Fresh install over Freenas 9.3

[BBarker]

Brand new to the world of FreeNas and will be pretty active as I work towards understanding this system. My primary use for this is to replace a WD MyBookLive and use it to store my digital files as well as install Plex and be able to stream to various devices in my household and beyond.

That being said, I was able to build my system and install Freenas 9.3 last night just to find today that my son thought it would be cool to play around with it. He has made more than few changes that aren't what I intended and we can't seem to unravel what was done so what I would like to do is to do a fresh install.

Can I load the CD with the Freenas 9.3 iso on it and rebuild the USB boot drive from scratch and will this format the drives back to the initial setup so I can passcode and then build the system the way I want?

 

[pirateghost]

From the server console, you can factory reset to wipe all configurations.

From the web GUI, you can wipe the disks and remove all datasets, files, and permissions to completely start over. You don't need to boot the CD again

 

[BBarker]

Thank you for the prompt reply! There is a tremendous amount of information about this software and it's uses and I am not embarrassed to admit that a lot of it goes over my head......for now. I'll get it figured out eventually.

Once again....thank you for your help.

 

[katit]

From the server console, you can factory reset to wipe all configurations.

From the web GUI, you can wipe the disks and remove all datasets, files, and permissions to completely start over. You don't need to boot the CD again

Thanks, that accomplished what I needed. But anyway, I wonder why? I reinstalled ISO, did fresh install with all the "warnings" on a same drive and voila! I got all my settings, etc preserved. So, it didn't wipe the drive as it promised during install. Why?

 

[SweetAndLow]

Because that is safe. You wouldn't want all your data getting deleted if you reinstall would you? To delete the data you need to destroy the pool from the storage tab and check the 'wipe' box.

 

[diedrichg]

This is one of the nice features of FreeNAS (although I understand several other NAS OSs operate like this). Anyways, if your USB drive dies it's not a big deal because you 1. Set up backups of your config file to load on reinstall and 2. Your data is in a walled garden from FreeNAS since it lives on hard drives. FreeNAS mostly is a medium to access your data. You could in practice take those drives out and put them into a completely new computer with new parts and you will still gain access to your pool after importing it.

 

[BBarker]

I got Freenas installed and plex media up and running this morning. Had to watch and read through a couple of install walk-thrus to find the few that had the best information. Ultimately, I found this video to be the most help even though it references Freenas 9.2.1. I was able to figure out the few minor changes, like ZFS being standard now, and get the install to work as described.

On a side note, I did have to deactivate the ACPI feature on my motherboard to get the iso disc to run and load the OS onto my USB.

 

[diedrichg]

What model is your motherboard?

 

[BBarker]

What model is your motherboard?

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X-ITX Mini-ITX

I put it in my sig as I understand it's important to have the equipment being used when asking for assitance.

 

[diedrichg]

Most forum users use the Tapatalk app which unfortunately does not show signatures - even in their profiles.

I started out on almost the same board as you and quickly found out after a few months of getting random reboots and some data corruption that I needed proper server hardware since I was trying to protect our irreplaceable files and media. I know money doesn't grow on trees but building with recommended parts will be worth it. Check out all the sickies in the Help section for understanding ZFS pools and hardware recommendations. Keep in mind that if you purchase through one vendor such as Newegg or Amazon that you can do 6 or 12 month 0% financing which may be manageable over time and can get you on the ground running.

 

[BBarker]

Most forum users use the Tapatalk app which unfortunately does not show signatures - even in their profiles.

I started out on almost the same board as you and quickly found out after a few months of getting random reboots and some data corruption that I needed proper server hardware since I was trying to protect our irreplaceable files and media. I know money doesn't grow on trees but building with recommended parts will be worth it. Check out all the sickies in the Help section for understanding ZFS pools and hardware recommendations. Keep in mind that if you purchase through one vendor such as Newegg or Amazon that you can do 6 or 12 month 0% financing which may be manageable over time and can get you on the ground running.

My WD mybooklive has crashed twice since I bought it two years ago but every pc I have built will run problem free for days and days. I turned off all the auto overclocking features on the mainboard, have it in my closet where its nice and cool, hooked up to a UPS, so I will run with it for now. Obviously if I run into issues where it won't stay up or has data corruption problems, I will reevaluate it as well as Freenas and make changes.

 

[katit]

Because that is safe. You wouldn't want all your data getting deleted if you reinstall would you? To delete the data you need to destroy the pool from the storage tab and check the 'wipe' box.

This is not what I meant. I'm not talking storage drives. I'm saying that after fresh reinstall I still have ALL my settings like network, domain, etc. I did try to go to console and reset it and it went with bunch of errors and hanged completely..

 

[rogerh]

This is not what I meant. I'm not talking storage drives. I'm saying that after fresh reinstall I still have ALL my settings like network, domain, etc. I did try to go to console and reset it and it went with bunch of errors and hanged completely..

If that happened, then something went wrong with the install process. There may be a copy of your config database saved on the pool, but it will not, AIUI, be accessed without deliberate action on your part (and probably a reboot).

Perhaps the installation program did an update instead, or failed to write to your boot device at all; but a fresh install would have been just that. Try a new USB stick if you have one, or wipe the original one in another machine first.

Why the factory reset process didn't work is a different question, but you certainly should not have had to use it after a new install.