Remote Installl

[TaDa]

Hi!

Assuming my pc is set to boot from USB, is it possible to download and install FreeNAS on a USB drive, plug it in, start the machine and do a remote setup without plugging in a screen, mouse or keyboard?

Alternatively, if I plug in a blank USB drive, download FreeNAS and burn it to CD, boot the server with the CD. Could I then do a remote install to the USB drive without the screen etc?

Cheers

 

[Durkatlon]

I'm guessing no on the second option. Installing from the CD requires you to hit some buttons if I remember correctly. The first option is quite possible. If you write the USB stick on an external machine (perhaps a Windows box using phydiskwrite), and then boot the NAS from it, it should come right up.

The only thing is that the IP address will be somewhere in whatever range your DHCP server uses. Unless you can see the addresses the DHCP server has dished out in a log somewhere, you might have to scan the entire range to figure out what the initial address is.

Once you know it you can connect to the Web-GUI using that address and do all other configuration from there.

 

[TaDa]

Nice!

The dynamic IP address will be ok - I can get it from my router.
Do you know whether I would need to do anything special with the USB installation?
(I'd be writing the key using linux)

Thanks

 

[Durkatlon]

There shouldn't be anything specific you need to do on Linux. I assume you're going to use dd to write the stick. The only thing is that the images come compressed and you need xzcat to get the uncompressed image out before sending it to dd. I'm not sure if that is supplied by default in the Linux installation that you use.

Here's the documentation page that describes the process:

http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Installing_from_the_Image

 

[TaDa]

Yes, I'll follow the directions on that link.

Its going to be fun trying without having a screen, keyboard or mouse attached.

Cheers