UncleFester's FreeNAS Beginners Guide

danb35

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I've got most of the guide into the wiki now. Still missing are the section on HDD validation, the NTP server configuration (I'm not at all sure this is necessary; FreeNAS ships with pretty sensible defaults), the certificates and CAs, the sharing, the config backup, and parts of the SSH configuration (I've reorganized that, and that reorganization is making it slower going).
 

UncleFester

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Hello @joeschmuck

Thank you for moving the post. Appreciated.

The only thing I'm not a fan of is having links to download the documents.

When @danb35 has the wiki up I will remove the google docs links and the guide will become wiki only (if that's OK with @danb35). I would like this guide to be a resource that people can freely alter and contibute towards and a wiki is the best way to do this. I am very pleased @danb35 suggested it.

Are you taking all the comments others have proposed into account, not saying you have to follow their advice but I agree with most if not all of what I've read, and when will you do another update of the document?

Yes, I do intend to implement the very sage advice generously given to me about the guide. I am just really busy at the moment with another project (not FreeNAS or ferret related) I was suppose to start weeks ago and I must press on with it. But I will update the wiki as soon as I have time.

In the mean time there is nothing stopping others changing, contributing and even replacing some or all sections of the guide with something better. I actively encourage this. In fact @danb35 has already made some much needed changes and is reorganising the document so it works better. My thanks to him for this.
 

joeschmuck

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@UncleFester you should apply for editing privileges for the Wiki page, after all it's your content. Then you will be able to update it as desired. I don't know how a Wiki page works but hopefully there can be a limit on who can edit the page. you wouldn't want just anyone to start messing with it.
 

danb35

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As the wiki currently stands, any registered user (of which there are currently two) can edit things. Changes are tracked, and can be reverted if necessary. I'll restrict that if I see a need, but that's the current status. As of now, Uncle Fester isn't a registered user.
 

joeschmuck

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I myself would only become a registered user if I needed to make any changes so I'll remain off the radar for now.
 

UncleFester

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Hello to you all,

The guide is now wiki only and the google doc links are now removed.

As of now, Uncle Fester isn't a registered user.

Fester has now registered and can edit the wiki :eek: (be afraid FreeNAS people .......... be very afraid) :D.

The wiki looks great and has already been changed to expunge some of Fester's more nonsensical utterances.
Excellent work @danb35 . Thanks.
 

Mirfster

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Check it out, getting some props over here: "FreeNAS documentation wiki is back up"

Perhaps we should start with just a small number of initial targets for transcription (Uncle Fester's guide, perhaps?) and seek to improve the FAQ.

*** Side note: Weird info on this thread:
upload_2016-6-17_9-1-23.png


/Edit NVM on the "Weird info" thingy... It is because I was looking in the "Off Topic" section...
 
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fn369

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Hello to you all,

Here is a basic beginners guide for FreeNAS 9.10 written by a beginner.

It provides all the information you need in one place to create a very basic FreeNAS server.

As Fester acquires more knowledge he will try to add to this guide (time permitting).

The guide is in the form of a wiki. Here is the link.

https://www.familybrown.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=fester:intro

The document is released under a Creative Commons licence. This means anyone can alter, add, update, contribute, replace, etc any or all of the sections in the document for noncommercial purposes, so feel free to do so.

If you would like to become a contributor you will need to register. Details on this can be found on the wiki.

Many thanks to reviewers @Sakuru and @DiViDeR for peer reviewing the document and their very helpful suggestions.

Many thanks also to @danb35 for wikifying and greatly improving the original guide and for suggesting a wiki in the first place.

I must give a special thanks to @cyberjock , @Ericloewe , @jgreco , @joeschmuck , @Glorious1 , @diedrichg , @depasseg , @anodos and @qwertymodo (to name but a few). This guide is mostly based on the knowledge these people were kind enough to place on the FreeNAS Community Forum. In fact without the people mentioned previously there would be no Fester's guide.

The document was not peer reviewed by a FreeNAS expert as I would have wanted so there maybe some errors.

Now I'm off to FreeNAS the crap out of my server. Best of luck to you :D.

Thanks.

Uncle Fester.

(Note to the Admins: If the guide proves useful would you move it to the correct section. Thanks.)
Hi @UncleFester - Just wanted to drop you a note of thanks for taking the time to write the guide, which provided me with useful information and caused lots of laughs. Leather thongs, ferrets and psychopaths - what an exciting life you lead!
 

fn369

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That would be great. I'm happy to host a wiki on my server (and I think I will go ahead on trying to load the content there), but it makes more sense (IMO) to have it somewhere on freenas.org. But weren't the docs previously in a wiki?
And thanks to @danb35 for taking the time to convert the guide into a wiki! :smile:
 

cyberjock

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@UncleFester

Can you do us a favor and move the guide to the forums? We don't recommend guides be linked to elsewhere because they have a tendency to disappear. Even when people promise they'll be up "for a long time" they typically disappear anyway, so we only keep guides around that are actually "on the forums". I've had to delete dozens of guide threads because the link went dead. :/

Thanks.
 

UncleFester

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Hello @cyberjock

My appologies for not replying to you sooner. I don't check my messages as often as I should (very busy at the moment).
I would be happy to oblige you, but unfortunately I don't have the privileges to undertake such a thing.
I am happy for one of the Admins to move the post on my behalf.
However, I would ask you to let @danb35 know what is happening as a courtesy (if you have time). As @Mirfster points out he is hosting the guide as a wiki on his server and has done a lot of work on this.
I would also point out that the guide is being hosted on the official FreeNAS Wiki page (as shown below). Would it be more appropriate to post a link to this in my original post alongside @danb35's link. I can't see the FreeNAS wiki link disappering anytime soon.
It is entirely your decision. If I can be of any further help let me know.

http://wiki.freenas.org/
https://wiki.freenas.org/index.php/Uncle_Fester's_Guide
 

danb35

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1. Excellent documentation for beginners, @UncleFester. Great use of annotated screen captures. (My wife is a technical documentation writer by trade so, by proxy, I am able to recognize greatness.)

2. I absolutely agree with @danb35 that the Wiki guide needs to be broken up into sections as it was in the original.

3. Given the absolute beginner nature of this guide, I'd be inclined to provide an explicit hardware recommendation for the most common beginners use case.

We can argue what that use case is but beginners typically want a home media server where they keep their torrented - er, I mean ripped from legit dics - videos, family photos, computer backups and generic files (aka: porn). Buy these parts and, for sure, the device will work well with FreeNAS is the goal.

The recommended configuration need not be the absolute best or least expensive. It just needs to be a good working example for home use that meets the use case. Experienced builders will always argue about the config but they aren't going to read this beginners guide anyway.

(In the WiKi guide, the parts list is an image which makes it hard to cut-n-paste to look at specific parts; the original was text.)

I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this guide, UncleFester.

Cheers,
Matt
 

UncleFester

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Hello @danb35.

but it badly needs to be broken into several pages.

I couldn't agree more and I am puzzled why your layout was not adopted. Seems much more appropriate and vastly improves the usability of the guide.

Also, it does not seem possible to create a login account for the guide as it exists on the FreeNAS wiki (unless I am missing something here). This means other people will not be able to update, change or replace sections. :(
This is most unfortunate as the whole idea of releasing it under a Creative Commons licence was so that other people could contribute to the guide.
Over time this would serve to keep the guide relevant, error free, improve it's usefulness and would allow people who are eminently more qualified than Fester to contribute.
Not for profit collaboration was my intention.

My understanding is that the FreeNAS wiki page has only just been re-established after a hiatus of many years. It may be the case that creating accounts for contibution purposes will come later. I certainly hope it does.

Thanks.
UncleFester.
 
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UncleFester

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Hello @MatthewSteinhoff,

Thank you for the very kind words and the excellent suggestion.

Given the absolute beginner nature of this guide, I'd be inclined to provide an explicit hardware recommendation for the most common beginners use case.

beginners typically want a home media server where they keep their torrented - er, I mean ripped from legit dics - videos, family photos, computer backups and generic files (aka: porn). Buy these parts and, for sure, the device will work well with FreeNAS is the goal.

This is a brilliant idea. I particularly like the suggestion to produce a parts list for the typical begineers FreeNAS home media server that is known to have no compatibility issues. This would add a lot more value to the guide.
In fact I would go further and suggest a detailed build guide (with photos) and BIOS configuration instructions to accompany the parts list.

Another approach could be to develop the "Specific Hardware Recommendations" section of the guide to include various case studies. The user of the guide could then chose which case study fits their particular circumstances best and follow the recommended parts list along with the associated build guide.

However, I forsee a potential problem.

Hardware recommendations are time contextual. Todays top end Intel processors are tomorrows 486's.
Unless these guides were regularly updated they would quickly become obsolete.

I am not qualified to write such an addendum to the guide, my knowledge of FreeNAS is too limited.
Also at the moment I am involved with another project that will keep me busy for the next 6 months or possibly much longer if all goes well (not FreeNAS related).
But your suggestion got me thinking :D

Thanks.
UncleFester.
 
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