Installing FreeNAS (Free Network Attached Storage)

FreeNAS… So what is FreeNAS?

FreeNAS refers to an Operating System designed by it’s developers to act as a location on your network to store files (File Server). The letters NAS in “FreeNAS” refer to a acronym known in networking, as Network Attached Storage. In simple form, This indicates that it (NAS) is a form of storage that is attached to your network. FreeNAS, therefore, provides you with this functionality, and can provide a location for storing just about any file(s) such as music, images/pictures, documents, etc. Although it can act as a fileserver, FreeNAS is very versatile and can act as an FTP server, provide Rsync capabilities, as well as many other useful functions. In this entry, I will discuss setting it up to act as a file-server for your local network.

The FreeNAS Operating System can be found at the following developer website: www.freenas.org

Choosing your hardware:

Note: FreeNAS is a very streamlined Operating System and requires minimal hardware for installation and functionality. When installing FreeNAS, your application requirement will determine what hardware you will need to perform to your requirements specifically.

1. A PC with 96MB of RAM.

2. A bootable CD drive.

3. A bootable hard drive (I recommend 100MB of free space for the OS specifically) which will act as a location for the Operating System (FreeNAS) and will also act as a location for storing your files.

Installing FreeNAS on your Computer’s HDD [(Hard Disk Drive)/Hard Drive]:

Note: You must first download FreeNAS and burn it (the ISO) to a CD to perform this installation, (you must select “burn an image to CD” or similar option in your cd burning software) .

1. Make sure you have power plugged into the PC you are installing the OS on and make sure you have at least a keyboard plugged in (mouse also recommended for beginners).

2. Power on your computer and insert the CD containing FreeNAS into the drive.

3. Make sure that the CD Drive is boot-able, and that the option to boot from it is activated in the computer’s BIOS (you may have to restart after changing these settings to boot from the CD Drive successfully).

4. After the computer has booted successfully from the CD drive, you will be presented with a list of options that you can perform from the CD. One of the options is, installing to a local hard-drive (currently option 9). This step is pretty straight-forward, you simply select the option to install to the hard drive using part of it for the OS and the other section for storage by selecting the corresponding number:

“Console setup”
“*********************”
1) Assign Interface
2) Set LAN IP address
3) Reset WebGUI password
4) Reset to factory defaults
5) Ping host
6) Shell
7) Reboot system
8) PowerOff system
9) Install to a hard drive/memory drive/USB Pen, etc.

You will be presented with the options to configure your hard drive:

“Install”
“*********************”
1) Install on HD, CF or USB key: Create 1 UFS partition
2) Install on HD: Create 2 UFS partitions (OS and DATA)
3) Upgrade existing installed version from CDROM
4) Return to main menu

If you have a single hard drive in your computer, the best option for a new installation is to simply select the “Install on HD: Create 2 UFS partitions (OS and DATA)” option (number 2). You will be prompted to select the source CD which is typically “acd0″ or whichever drive you inserted the CD in. You will also be prompted to select the Hard Drive to install the OS, this is typically “ad0″ if you are installing it to the master on the primary controller.

5. Once the installation is complete follow the instructions and remove the CD prior to rebooting the computer. You may select option four (4 ) to exit the main menu, and then option seven (7 ) to restart the system. After the system has been restarted, check the number of options that are available in your menu. If you have an option number nine (9), then you are still booting from the CD.

Full FreeNAS Installation Instructions (0.684)