Looking for FreeNAS file content search/indexing solution with web GUI

[Ashok Kumar]

I'm considering building my first FreeNAS system, and I have a specific requirement that I must satisfy. I've searched FreeNAS forums and Google, but I've not been able to confirm whether the FreeNAS platform will meet this requirement adequately.

Specifically, I'm looking for a file content search/indexing solution that meets these requirements:

1. Server-side search crawling/indexing that can target a file share on NAS
2. Web GUI for administrators/users
3. (Optional) User/group based security model (Active Directory integration would be great but is not required)

The search/index feature must be able to examine file contents in addition to file metadata for common file types (e.g. PDF, docx, xlsx, etc.). From what I could tell (and I could be wrong since I'm new to FreeNAS), it doesn't seem like the FreeNAS platform itself or any of its current plugins address my requirements.

On a side note, what I'm looking for definitely exists on these other proprietary NAS platforms:

• QNAP QTS 4.2 QSirch
• Synology DSM 6.0 File Station Search

Without diving into the reasons, I'll just state that I'd like to avoid solutions based on QNAP/Synology if possible, but they're an acceptable fallback option if I can't do what I need with FreeNAS. Also, I'm not interested in building a file search/indexing solution based on Windows OS (although I will need to support Windows clients which will be accessing the NAS).

I would consider a standalone open source server solution if it's compatible with FreeNAS file shares. For example, an open source server which can be hosted within a virtual machine (running CentOS or something similar) might work. I'd assume something like that would have the ability to crawl NAS targets and build/update an index in its own internal open source database.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or recommendations. I'd be excite to join the FreeNAS community if I could somehow figure out a way to satisfy this requirement.

Best regards,

Ashok Kumar

 

[pirateghost]

Your options are:
Build your own web interface that does what you want in a jail.
Or
Use another server (VM) that attaches via NFS to your data and does what you want (including the web GUI you desire)
Or
Use a different product

 

[Stux]

So, as long as what you want exists in the world, you can run it in a VM on your FreeNAS.

 

[anodos]

I haven't bothered to actually check on the status of this recently, but there was a sambaxp 2015 talk about getting samba to properly handle WSP (windows search protocol) queries by translating them into "tracker" queries. If it's included in the stable samba, then this would enable the combination of Linux + Tracker + Samba to provide the ability to handle Apple "spotlight" queries and WSP queries and give you much of what you're asking for.

Of course, some... okay... a lot of assembly required.

Edit:

Here are the presentation slides - https://sambaxp.org/archive_data/Sa...1-Noel_Power-WindowSearchProtocolAndSamba.pdf

Here is the audio - https://sambaxp.org/archive_data/Sa...1-Noel_Power-WindowSearchProtocolAndSamba.mp3

 

[John Doe]

noel is still working on it, chime in the mailing list to show some support...

https://lists.samba.org/archive/samba-technical/2017-January/117990.html

https://forge.univention.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=43485

 

[anodos]

noel is still working on it, chime in the mailing list to show some support...

https://lists.samba.org/archive/samba-technical/2017-January/117990.html

https://forge.univention.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=43485

I think Noel is doing some awesome work, but I'll try to avoid spamming samba-technical. ;)

I'm working on compiling Samba 4.6 on FreeBSD with spotlight support. So far no luck, but I haven't been trying particularly hard. In Linux, it depends on inotify support. I'm not sure if it will work properly with kqueue, but I'm willing to break some jails to see how far I can get this.

Even though linux support for spotlight is there, the process of getting it working under FreeBSD is (I believe) more involved and may not be possible at present. I'd be happy if someone proves me wrong. :)