FreeNAS

FreeNAS is an open source BSD operating system based on the FreeBSD distribution and designed to provide users with NAS (Network-Attached Storage) services. It is distributed as installable-only minimalistic CD ISO images and deployable on both 64-bit and 32-bit architectures. It support CIFS (Common Internet File System), FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and NFS (Network File System) protocols, fully configurable via a web-based interface.

There's no graphical desktop environment

Being a minimal FreeBSD distribution, FreeNAS doesn't feature a live desktop environment. Therefore, it can only be used by system administrators who want to deploy stable and reliable Network-Attached Storage (NAS) services. FreeNAS uses the powerful ZFS filesystem for new installations. The entire installation will take only a minute. After that, you can reboot the machine and use the operating system, which will automatically configure your hardware components during the boot process.

Distributed as a hybrid CD-sized ISO image

The CD image can be written to a blank CD disc or on a USB stick. It will provide users with the ability to boot into multi user or single user modes, use the command-line programs that are available on the disc, and configure various boot options. If you choose one of the first two options, you’ll be greeted by a text-mode console setup wizard that allows users to install the operating system, upgrade an existing FreeNAS installation, use a shell prompt, as well as to reboot or shutdown the machine.

It can be configured using a web-based interface

After the operating system starts, users will be able to configure the network interfaces, link aggregation, VLAN interface, default route, static routes, and DNS, reset the login credentials of the web interface, reset the system to factory default, drop to a shell prompt, as well as to shutdown or reboot the computer. From here, your FreeNAS server’s web-based interface can be easily accessed via any modern web browser, using the URL provided after the boot process.

What is new in this release:

• A new underlying OS based on FreeBSD 10.2
• A completely new pluggable and extensible "middleware" server that mediates all access to FreeNAS and allows concurrent multi-user (and soon multi-role) access to the system.
• A structured Command Line Interpreter with tab-completion, inline help, and high-level access to all FreeNAS functions and event information (See "cli" command)
• Two different GUI front-ends to the new middleware: The "old-style" UI which should be familiar to anyone who has used FreeNAS 9.x, and a completely new UI based on modern web technologies and featuring far more interactive access to FreeNAS features (the new UI sub-project is more fully described here: http://freenas.github.io/gui/)
• While not present in this ALPHA release, the Jail/Plugin interfaces have been completely replaced with a new combined Application Container and VM management system (utilizing the new bhyve VM hosting mechanism in FreeBSD 10). The UI for this will be surfaced in the BETA release.
• A number of new file sharing methods, complementing the traditional NFS / SMB / iSCSI file sharing methods always offered by FreeNAS:
• IPFS - The Inter-Planetary Filesystem (https://ipfs.io ) - offering a global namespace and torrent-style file distribution method for content you choose to share with others (or vice-versa).
• Riak CS (http://docs.basho.com/riakcs/latest/) - a distributed (clustering) database offering an Amazon S3-compatible Cloud storage API.
• Swift and Gluster are NOT YET SUPPORTED in the ALPHA (but are coming)
• Cumulatively speaking, the new file sharing methods allow FreeNAS to scale well beyond the role of "local file server" and into the realm of clustered and horizontally scalable storage, where the total data under management exceeds that provided by any single filer, yet can still be administered from a common point ("single pane of glass" management). That management UI is still under development and not entirely present for this ALPHA release, but will continue to evolve over the next couple of months as FreeNAS 10 heads for full release status.

What is new in version 9.3-20150825 :

• This FreeNAS update is a significant evolutionary step from previous FreeNAS releases, featuring a simplified and reorganized Web User Interface, support for Microsoft ODX and Windows 2012 clustering, better VMWare integration, including VAAI support, a new and more secure update system with roll-back functionality, and hundreds of other technology enhancements. We're quite proud of it and excited to make it publicly available.

What is new in version 9.3:

• This FreeNAS update is a significant evolutionary step from previous FreeNAS releases, featuring a simplified and reorganized Web User Interface, support for Microsoft ODX and Windows 2012 clustering, better VMWare integration, including VAAI support, a new and more secure update system with roll-back functionality, and hundreds of other technology enhancements. We're quite proud of it and excited to make it publicly available.

What is new in version 9.3 Beta:

• This FreeNAS update is a significant evolutionary step from previous FreeNAS releases. It features a simplified and reorganized Web User Interface, support for Windows 2012 clustering, better integration with VMWare, a new and more secure update system with roll-back functionality, and hundreds of other technology enhancements. To encourage use of this BETA, we are also committed to making sure that every FreeNAS 9.3 BETA install will be able to upgrade to FreeNAS 9.3 RELEASE seamlessly!
• A key feature of the FreeNAS 9.3 BETA release is its revamped user interface. It has been redesigned to place only the most common configuration options first in ‘Standard' menus, moving the more esoteric options to ‘Advanced' options, and this design pattern as has been used throughout the UI so everything is essentially more streamlined and less cluttered for novice users who essentially just want to use the defaults.
• The interface tabs have also been completely removed, a number of features have been rearranged or combined for added fluidity and ease of use, and the whole UI is simply more self-consistent throughout.
• Updating and applying patches (updates) to the system is now much simpler. A secure update server supplies a regular stream of package updates, which are available both as "deltas" from previous release versions and as full packages, rather than the "one large release" model in place for previous FreeNAS versions. The update server can be checked manually, or automatically at intervals, and any available updates downloaded in the background. The user will receive an alert when new updates are available and be given the opportunity to apply them whenever they wish. Users will also be able to choose what kinds of updates to receive, depending on whether they want to use the most recent versions, test future versions, or stay on a single stable branch. For a demo of that in action, please see my FreeNAS state of the union video!
• From the "long-requested feature list", a configuration wizard has finally been added to FreeNAS. On a new install, this wizard will run at the first login, making it easy to quickly create a volume, its associated share(s), and set various options. Users who still prefer to manually create their volumes and shares can exit the wizard and create these in the usual way, but the new set-up wizard can handle the most common types of configuration at installation time, or, as desired, later in the set-up process. We also anticipate that the Wizard will continue to grow functionality as time progresses - this is simply the first version!
• FreeNAS 9.3 now NFSv4 support, including Kerberos integration, and allows configuration of NFSv4 from the UI, another long-requested feature.
• Perhaps the most significant feature of FreeNAS 9.3 is the fact that it now formats the boot device as a ZFS pool instead of the more limited UFS filesystem we used before, allowing a number of new features to be supported. One such feature is that the boot process now uses the GRUB boot loader and provides support for multiple boot environments, allowing easy recovery from a failed upgrade or configuration change. Being a ZFS pool, the boot device can also now be mirrored and scrubbed periodically to ensure that no impending hardware failures are present.
• Finally, FreeNAS 9.3 also changes the default iSCSI target from the userland-based istgt to the in-kernel Cam Target Layer (CTL). This adds a number of features, including compatibility with Windows 2012 clustering, support for additional VAAI primitives, and increased performance in most use cases. The snapshot UI has also been enhanced to coordinate snapshots with VMWare so that VMs using associated datastore(s) can be restored to a stable state if needed.
• This is only a sampling of all the new features in 9.3, and since our last release, we have fixed over 725 tickets in the 9.3 branch and have even more enhancements in the pipeline. This is a great FreeNAS release, and we look forward to being able to use the new update mechanism in delivering more timely and granular updates, the ZFS boot, clone and roll-back options giving users even greater confidence in applying them!

What is new in version 9.2.1.8:

• Fix bug where use of NONE cipher in replication erroneously reported an error on a successful replication.
• Don't enable lz4 compression on replication by default if upgrading from a pre-9.2.1.7 release.
• Multiple kernel iSCSI / CTL improvements. This includes VMWare VAAI and Microsoft ODX acceleration support, improved performance and fixes for number of bugs. Kernel iSCSI can be activated by checking the experimental target checkbox under services -> iSCSI.
• Improve performance of viewing snapshots when replication tasks are set up.
• Allow binding CIFS to specific IPs.
• Fix LDAP bind URL when using TLS.
• Validate AD advanced settings. If the GC or DC are manually specified make sure they are reachable.
• Set UNIX permissions when the Mac permissions radio button is selected. Netatalk does not play nicely with ACLs.
• Fix a bug in the mail sending routines used by FreeNAS. With some mailserver configurations the To: address could've been set to root instead of the address specified in the root user.
• Fix a bug that prevented the system from showing the replicated status of a snapshot if the remote path differed from the local path.
• "Shellshock" security vulnerability in bash (which is not the system shell FreeNAS or FreeBSD) proactively closed.

What is new in version 9.2.1.7:

• Samba updated to 4.1.11. This addresses http://www.samba.org/samba/security/CVE-2014-3560
• Increase performance of Directory Copy from CIFS
• Add support for the None Cipher in SSH. This can be used to improve replication performance at the expense of sending your data over the wire in cleartext. (Think private 10Gbe interlink)
• Resolve issue with vlan interface locking that could cause a kernel panic when creating a number of VLAN interfaces.
• Add support for compressing replication jobs with lz4

What is new in version 9.2.1.5:

• Solarflare driver trips an assert. Fixed.
• Can't list snapshots in GUI. Fixed.
• Misspelling in info popup. Fixed.
• SMB panic. This one has been a royal PITA for us. We can't reproduce it at all, though the latest tracebacks from "R K" look somewhat informative - I'll look at that section of the code today. Anyone else seeing it in 9.2.1.5, please attach a core file to the ticket

What is new in version 9.2.1.2:

• Samba (SMB/CIFS support) upgraded to version 4.1.5
• Linux Jails now work with UFS
• NFS lockd now starts properly at boot time
• Serial console misconfiguration is now harder to do.
• Logging to .system dataset is now optional. If you have an old syslog dataset (which is how this was formerly done), you are strongly encouraged to transition to the new .system/syslog dataset by enabling that option in System->Settings->Advanced and simply deleting your old syslog dataset.

What is new in version 9.2.1:

• Samba (SMB/CIFS support) upgraded to version 4.1.3. This adds support for SMB3, the ability for FreeNAS to be a Windows Domain Controller, and advanced features like server-side copy support in Windows 2012 and later, along with multiple years worth of improvements over the version of Samba that shipped in 9.2.0. It also enables SMB protocol version 3. Previous versions of FreeNAS limited samba to SMB2 because of random crashes that would occur using SMB3.
• Added the LSI 12G SAS driver as a module to the build. This can be enabled by adding a tunable for mpslsi3_load with a value of YES. This driver is still under development and not yet committed to FreeBSD. It is provided for beta testing only. For production use please consider using a 6G SAS adapter, such as the LSI 9207.
• Fixed a bug with netatalk that prevented share browsing from working in the finder on OSX. Also enabled options for fuller-fidelity AFP copies with Mac OS ACLs (ACEs) now stored as ZFS ACLs. Remove the non functional share password field from AFP shares.
• Switched from Avahi to mDNSResponder for Zeroconf network configuration, improving the Mac share browsing experience.
• Added additional Web API functionality for manipulating ZFS snapshots.
• Added IPMI network configuration support for machines with that capability (enabled by setting ipmi_load tunable to YES).
• Brought back the FreeNAS 8.x volume manager as a "Manual Setup" option. This volume manager allows manual vdev building and offers no seat belts. Unless you know exactly what you are doing and why you are doing it, using the standard volume manager is highly recommended by the development team!
• Made some changes to reporting graphs that segregates reports by type, one type per tab. Add graphs that show individual disk activity.
• Fixed a bug that prevented building an encrypted volume using multipath devices.
• Update django (used by the WebUI) to 1.6 and dojo to 1.9.2
• Add the following ZFS features: enabled_txg hole_birth, extensible_dataset, bookmarks
• Add trafshow to the image. This utility gives a CLI view of connections and usage to the FreeNAS box.
• Fix kernel module load for fuse. This is needed for importing NTFS volumes.
• Add the ability to use a keytab for AD joins. This eliminates the need to use the AD Administrator account to join FreeNAS to AD, closing a long standing issue of needing the AD Admin password in the FreeNAS configuration database.
• Updated the LSI 6 Gbps HBA driver (mps) to version 16. Please update the firmware of any mps HBAs to phase 16.

What is new in version 9.2.1 RC:

• The most interesting changes from the BETA releases are an upgraded version of Samba (to version 4.1.4), a new driver for the LSI 12G SAS card, a fixed Netatalk bug, mDNSresponder replacing Avahi and some changes to the graphs on the reports screen.

What is new in version 9.2.0:

• Version 9.2-RELEASE of FreeBSD with performance improvements, bug fixes, and updated software packages. For a complete list see http://www.freebsd.org/releases/9.2R/relnotes.html
• USB 3.0 support is disabled by default as it currently is not compatible with some hardware, including Haswell (Lynx point) chipsets. To enable USB 3.0 support, create a Tunable named xhci_load, set its value to YES, and reboot the system.
• The Kernel UMA allocator is now the default for ZFS. This results in higher ZFS performance.
• ZFS will now alert the administrator for pools that are not 4K-aligned.
• By default, FreeNAS will treat all disks as 4K sector ("Advanced Format") disks. This is a future-proof setting that allows AF disks to later be used as replacement drives for older, legacy 512 byte sector drives without compromising performance. The administrator can optionally disable this 4K-by-default behavior by setting vfs.zfs.vdev.larger_ashift_minimal to 0 in both sysctl and loader tunables.
• Avahi (multicast DNS, aka Bonjour) registration of all services, include the web service, means you no longer need to have a head on the box to know its IP address, even for initial configuration, if the system your browser is running on supports mDNS (e.g. a Mac or mDNS-enabled Windows/Unix box). The default address will be freenas.local (or freenas-n.local, where n is the # of freenas.local instances already on the local network). This can be changed by changing the hostname in the FreeNAS system or network configuration screens.
• The built-in admin user account is no longer used and the Admin Account removed. The first time the FreeNAS graphical interface is accessed, a pop-up menu will prompt for the root password. Subsequent logins to the graphical interface will require this password.
• FreeNAS no longer sends daily emails when email reporting is enabled unless actual errors or issues of concern have arisen. Simply saying "all is well!" each and every day was causing email fatigue and obscuring actual errors. Those wishing for daily "all is well!" reports can simply add a cron job that does this.
• The plugin system now offers in-place updates for plugins, also segregating installed plugins from available plugins to make the UI
• less cluttered.
• A complete REST API has been created for FreeNAS, allowing a FreeNAS instance to be controlled remotely. See examples/api in the FreeNAS source repository (https://github.com/freenas/freenas/tree/master) for some examples of this in action. Complete API docs are available in docs/api.
• The "Permit Sudo" field has been added to the add and edit screens for Users and Groups. A column in View Groups and View Users now indicates whether or not "Permit Sudo" has been set.
• HTTP and HTTPS access to the FreeNAS graphical interface are no longer mutually exclusive. The fields "WebGUI HTTP Port" and "WebGUI HTTPS Port" have been added to System Settings -> General.
• An "Edit" button has been added to the "Hostname" field of SystemInformation to make the hostname easier to change.
• The results from the latest ZFS scrub now appear in Volume Status.
• Netatalk has been updated to version 3.1.0. See http://netatalk.sourceforge.net/3.1/ReleaseNotes3.1.0.html for a list of changes in this release. There are also a number of changes made to AFP sharing as a result:
• The Add Apple (AFP) Share menu has been simplified and a "Default umask" option has been added.
• The "Server Name" field has also been removed from AFP; in Netatalk 3, this value is automatically derived from the system hostname.
• "Enable home directories" and "Home directories" options added to AFP.
• The AIO options have been removed from CIFS.
• Fourteen TLS-related fields have been added to the Advanced Mode of FTP.
• An "IPv4 Address" column has been added to the View Jails screen.
• A shell button has been added to Jails, making it easy to access the command line of the selected jail.
• A "Create directory" checkbox has been added to the Add Storage function of a jail so that the user does not have to first access the jail's shell to make sure that the directory already exists. A "Read-Only" checkbox has also been added to this screen.
• A jails templating system has been added, allowing the quick deployment of new jails from existing templates and the ability to create custom templates. Linux jail support has also been added and installation templates are included for Debian-7.1.0, Gentoo-20130820, Ubuntu-13.04, Centos-6.4, Fedora-19, and Suse-12.3.
• A link to the online FreeBSD manual pages has been added to Help.
• Added bxe(4) driver for Broadcom NetXtreme II Ethernet 10Gb PCIe adapter.
• Added padlock(4) driver which provides cryptographic hardware acceleration for VIA C3, C7 and Eden processors.
• Improved performance of encrypted ZFS volumes.
• The iSCSI options have been updated to ensure the GUI constraints match the daemon constraints. In particular the GUI limited the number of sessions and the number of connections to a low value that may need to be increased if there are large numbers of targets or clients or both.