In Part I of this two-part series, you discovered how FreeNAS can help centralize your file sharing. We already built our FreeNAS machine and connected it to the network.
Now we'll bring up the web GUI to set up the storage disks and configure general and sharing settings. Let's get started!
Bringing up the Web GUI
Now that you've booted up and connected FreeNAS to the network, you should be able to access the web GUI to further set it up.
Open the browser of a computer connected to the same network and enter the IP address of the FreeNAS machine. When prompted to log in, use the default username "admin" and the password "freenas".
Figure 1 shows an example of the web GUI.
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Figure 1 The FreeNAS web GUI
Doing Some Initial Configuration
Before you start messing around with the settings or experimenting with the services, you should at least change to an encrypted HTTPS connection—and change the default password of FreeNAS.
On the main web GUI menu, click System > General. Scroll down to the WebGUI section, choose HTTPS for the Protocol option, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click Save.
For the changes to take effect, you must reboot FreeNAS. Before doing so, you may want to scroll down to the Time section to set the date and time information.
Now click the reboot link in the status area near the top of the page.
Now once it boots back up, click System > General again, and then click the Password tab.
Type in "freenas" for the Old Password, type in a new password in the two boxes, and click Save.
Again, you must reboot for the changes to take effect; click the reboot link.
Adding, Formatting, Mounting, and Encrypting Disks
Before you can format, encrypt, or share a disk, you must first add it to FreeNAS.
Click Disks > Management, and click the add a disk (plus sign) button. Once added, click Apply. If you want to encrypt the disk for extra security, you need to do it now.
Any disk(s) you use with FreeNAS should be formatted with the UFS filesystem. Old Windows drives will probably have the FAT or NTFS filesystems on them.
If you used one of FreeNAS's installation methods, it probably formatted for you. However, in any other case you'll probably want to format the drive.
Click Disks > Format and format using the default settings.
Next you need mount the disk(s) so you can start using it. Click Disks > Mount Point, click the plus sign button, enter the details, and click Add.
Now you can start configuring and enabling the services, which is discussed in the next sections.
Configuring Windows (CIFS/SMB) Sharing
To support Windows machines, you'll want to enable CIFS/SMB. Click Services > CIFS/SMB and check the Enable option in the upper right corner.
Figure 2 shows an example of this page.
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Figure 2 CIFS/SMB page of the FreeNAS web GUI
If you don't want users to log in, leave Authentication set to Anonymous. Otherwise, select Local User to require usernames and passwords you create in FreeNAS, or select Domain if you have user already defined in the Active Directory server.
The NetBIOS name identifies the server on the network, similar to the Computer Name of Windows computers.
Also as in Windows, you should make sure that all your computers are in the same Workgroup. The other default settings should be fine.
When you're done, click Save and Restart.
Now to actually share files, click the Share tab and add folders. If you want to create more folders, click Advanced > File Manager and create folders in the mounted location (mnt/mountname).
Keep in mind that some versions of Mac OS X and Linux make it really easy to set up sharing with Windows. Therefore if you have computers loaded with these operating systems, you should consider enabling SMB/CIFS on them, so you don't have to configure all the different protocols.
If you want to offer only password-protected access, you should use SMB/CIFS instead of NFS in Linux.
Configuring Unix/Linux (NFS) Sharing
To support the default sharing protocol of Unix and Linux machine, you need to set up NFS. Click Services > NFS and check the Enable option in the upper-right corner (shown in Figure 3).
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Figure 3 The NFS page of the FreeNAS web GUI
If you plan to have more than four people connecting to shares on FreeNAS using this protocol, you can increase the number of servers. However, it's recommended that you only have up to six users/servers at one time.
When you're done, click Save and Restart.
Next you can specify which folders you want to share using this protocol. Click the Shares tab. Then browse to the desired folder to insert the path.
Be careful with the Map All Users to Root option; only enable it when you fully trust the users.
For the Authorised Network field, enter the IP address of your router and change it to the correct entry. Change the other settings as necessary and click Add.
Configuring Apple (AFP) Sharing
To share with Mac OS X computers using the default AFP protocol, click Services > AFP (see Figure 4) and mark the Enable checkbox.
Then specify the Authentication method you desire, whether you want to require users to enter a username and password (that are loaded in FreeNAS) when accessing shares with this protocol. After you're done, click Save and Restart.
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Figure 4 Sharing with the default protocol
Just like the other sharing protocols, you have to click the Shares tab and specify the folders you want to share. When adding shares, at least fill in the first three fields and then you can probably use the defaults for the other settings.
Setting up Users and Groups
If you're managing a network that uses Active Directory or LDAP, you can configure FreeNAS to consult either instead of having to input all the user details.
However, if you aren't using one of those databases, you'll need to use the internal one. Thus if you're using a sharing protocol or other service that's configured to use local user authentication, click Access > Users and Groups on the main FreeNAS menu. Then manage the groups and add the desired accounts.
We're Done, but There's More
Starting in Part I, you discovered how FreeNAS can help centralize your file sharing using a variety of protocols. We also built our FreeNAS machine and got it working on the network.
Then in this part, you discovered how to access the web GUI and performed the initial configuration.
After setting up the disks, we also configured the popular sharing protocols.
Now you can experiment with the other services. Maybe look into RSYNC for fast incremental file transfers or backups, the Webserver to host a password-protected site, or the iTunes/DAAP server for your iPods.
If you ever need help, you can reference the FreeNAS Setup and User Guide, review the FAQ, or ask questions on the forum.