Comprehensive setup guide...

[Hitek]

Howdy yall,
Does anyone have a link to a comprehensive setup guide that walks you through everything?
I installed FreeNAS 9.2.1.1 over the weekend on a USB thumb drive, and I have gone through an old simple guide for 9.1, but something is apparently wrong.
Saturday, I was looking through the plugins, just to see what is available and figuring out which ones I want to use (I know I will be using the Plex plugin). Today, I get home from work, all ready to install some plugins, and now they're not there. Hitting refresh just says loading for a few mins, then just comes back with "No entry has been found". I have rebooted the machine and still nothing. They were there a few days ago, and now they're gone.
I can ping freenas.org from the console on the webGUI, so I don't think it's a network issue.

What's going on and how can I fix it?

Thanks,
Keith

 

[Yatti420]

Welcome

Freenas Documentation (PDF) - http://web.freenas.org/images/resources/freenas9.2.1/freenas9.2.1_guide.pdf

Take a look @ 9.2.1.2 for upgrade.. http://download.freenas.org/9.2.1.2/RELEASE/ReleaseNotes

 

[Yatti420]

You may want to get rid of the plex plugin etc and start clean..

 

[Hitek]

I'll take a look at upgrading, however as I mentioned, there are no plugins. I didn't install any, I just looked at the available list and when I decided to install the plex plugin today, there were none at all listed.
If I start over from scratch, ie. reimage my USB thumb drive, is that going to wipe out everything I already have on the NAS?

 

[Hitek]

Oh wait, I already AM on 9.2.1.2. My bad. I think I originally downloaded a CD image with 9.2.1.1 but when I actually installed, it was with the 9.2.1.2 img file.

 

[gpsguy]

Did you install 32 or 64-bit?

 

[Hitek]

64bit. For reference, my machine is a Mini-ATX celeron 2.16GHz w/4GB ram. I currently have 2x4TB drives (out of 4 bays). I plan on adding 2 more 4TB drives, one data and the last one will be for redundancy.
I know I will probably need more RAM for that, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

 

[Yatti420]

You are running UFS?

 

[Hitek]

no, ZFS.

 

[gpsguy]

If you'd read the official doc's, you'd know that ZFS on FreeNAS requires a minimum of 8Gb RAM.

Try clearing your browser cache. Or, if you're using IE, try Firefox.

 

[Hitek]

As I mentioned above, I know I need more RAM, however, it appears that the motherboard I am using, an MSI IM-GM45, caps out at 4GB. Should I switch to UFS or just get a newer Mobo/RAM? If a new mobo is the best option, any recommendations for a Mini-ITX?

 

[cyberjock]

Should I switch to UFS or just get a newer Mobo/RAM?

The manual answers that question for you, TWICE! That's why we put that comment in there...

If your RAM is limited, consider using UFS until you can afford better hardware.

If you don't have at least 8GB of RAM with ZFS or 2GB of RAM with UFS, you should consider getting more powerful hardware before using FreeNAS® to store your data. Otherwise, data loss may result.

Anything else I can quote from the manual for you today sir?

 

[Hitek]

Well, since you have the documentation right there in front of you, how about pointing me to the chapter that covers being a COMPLETE JACKASS to new users?
While I have looked through the documentation, I haven't read every word, and I think you'll agree that documentation doesn't cover everything. If it did, you wouldn't need HELP forums, where users who are looking for HELP can ask for it.

My question probably could have been worded better, but it was a legitimate question. Here, let me ask it a different way: Would the more knowledgeable users here recommend switching to UFS OR getting new hardware? Your answers did not address that.

And seriously, if you have so much trouble helping users on the help forum that you have to act like a child with a superiority complex, then maybe you should find a better way to spend your time. If any other users/staff would like to offer suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

 

[cyberjock]

My question probably could have been worded better, but it was a legitimate question. Here, let me ask it a different way: Would the more knowledgeable users here recommend switching to UFS OR getting new hardware? Your answers did not address that.

Yes, I did. You see those comments I quoted. I wrote those in the manual! So guess what my answer is going to be?

Hint: Exactly the same as the manual!

And seriously, if you have so much trouble helping users on the help forum that you have to act like a child with a superiority complex, then maybe you should find a better way to spend your time. If any other users/staff would like to offer suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

Don't hold your breath on that one. Most of us experienced users ignore people that can't be bothered to read the manual. I read that sucker cover-to-cover every time I upgrade FreeNAS. If you don't want to be inconvenienced that's fine. Don't expect us to inconvenience ourselves with replying.

Good luck sir! Your future posts are sure to be inspiring and informational!

 

[Hitek]

So EITHER of those 2 options is just as good as the other?!? Neither option is better than the other, even marginally? Do you see the problem with your answer? While technically it quotes from the documentation, it doesn't add a single bit of value to this thread, OR ACTUALLY ANSWER MY QUESTION.

In fact, if you reread my question, it's quite clear that I know I need to switch to UFS OR get new hardware. All you did was come along and tell me that exact same thing. Basically, I asked "Should I do A or B?" and all you said "If you had read the manual you would know you need to do A or B"

 

[gpsguy]

While it'll cost more money, I'd go with new hardware. Rumour is that support for UFS will be dropped in future versions, plus you will need ZFS to support plugins.

That being said, there aren't many choices for a mini-ITX motherboard, that supports ECC RAM. You might want to check out the Asrock mobo listed in this thread - new mini-itx build.

 

[cyberjock]

Well, the choice is up to you. There's a laundry list of pros/cons. I'm not even sure I could think them all up off the top of my head.. but the ones that come to mind are:

1. UFS is dead in the water.. no more FreeNAS releases will support UFS for user data.
2. x86 support is dead in the water.. no more FreeNAS releases will support x86, only x86_64.
3. UFS doesn't work with many jails and plugins.
4. As soon as you go from x86 to x64 you are pretty much going to need more RAM. x64 software uses more RAM with the same compiled code that x86 does.
5. UFS is sometimes is better for iSCSI extents.
6. UFS doesn't have a cache, so there are performance tradeoffs with this(both pros and cons).
7. Many plugins aren't even available in an x86 architecture, forcing you to go x86_64 if you want them.

(there's probably dozens more, but that's a good start on some of the bigger ones)

So you see, I can't give you a clear-cut "this is what you need to do". It's up to you to know about the pros and cons and to decide what is best for you.

I'll tell you that *I* would go to x64 and a beefier system and keep ZFS. #1 and #2 are pretty much indisputable reasons to not keep UFS around unless you have some extremely compelling reason to not go to ZFS. The idea of being forced to stick with an older version in the future should be a red flag for anyone interested in security.

The vagueness in the manual wasn't an accident. It was deliberate because I don't feel that the hardware requirements section is an appropriate area to discuss what you might want to do(or not do). One thing you should get from the manual is that everything is a trade-off with pros and cons. There is no cut-and-dry answer to 99% of the questions people ask. If there were cut-and-dry answers you can be assured that the more experienced posters will tell you that.

For example, even with things as simple as the choice of NIC, Intel is pretty much the undisputed king. Read around here for 5 minutes or look in the manual and you'll see that you should just "Go Intel" if you want a NIC that is going to work and going to perform. If you want a total trainwreck of a NIC, go Realtek. But, we still get a dozen or more people a week that use Realtek despite the fact that about 99% of the time they either don't work, don't work reliably, or don't provide more than about 650Mb of throughput for many users.

So it's really more important that you know what you are after and can weigh the pros/cons than what I tell you that you should do. You might not like the tradeoff I'll be putting on you if I tell you to go one way and not the other.

 

[Hitek]

THAT is exactly what I was looking for. I'm sorry if my question was a bit unclear. Looks like new mobo and RAM at a minimum, probably a new processor if I can't find a mini-ITX that supports ECC and a socket G2 i5 :) I will check out that mini-ITX thread and see what they're doing over there.

Thanks.

 

[Hitek]

Looks like it's going to be the whole shebang. The i5 processor (at least the 480M) doesn't support ECC RAM.

 

[TheSmoker]

Cyberjock: ufs does have write caching. Its called soft updates. ;)