Connecting multiple Macs to FreeNAS

[ravenspring]

As I'm very new to FreeNAS I believe that I'm posting to the right forum. I've searched and read some posts but I still haven't found exactly what I need to fix my problem.

I've followed the following instructions and have been very successful at connecting one Mac (let's call Mac01) to my FreeNAS machine. http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Apple_(AFP)_Shares

When I try to replicate these steps to add another user, everything is fine on the FreeNAS side. Then I try to attach a FreeNAS disk to Mac02 while Mac01 is connected and that's where things fall apart. I give the appropriate username and password for Mac02 but the login box on the mac responds like I've put in the wrong username or password, which I know I haven't. I'm also trying to attach a third mac machine and it does the same thing. This makes me believe I have a setting wrong in FreeNAS.

Since I'm new to this I don't know how to troubleshoot this problem or even where to start.

When following those instructions about the Apple Shares, there was one thing I was uncertain about, the primary group id. As of right now I have them all set to nogroup. Does each user need it's own group id? If so, do the names of the groups need to be unique?

Sorry if I'm not using the right terminology or if I've left out a detail I'm not aware of. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[ravenspring]

Also, on the Mac that is working, when I connect the network drive it shows up on the desktop and in the Time Machine window. When I start a backup though there are 2 icons of the network drive. Why is this happening? Is this normal? I've attached a screen pic to show you what I mean.

 

[ravenspring]

Well after working on this problem for 2 days I have figured something out. I'm now able to log into FreeNAS from all machines.
As I was typing up my last post I got to thinking about the double connection. If each machine had 2 connections that made six total connections to the FreeNAS box. I only had the AFP service set to 3 total connections.
Currently Time Machine is running on all systems. I have had success with getting the first TimeMachine backup to work but the following ones fail for some reason.
I still don't know why FreeNAS is making 2 connections. When I hover over each in the Time Machine window this is what shows up
afp://Brian%20T%20Prairie@10.0.1.254/ME_TimeMacine
afp://10.0.1.254/ME_TimeMachine

 

[cyberjock]

Umm... good luck?

But seriously, I don't have a mac(and most of us don't) so you are kind of on your own around here. You might get a response from someone with a clue if you wait a few days.

How are you liking the short days? I'm hating it being that I'm not from Chicago originally myself.

 

[ravenspring]

Thanks for the well wishes.

Technical issues, shorter and colder days are really a great way to start the week. I've lived around Chicago my whole life and still hate the pointlessness of Daylight savings.

So not a whole lot of Mac users out there. Bummer.

Hopefully someone out there can help.

 

[pirateghost]

I have a Mac. I don't use time machine or afp. I stick with protocols that are os agnostic.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

[ravenspring]

I have a Mac. I don't use time machine or afp. I stick with protocols that are os agnostic.

Sent from my Nexus 5

Could you elaborate what you use? Do you know if the other file structures will work with Time Machine?

 

[pirateghost]

I use CIFS for fileshares and accessing across all my devices.
I do not use Time Machine because I have found it to be crap (my personal opinion).
For 'backing up', I use BTSync across my internal network and sync my docs/pics/vids/etc

 

[dlavigne]

If your goal is to do Time Machine, create a dataset for each user, owned by that user. This will save a lot of grief.

 

[ravenspring]

If your goal is to do Time Machine, create a dataset for each user, owned by that user. This will save a lot of grief.

I had finally figured that out after many hours of tinkering with settings. But I still would at least like to understand why FreeNAS is making 2 connections to each computer. No where on the vast internet have I found a solution for that problem, yet.

 

[jgreco]

Time Machine is a fabulous source of alternate constipation and diarrhea that you are always needing to mess with. It doesn't seem to be a FreeNAS problem, I see it on other platforms too... sigh

 

[jgreco]

How are you liking the short days? I'm hating it being that I'm not from Chicago originally myself.

Bad thing about CHI: walking from transit to destinations in the Loop. Bah.

 

[Johhhn]

If your goal is to do Time Machine, create a dataset for each user, owned by that user. This will save a lot of grief.

are you sharing each dataset in Time Machine 'Disk discovery mode'?

 

[ravenspring]

are you sharing each dataset in Time Machine 'Disk discovery mode'?

I don't think so. Could you elaborate?

 

[russnas]

i cant help as i never used time machine, i backup with CCcloner with .dmg to my server via cifs

this user has managed to get it working, i suggest you send him a pm or ask in the thread for assistance, then post your solution here for future reference.

http://forums.freenas.org/threads/multi-macintosh-time-machine-backups.10778/

 

[ravenspring]

i cant help as i never used time machine, i backup with CCcloner with .dmg to my server via cifs

this user has managed to get it working, i suggest you send him a pm or ask in the thread for assistance, then post your solution here for future reference.

http://forums.freenas.org/threads/multi-macintosh-time-machine-backups.10778/

Thanks for the suggestion. I did find that post when I was troubleshooting my problems and it helped out a lot. But I do still have questions. Never thought of contacting those posters directly. Duh. I just messaged them. I will post any new finding here. Thanks again.

 

[Johhhn]

Side note: so far in my testing it seems the AFP share name stops broadcasting and doesn't show up in sidebar, then time machine doesn't work. Also, if I have a volume mounted this way it'll disappear. If share shows up in sidebar, it still won't connect.

However, I can always connect via Go To.


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