Flexible Storage

Setting a Static IP

By default, FreeNAS will boot up and get a DHCP address that it will list on its console setup menu. In this case, you will set it to a static address by choosing option 1, Configure Network Interfaces . Then, follow the steps shown in Listing 1.

Enter an option from 1-11: 1
1) em0
Select an interface (q to quit): 1
Delete existing config? (y/n) n
Configure interface for DHCP? (y/n) n
Configure IPv4? (y/n) y
Interface name: (press enter as can be blank)
Several input formats are supported
Example 1 CIDR Notation: 192.168.1.1/24
Example 2 IP and Netmask separate:
IP: 192.168.1.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0, or /24 or 24
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.120/24
Saving interface configuration: Ok
Configure IPv6? (y/n) n
Restarting network: ok
You may try the following URLs to access the web user interface:
http://192.168.1.120

Next, fire up the browser of your choice (in my case, Firefox) and go to http://<ip-of-freenas >. Behold FreeNAS in all its glory (Figure 3).

Figure 3: FreeNAS system information.

FreeNAS is built on FreeBSD Unix, so the default username is root . This is configurable in the Account | Users section of the web interface. Thankfully, FreeNAS comes with some sane security defaults, such as disabled SSH and no root SSH login, to leave you in a more secure place from the start.

After you have logged in to FreeNAS for the first time, you will see the setup wizard. However, I am going to close this and come back to it. First things first: You need to update.

Checking for Updates

Once you have a base configuration, you should check for updates. Do this by going to System | Update . Then click Check Now (Figure 4). If an update exists, apply it. Patches should always be done proactively.

Figure 4: Checking for system updates.

Now that you have updated and set your static IP, you can start configuring. To do so, you will use the FreeNAS setup wizard.

FreeNAS Setup Wizard

I'm a big fan of wizards. That sentence alone probably makes me seem far too geeky; however, the FreeNAS setup wizard takes you through the setup process with unparalleled ease. To access it, simply click on the wizard icon in the FreeNAS web GUI. From there, you can select your language and time zone.