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Setting up FreeNAS
Flexible Storage
Whether you need a network storage solution for your enterprise or small business or a place to store your multimedia library, FreeNAS can help. It provides a powerful array of features that can be adapted to meet almost any storage needs.
Various aspects of FreeNAS [1] have been covered in previous issues of ADMIN magazine, including a look at version 9.1.1 in Issue 17 [2]. However, if you are new to FreeNAS and the general topic of Network-Attached Storage (NAS), this might be a good time to get to know FreeNAS from the ground up.
In this first of two articles about FreeNAS, I will accomplish the initial setup of a FreeNAS box. The next article will dive into integrating with Windows Active Directory, snapshots, replication, and backup. FreeNAS is a behemoth when it comes to features (see the "FreeNAS Features" box for details).
FreeNAS Features
- Runs on commodity 64-bit hardware
- Cross-platform file sharing support for Windows, OS X, Linux, and Unix, with support for CIFS, AFP, NFS, iSCSI, SSH, rsync, and FTP/TFTP protocols
- Virtualization support with XenServer and VMware
- Replication
- Multiple RAID types supported
- ZFS
- Data protection
- Many backup options
- Disk encryption
- Powerful web interface
- Easy and secure updates
- Plugins for third-party software, such as Bacula, BitTorrent Sync, ownCloud, Transmission, and others
- Commercial support from iXsystems
FreeNAS
Early versions of FreeNAS originate from the embedded firewall project m0n0wall, and the software has since undergone a complete
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