WebGUI Adapter instead of WebGUI IP Address..?

[Mirfster]

Okay, so a small thing but I figured "why not ask"?

*Speaking on version 9.10...

In the GUI under [System] - [General]; I can specify the actual IP Address in order to ensure a particular NIC is used to access the Web GUI. But wouldn't it make more sense to be able to specify the NIC instead?

Current setup with it set to 10.20.10.14:

Consider the situation where the NIC set to DHCP and assigned an IP address by MAC Reservation. If the reserved IP address is changed and FreeNas then gets the new IP it throws an alert like this:

Then it basically reverts to permitting access to Any IP for Any NIC installed (0.0.0.0):

I believe that if it was normal DHCP (without a reservation) and it obtained a new address (say leases went all belly up on the DHCP Server...) it would also do the same thing. Have not tested this though.

While in my scenario, the other two NICs are isolated and not of concern it may pose an issue for others who want to regulate/control this.

* Also, by being able to specify the NIC instead of an IP; the extra "WebGUI IPv6 Address:" wouldn't be needed.

 

[cyberjock]

This is not really any different than having your NICs change. Few comments about this idea:

1. If your IPs are randomly changing while the server is on, you've created far, far more problems and you deserve the ass-beating your network is gonna give you. Recommended practices dictate that you set a static IP for all servers just because of this. ;)
2. If you decide to bind to the NIC, and say you bind to em0 when you have em0, em1, and em2, if em0 were to go away or the order switched, then you'd suddenly lose access to your WebGUI.

The TrueNAS HA system is coded in such a way that you'd have so many problems keeping things like HA running when the FreeBSD carp code depends on IPs and not interfaces.

The harsh reality is that you shouldn't ever be doing DHCP for server functions because of situations just like this. You should be setting a static IP on the server, along with either a DHCP reservation to make sure you are aware of the IP being used, and a DNS entry (if appropriate).

 

[Mirfster]

I choose to ignore your harsh reality and substitute it with my own; which is full of daisies, unicorns and such. :P

BTW, I do use reservations and DNS entries. Just don't want to have to go back to the box and change the configured static IP as well. ;)

 

[cyberjock]

I'm using DHCP at my home as well. Everything is set to DHCP at my house, and everything except cell phones, TVs, etc are reserved IP addresses. I don't do that for any reason except to test DHCP functionality in FreeNAS/TrueNAS because it's actually a "lesser used" portion of the code because TrueNAS recommends statically set IPs, and I like to operate in those "edge case" scenarios so that, hopefully, I'll find the bug before it goes into a production environment. That being said, if money and business needs were being served by the server, I'd be having everything set statically without question. DHCP can go badly, even if you do everything right. :P