup to myself and others, this is really an excellent workflow - many thanks to Dusan! I am working with it now for over a year and couldn't be happier.

If you have a jail, install tmux and mc via pkg to it and run

Code:

sudo jexec 1 tmux

when you need to do maintenance of your stored files on the NAS.

Then start mc via

Code:

mc -x

in your tmux session. You can copy via ftp to other computers at leisure, the mouse works if you need it, and you can detach the running session and quit your remote access while the NAS copies or backups for hours according to what you need to do.

The next time, you simply reattach your old session after you enter the jail command.