How to troubleshoot inability of Win pc to see freenas server.

[depasseg]

@pirateghost: Yes, after every change, CIFS services was turned off, the turned on.

@depasseg: Yes, you are remembering perfectly. To recap.
Attempt #1. Using only the wizard, I did create a Freenas box with two volumes.
Attempt #2. The forum posting. This install was created by resetting the Freenas installation to the defaults from the keyboard of the PE840 computer. The configuration this time did not use any wizards. I created the group, the user, the volumes, and the shares manually using a combination of tutorials, forum posts, and the manual.

My task now, is to try to verify that it is not my user/group setting that is preventing Windows workstation from seeing the PE840 Freenas computer. I have deleted the user (cmk) and the group (cmk). I rebooted the PE840 and the workstation. The Freenas is not shown. So to take a step further back, I am going to reset the Freenas to it's original installation configuration. This should eliminate any of the modifications I made to the CIFS, etc. I will then use only the wizard to see if I can get the PE840/Freenas to be seen by the workstation. Should the workstation and the PE840/Freenas still not see each other...well we shall have to think this over.

If I have any sucess, I will report back so that future forum users may stumble across possible help.

Craig

After your reset, before you do anything else, you need to see if you can see the shared folder using \\192.168.1.50 (BTW, the \\ tells Windows that it is a file server). Then figure out the name issue not showing up under network. Usually the user permissions will prevent a folder from showing up, but not the entire server. And as others have mentioned, getting the NetBIOS name to show up is usually a pain, because there are a lot of Windows things needed for that to work properly.

Good luck!

 

[Craig Kawahara]

Gentleman: I am report a successful connection.
Here is what I did...
-deleted the user and the group. Made no difference when trying to connect/map
-put in cd and reinstalled from media.
-set static ip. Cancelled the wizard.
-no users or groups created
-created the two volumes and the CIFS shares.
-from Windows workstation viewed the available connections. Freenas pc not shown.
-from Windows Explorer, said map a connection and entered \\198.162.1.50\freenas1 (freenas1 being the name given to volume FreeNAS01).
-got prompt for user name and password...selected log in with another credential and used user name and password for the Freenas 9.10 installation.
-repeated for second volume.

I guess this is as fair as I go following Ericloewe's advise.

So my last question is how do I determine how Freenas sees the connection to the workstation? I ask because I was told in a prior post that when I ask for a backup of Freenas, it uses the computer that I use the gui from. Being unfamiliar with the Freenas syntax, how is the location entered?

 

[pirateghost]

So my last question is how do I determine how Freenas sees the connection to the workstation? I ask because I was told in a prior post that when I ask for a backup of Freenas, it uses the computer that I use the gui from. Being unfamiliar with the Freenas syntax, how is the location entered?

When you ask for a config backup from FreeNAS, it's the same as downloading any file from any website. You get a download prompt for your local machine.

 

[Craig Kawahara]

Hi pirateghost.
I tried..at computer console, enters option 11 Create backup. Entered 192.168.1.2 (ip of the workstation). Entered cmk (use name of workstation). Password left blank as the workstation has none. Remote directory the e:\backup. Freenas retturns "FATAL: Unable to connect to 192.168.1.2 [errno 60] Operation timed out. So my path must be wrong.

 

[pirateghost]

Hi pirateghost.
I tried..at computer console, enters option 11 Create backup. Entered 192.168.1.2 (ip of the workstation). Entered cmk (use name of workstation). Password left blank as the workstation has none. Remote directory the e:\backup. Freenas retturns "FATAL: Unable to connect to 192.168.1.2 [errno 60] Operation timed out. So my path must be wrong.

OK. That is different than a config backup from the web GUI.

When connecting via smb/CIFS there is no 'drive letter'. It's a share, just like your FreeNAS share is. \\ipaddress\sharename.

But I'm not sure you can use a CIFS/smb share to create a backup from the console. I've never used that feature because I don't need it. I don't know if you understand it either....

 

[danb35]

I was told in a prior post that when I ask for a backup of Freenas, it uses the computer that I use the gui from.

When people speak of a backup of FreeNAS, they're usually thinking of backing up the config database. That's something you do from the web GUI (System -> General -> Save Config), and it downloads just like any other file from your web browser.

The backup from the console is a completely different beast. I could have sworn there was something about it in the manual, but I can't find it at the moment (ah, here it is: http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/freenas_quick.html; a little more information at http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/freenas_system.html#advanced). That backup will include your configuration and (optionally) your data, IIRC. It connects to the destination computer using ssh (so the destination computer you enter must have an ssh server running). I don't recall seeing anyone talking about using this backup, so I'm not sure how much experience there is out there.

 

[Ericloewe]

When people speak of a backup of FreeNAS, they're usually thinking of backing up the config database. That's something you do from the web GUI (System -> General -> Save Config), and it downloads just like any other file from your web browser.

The backup from the console is a completely different beast. I could have sworn there was something about it in the manual, but I can't find it at the moment (ah, here it is: http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/freenas_quick.html; a little more information at http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/freenas_system.html#advanced). That backup will include your configuration and (optionally) your data, IIRC. It connects to the destination computer using ssh (so the destination computer you enter must have an ssh server running). I don't recall seeing anyone talking about using this backup, so I'm not sure how much experience there is out there.

As far as I know, it's simply a brute-force backup that dumps everything into a stream. Its usefulness seems extremely limited.

 

[danb35]

Its usefulness seems extremely limited.

Well, it does give a simple way to back up your server, if you have SSH access to another server with enough storage.