FreeNAS Setup

This article will cover the basic setup of a FreeNAS server, from the point of a finished install, to creating your first "raw backup" (as I call it) SFTP user.

After you have installed FreeNAS, log into the web gui, and do the following:
*many if not all of these changes will require clicking save or somethig similar

  1. Under System->Information, change your hostname
  2. Under Network->Global Config, your hostname/domain should reflect the same
    Under System->General, set your Timezone
    1. Set you gateway and DNS
    2. Under Interfaces, add your current interface (use ifconfig in shell if you do not know the name) and set a static IP
  3. If you didn't mirror the boot drive alread:
    Under System->Advanced, check "Show console message in the footer"
    1. Go to System->Boot->Status
    2. Click freenas-boot, then attach
    3. Select the drive you want to mirror the current OS volume to
  4. Under Email, set:
    1. From to strg03@verticalcomputers.com, or whatever your hostname is @
    2. Use our ex1 server IP of mail.verticalcomputers.com
    3. Port 25
    4. TLS
    5. Check Use SMTP Auth
    6. Use a username and pass that can send/recieve email on our domain
      *I use my email, though we should move away from this and use a general one for several reasons
    7. Under Accounts, change the root user email to servers@verticalcomputers.com
    8. Go back to Email and Test to confirm email is working
      *you may need to add your server under the scop of the Receive Connector "Default Frontend EX1" on the Exchange server (also do on other's like EX2, etc.)
  5. Before we can finish setup, at least one volume needs to be created
    No that we have a volume, go back to System->System dataset pool, and make sure your volume is selected and hit save
    1. Go to Storage->Volumes->Volume Manager
    2. Call this first volume vol0
    3. Create them in whatever config (if you just click the + next to the available disks, FreeNAS will choose the optimal format, though that is not always the desired config)
  6. Go to Updates and click Check Now, and install the updates
    *You should be on a "STABLE" train (vs Nighties). If not, you can switch trains on that page.
  7. Check for updates again after the server installs the first set
  8. Go to Services->SSH and click the setup icon and check "Login as Root with password", then turn SSH on if it wasn't already.
  9. Now, create a new dataset under your main volume (or whichever volume)
    1. Go to Storage and click on vol0 (you'll likely have to click the 2nd vol0)
    2. Click the Create Dataset Icon
    3. Call it "WhateverPersonsBackup" (I'll usually make a top Dataset called DuplicatiBackups, then each companies/persons under that) and create
  10. Create a new user under Accounts->Users
    1. Make Username and Full Name the same
    2. Blank out email
    3. Set Password
    4. Set Home Directory to be location of dataset we just made
  11. Go Back to dataset and Change Permissions
    1. Set Owner to the user we just made



That's the end of a basic FreeNAS setup. The user created can now use SFTP on the server. This works great as an encrypted Duplicati backup destination.

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