FreeNAS for "Mainserver" of small company

[CTL-IT]

Hi all,

I have been tasked with setting up a new server to replace a 10+ year old Apple Mac Server which has been running as the "Mainserver" for a small company I work at. This Mac server performs various server roles, including DHCP, DNS, and most importantly, file serving. We have roughly 50-60 clients, 98% are Windows clients, and employees use the file system on the Mac extensively for storing company data. The file system is the Mac standard (sorry, I'm not very familiar with Apple stuff, especially Apple server stuff). We want to use ACL permissions to stay as compatible with possible with Windows. Now, our Mac Server has both POSIX and ACL permissions, which often cause us weird issues when new files or folders are created on the file system.

Our network engineer is strongly inclined to use FreeBSD, or similar, as the Operating System for out new server, with ZFS file system for installation (root) and for data storage. From what I understand, ZFS natively supports ACL permissions, so that should not be an issue. I have been testing with FreeBSD, but I am having some trouble finding server administration tools that will provide for easy administration of DHCP, DNS, and Samba file sharing. After posting on the FreeBSD forums, one user said I should check out FreeNAS.

My main set of questions all revolves around this idea: Can I make it so FreeNAS is at least as easy to manage as the Mac Server was?

For administering the Mac server, we use TightVNC and use various Mac applications. For example, DHCP was administered using Server Admin, and adding clients was as simple as typing in a computer's MAC address and assigning it an IP address, all with an easy to navigate GUI.

I have installed and have been testing FreeNAS for awhile now. I was able to get it to act as an Active Directory Domain Controller, but I cannot join any computers to the domain because when I try, I get a message saying that the DNS server for the domain could not be reached. Now, I know this is because my network does not have a DNS server on it. Ideally, I would like to get this FreeNAS server also performing as a DNS Server. From what I've researched, this can be done using a jail. I also would like FreeNAS to act as a DHCP server (again, research indicates a jail would work), but I would ideally like some graphical tools to manage both DNS and DHCP.

I've also come across people saying that it is possible to use Microsoft Management Snap-in Console (I call it Computer Management, found by Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management) to manage the active directory components of FreeNAS.

Has anyone done something like this before? Any recommendations on what software / packages I should research into for DHCP and DNS server on FreeNAS? I've come across dnsmasq and BIND so far as possibilities, but both seem to have no graphical tools to manage them.

 

[melloa]

I've come across dnsmasq and BIND so far as possibilities, but both seem to have no graphical tools to manage them.

Also look at pfSense as your router/DNS. Is FreeBSD based and very stable.

Good luck with your researches!

 

[snaptec]

+1 for splitting.
FreeNAS for storage
Pfsense for router / DNS / dhcp etc..


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[Arwen]

Plus, the pfSense device can be much smaller if not used as an actual firewall
or router. Meaning a miniture PC that mets the pfSense requirements will work.
Even something as tiny as a fitlet, which fits onto the palm of your hand.

 

[Elementalism]

98% windows clients, no active directory? This is a no brainer imo. Go get a windows box, get those clients in active directory. How much time do you spend with account related\permissions issues? How do you manage the windows clients?

 

[nightshade00013]

98% windows clients, no active directory? This is a no brainer imo. Go get a windows box, get those clients in active directory. How much time do you spend with account related\permissions issues? How do you manage the windows clients?

Ahh but this is not a windows forum now is it.

Plus FreeNAS can handle Active directory just as well if it's needed the thing there is you want TWO boxes handling Active Directory so if and when one goes down the hole company is not shut down. With that said if things are small and working why throw a semi trained monkey in to mess things up.

I agree with splitting the boxes up, pfSense or OpnSense as a router/DNS server and FreeNAS as a file server. If you go that route before you start looking to build yourself remember that iXsystems does a lot of work of this nature. It may cost a little more but they can custom build and help configure something that will work with zero issues. https://www.ixsystems.com/freenas-certified-servers/

 

[CTL-IT]

98% windows clients, no active directory? This is a no brainer imo. Go get a windows box, get those clients in active directory. How much time do you spend with account related\permissions issues? How do you manage the windows clients?

I agree with your comment here, but this one is not my call, I just have to make it work XD.

 

[gpsguy]

Although this is a FreeNAS forum, I concur with @Elementalism. I know you've said it's not your call. Can you replead your case?

If you/your company/network engineer want to use ZFS on FreeNAS for storage (to replace the Mac), I can understand that. With software RAID, you don't have to worry about being dependent on a specialized RAID hardware controller, should it fail. ZFS offers protection against bitrot, etc.

But, for your Active Directory, DHCP, DNS, Group Policies and possibly WSUS, I'd consider Server 2012R2 Standard (not sure about licensing with 2016). With a Server 2012R2 Standard license you can run two Server 2012R2 VM's on a host server. Make both of them domain controllers. While I wouldn't normally run other features like WSUS on them, given your size, I'd install WSUS on one of them too.

I agree with your comment here, but this one is not my call, I just have to make it work XD.

If your network engineer doesn't think you need a Windows server(s), perhaps he/she can help you with the management piece.

Our network engineer is strongly inclined to use FreeBSD, or similar, as the Operating System for out new server, with ZFS file system for installation (root) and for data storage.

Going back to my opening reply, how do you currently handle Windows patches/updates? If each machine goes out to Microsoft and pull down the patches, setting up a WSUS server, will help you with your internet bandwidth and you'll be able to see at a glance, the status of the updates on each machine.

Perhaps this gives you a selling point for using Windows Server to aid you with managing your Windows environment.

How much time have you invested trying to get this to work, without a Windows server? A Server license and some hardware (you could buy it used, if money is really tight), would pay for itself quickly.

Just my 2 cents ...

 

[CTL-IT]

Although this is a FreeNAS forum, I concur with @Elementalism. I know you've said it's not your call. Can you replead your case?

If you/your company/network engineer want to use ZFS on FreeNAS for storage (to replace the Mac), I can understand that. With software RAID, you don't have to worry about being dependent on a specialized RAID hardware controller, should it fail. ZFS offers protection against bitrot, etc.

But, for your Active Directory, DHCP, DNS, Group Policies and possibly WSUS, I'd consider Server 2012R2 Standard (not sure about licensing with 2016). With a Server 2012R2 Standard license you can run two Server 2012R2 VM's on a host server. Make both of them domain controllers. While I wouldn't normally run other features like WSUS on them, given your size, I'd install WSUS on one of them too.



If your network engineer doesn't think you need a Windows server(s), perhaps he/she can help you with the management piece.



Going back to my opening reply, how do you currently handle Windows patches/updates? If each machine goes out to Microsoft and pull down the patches, setting up a WSUS server, will help you with your internet bandwidth and you'll be able to see at a glance, the status of the updates on each machine.

Perhaps this gives you a selling point for using Windows Server to aid you with managing your Windows environment.

How much time have you invested trying to get this to work, without a Windows server? A Server license and some hardware (you could buy it used, if money is really tight), would pay for itself quickly.

Just my 2 cents ...

I think that I probably will end up repleading the case for Windows Server. Currently, we do not use Active Directory on the network in question. All user accounts are local profiles on each machine which authenticate against the credentials on the MAC server. You are correct in your assessment of updates; each machine gets their own. I have invested a significant amount of time trying to get this all working on FreeBSD (not as much on FreeNAS, but still some there too), but I am also relatively new to setting up servers. I did set up a 2016 Windows Server just for kicks and got it working in like 2-3 hours with no problems, so I do have some insight as to how easy it's "supposed to be". Thank you for the info on WSUS also, that is an interesting point that I will definitely purpose. I have actually got a joinable Active Directory running on FreeBSD, but I ran into some weird issues when trying to administer shares (ie looking at security settings on a share caused error messages and I could not edit these security settings from Computer Management). I'm not sure if this is a FreeBSD/Samba issue, or a ZFS/Samba issue, but I am trying a newer version of Samba soon to see if doing it all over again helps.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

Has anyone done something like this before?

1. We use pfSense for our firewall, DHCP, DNS, VPN, IPSEC and pretty much all network functions. It's reliable, well-documented and feature-rich. It's also free if you put it on your own hardware. If you want to buy a box, it's reasonably priced and comes with fairly good support.

2. FreeNAS is our file server. It hosts our regular files, XenServer VMs, security video, etc.

If you're a Windows shop, have no real experience with Samba, Unix and network services, you're better off buying a Windows server. It'll be more expensive and less capable than what we'd come up here with pfSense and FreeNAS. But, you're using a decade's old Apple Server: you clearly don't need the best. So go with easy and good enough.

Cheers,
Matt