Practice of FreeNAS by using VMware

THIS ARTICLE IS ONLY FOR PRACTICE OF FREENAS WITH VMWARE

FreeNAS: Version - 9.10
VMware: Version - 10.0.0

Download FreeNAS iso file and VMware software:

LINK to Download FreeNAS-9.10
http://www.freenas.org/download/

LINK to Download VMware-10.0.0
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?productId=362&downloadGroup=WKST-1000-WIN-A

Install VMWare software and also install a new VM (Virtual Machine) by:

• File > New Virtual Machine > Typical > I will install operating system later > Next
• In GUEST OPERATING SYSTEM click on others > In VERSION select FreeBSD > Next
• Provide Virtual Machine Name and Location > Next
• Provide Disk Size ~GB > Next
• Click on Customized Hardware > Provide ~8GB RAM & attach ISO of FreeNAS-9.10 from your specified location > Close > Finish
• This will create a Virtual machine and we can check it into My Computer tab of VMware.
• In the same way also install an another VM (Windows OR Linux) for configuration and testing purpose.

INSTALLATION:

Step1: Power on your FreeNAS VM. After booting you will get:

Step2: After clicking on Install/Upgrade and you will get:

Step3: Select the disk and click on OK.

Step4: Click on Yes and provide root password

Step5: Within minutes FreeNAS will install on your system. Click OK

Step6: Now, click on Reboot System, followed by OK.

Step7: After reboot, you will get an IP:

Installation is complete. now we will configure it...

CONFIGURATION:

Step1: Now switch to another VM (Windows OR Linux) which we installed for configuration and testing purposes.

Step2: Open the link in any browser, which was provided you in FreeNAS VM (http://192.168.149.144).

Step3. This will ask for USERNAME and PASSWORD. Use “root” as username and provide password of root which we provided in starting at the time of installing FreeNAS.

Step4: In next popup we can change LANGUAGE and TIME ZONE.

Step5: Finally you will get the screen:

Step6: Go to System > General. Change Language and Time Zone if not according to you and Save.

Step7. Go to Network > Global Configuration. Provide the details and Save; e.g.

• Hostname: omt-freenas
• Domain: omt.local
• IPv4 Default Gateway: 192.168.149.1
• Nameserver1: 8.8.8.8

Step8. Now Add Interface. Network > Interfaces > Add Interface

• NIC: em0
• Interface name: LAN
• IPv4 Address: 192.168.149.222    << This is the IP on which you want to access your NAS storage>>
• IPv4 Netmask: /24 (255.255.255.0) and SAVE.

Step9: Go to browser and provide updated IP (192.168.149.222). You will get the updated information:

Step10: Now, we add more Hard Disks to create a Volume Group. To add new Hard Disk/s, just shut down storage VM and click on Edit virtual machine settings > Add > Hard Disk > Next > SCSI > Create a new Virtual Disk > Provide size > Provide disk name > Finish. In the below figure I have attached 3 hard disks of 5GB:

Step11: Now power on Storage VM and login in it by Testing VM. Go to Storage > Volumes > View Disks

Make sure ‘Advanced Power Management’ of the disks, which you want to use to create Volume manager, is ‘Disabled’ and HDD Standby is ‘Always On’.

Step12: Finally click on Storage > Volumes > Volume Group; provide

• Volume name: omtvolume
• Member disks: (select no of disks you want to add in volume group ‘omtvolume’)
• Group type: RAID-Z (Basically, RAID-Z is quiet similar to RAID5 and RAID-Z2 is quite similar to RAID6)
• Click on Add Volume.

Step13: For example I have created three Volume Groups for three departments (Import, Export and IT):

Step14: We can change permission for particular department by clicking on ‘Change Permission’ button:

Step15: Change permission, like I have provided full access to Owner & Group and no access to others for Volume Group /mnt/IT:

Step16: Finally, create a Window (CIFS) Share. Sharing > Windows (CIFS) > Add Windows (CIFS) Share:

• Path: /mnt/IT
• Name: Omt-IT
• Comment: IT-Department
• [ ] Allow Guest Access (If you want) and click on OK.

We can also change its settings by the button followed by On/Off.

Step17: Now, check your storage VM in Networks OR by accessing IP.

In this practical we are getting ‘OMT-FREENAS’ in Networks.  Now, we can put our data over there.

Step18: If we want to provide user access to this folder, we must create Users. Account > Users > Add User.

• User ID: 1001 (for first user)
• Username: divakar
• Primary Group: divakar
• Home Directory: /nonexistent
• Full Name: divakar
• Password: ******
• Password Confirmation: ******
• Auxiliary groups: (Select groups in which you want to add user ‘divakar’)

Step19: Update permissions for /mnt/it volume group. Storage > Volumes > /mnt/it > Change Permissions.

In this example I am providing full access to user ‘divakar’ & group ‘IT’ and no permission to others.

Step20: Now as you access your Storage VM this will show all the volume groups over there;

Step21: Access volume group “Omt-IT”, it will ask for password. Provide username ‘divakar’ & its password and Enjoy!!

Have some hands on experience by creating Users & Groups and by changing permissions on volume Groups.