11. Services Configuration

The Services section of the GUI allows you to configure, start, and stop the various services that ship with the FreeNAS® system. FreeNAS® supports the following built-in services:

This section demonstrates how to start a FreeNAS® service then describes the available configuration options for each FreeNAS® service.

11.1. Control Services

Services ‣ Control Services, shown in Figure 11.1a, allows you to quickly determine which services are currently running, to start and stop services, and to configure services. By default, all services, except for the S.M.A.R.T. service, are off until you start them.

Figure 11.1a: Control Services

_images/services.png

A service is stopped if its icon is a red “OFF”. A service is running if its icon is a blue “ON”. To start or stop a service, click its ON/OFF icon.

To configure a service, click the wrench icon associated with the service or click the name of the service in the “Services” section of the tree menu.

If a service does not start, go to System ‣ Advanced and check the box “Show console messages in the footer”. Console messages will now show at the bottom of your browser. If you click the console messages area, it will pop-up as a window, allowing you to scroll through the output and to copy messages. Watch these messages for errors when you stop and start the problematic service.

If you would like to read the system logs to get more information about a service failure, open Shell and type more /var/log/messages.

11.2. AFP

The settings that are configured when creating AFP Shares in Sharing ‣ Apple (AFP) Shares ‣ Add Apple (AFP) Share are specific to each configured AFP Share. In contrast, global settings which apply to all AFP shares are configured in Services ‣ AFP.

Figure 11.2a shows the available global AFP configuration options which are described in Table 11.2a.

Figure 11.2a: Global AFP Configuration

_images/afp1a.png

Table 11.2a: Global AFP Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Guest Access checkbox if checked, clients will not be prompted to authenticate before accessing AFP shares
Guest account drop-down menu select account to use for guest access; the selected account must have permissions to the volume/dataset being shared
Bind IP Addresses selection used to specify the IP address(es) to listen for FTP connections; highlight the desired IP address(es) in the “Available” list and use the “>>” button to add to the “Selected” list
Max Connections integer maximum number of simultaneous connections
Enable home directories checkbox if checked, any user home directories located under “Home directories” will be available over the share
Home directories browse button select the volume or dataset which contains user home directories
Home share name string overrides default home folder name with the specified value
Database Path browse button select the path to store the CNID databases used by AFP (default is the root of the volume); the path must be writable
Global auxiliary parameters string additional afp.conf(5) parameters not covered elsewhere in this screen

When configuring home directories, it is recommended to create a dataset to hold the home directories which contains a child dataset for each user. As an example, create a dataset named volume1/homedirs and browse to this dataset when configuring the “Home directories” field of the AFP service. Then, as you create each user, first create a child dataset for that user. For example, create a dataset named volume1/homedirs/user1. When you create the user1 user, browse to the volume1/homedirs/user1 dataset in the “Home Directory” field of the “Add New User” screen.

11.2.1. Troubleshooting AFP

You can determine which users are connected to an AFP share by typing afpusers.

If you receive a “Something wrong with the volume’s CNID DB” error message, run the following command from Shell, replacing the path to the problematic AFP share:

dbd -rf /path/to/share

This command may take a while, depending upon the size of the volume or dataset being shared. This command will wipe the CNID database and rebuild it from the CNIIDs stored in the AppleDouble files.

11.3. CIFS

The settings that are configured when creating CIFS Shares in Sharing ‣ Windows (CIFS) Shares ‣ Add Windows (CIFS) Share are specific to each configured CIFS Share. In contrast, global settings which apply to all CIFS shares are configured in Services ‣ CIFS.

Note

after starting the CIFS service, it may take several minutes for the master browser election to occur and for the FreeNAS® system to become available in Windows Explorer.

Figure 11.3a shows the global CIFS configuration options which are described in Table 11.3a. This configuration screen is really a front-end to smb4.conf.

Figure 11.3a: Global CIFS Configuration

_images/cifs1a.png

Table 11.3a: Global CIFS Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
NetBIOS Name string automatically populated with the system’s original hostname; it must be different from the Workgroup name
Workgroup string must match Windows workgroup name; this setting is ignored if the Active Directory or LDAP service is running
Description string optional
DOS charset drop-down menu the character set Samba uses when communicating with DOS and Windows 9x/ME clients; default is CP437
UNIX charset drop-down menu default is UTF-8 which supports all characters in all languages
Log level drop-down menu choices are Minimum, Normal, or Debug
Use syslog only checkbox when checked, authentication failures are logged to /var/log/messages instead of the default of /var/log/samba4/log.smbd
Local Master checkbox determines whether or not the system participates in a browser election; should be disabled when network contains an AD or LDAP server and is not necessary if Vista or Windows 7 machines are present
Domain logons checkbox only check if need to provide the netlogin service for older Windows clients
Time Server for Domain checkbox determines whether or not the system advertises itself as a time server to Windows clients; should be disabled when network contains an AD or LDAP server
Guest Account drop-down menu account to be used for guest access; that account must have permission to access the shared volume/dataset
File mask integer overrides default file creation mask of 0666 which creates files with read and write access for everybody
Directory mask integer overrides default directory creation mask of 0777 which grants directory read, write and execute access for everybody
Allow Empty Password checkbox if checked, users can just press Enter when prompted for a password; requires that the username/password be the same as the Windows user account
Auxiliary parameters string smb.conf options not covered elsewhere in this screen; see the Samba Guide for additional settings
Unix Extensions checkbox allows non-Windows CIFS clients to access symbolic links and hard links, has no effect on Windows clients
Zeroconf share discovery checkbox enable if Mac clients will be connecting to the CIFS share
Hostnames lookups checkbox allows you to specify hostnames rather than IP addresses in the “Hosts Allow” or “Hosts Deny” fields of a CIFS share; uncheck if you only use IP addresses as it saves the time of a host lookup
Server minimum protocol drop-down menu the minimum protocol version the server will support where the default sets automatic negotiation; refer to Table 11.3b for descriptions
Server maximum protocol drop-down menu the maximum protocol version the server will support; refer to Table 11.3b for descriptions
Allow execute always checkbox if checked, Samba will allow the user to execute a file, even if that user’s permissions are not set to execute
Obey pam restrictions checkbox uncheck this box to allow cross-domain authentication, to allow users and groups to be managed on another forest, or to allow permissions to be delegated from active directory users and groups to domain admins on another forest
Bind IP Addresses checkboxes check the IP address(es) that CIFS should listen on
Idmap Range Low integer defines the beginning UID/GID this system is authoritative for; any UID/GID lower than this value is ignored, providing a way to avoid accidental UID/GID overlaps between local and remotely defined IDs
Idmap Range High integer defines the ending UID/GID this system is authoritative for; any UID/GID higher than this value is ignored, providing a way to avoid accidental UID/GID overlaps between local and remotely defined IDs

Table 11.3b: Description of SMB Protocol Versions

Value Description
CORE used by DOS
COREPLUS used by DOS
LANMAN1 used by Windows for Workgroups, OS/2, and Windows 9x
LANMAN2 used by Windows for Workgroups, OS/2, and Windows 9x
NT1 used by Windows NT
SMB2 used by Windows 7; same as SMB2_10
SMB2_02 used by Windows Vista
SMB2_10 used by Windows 7
SMB2_22 used by early Windows 8
SMB2_24 used by Windows 8 beta
SMB3 used by Windows 8
SMB3_00 used by Windows 8, mostly the same as SMB2_24

Note

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 use SMB3.02 which is not yet supported by Samba.

Beginning with FreeNAS® 8.0.3-RELEASE, changes to CIFS settings and CIFS shares take effect immediately. For previous versions, changes will not take effect until you manually stop and start the CIFS service.

Note

do not set the directory name cache size as an “Auxiliary parameter”. Due to differences in how Linux and BSD handle file descriptors, directory name caching is disabled on BSD systems in order to improve performance.

11.3.1. Troubleshooting CIFS

Samba is single threaded, so CPU speed makes a big difference in CIFS performance. Your typical 2.5Ghz Intel quad core or greater should be capable to handle speeds in excess of Gb LAN while low power CPUs such as Intel Atoms and AMD C-30sE-350E-450 will not be able to achieve more than about 30-40MB/sec typically. Remember that other loading such as ZFS loading will also require CPU resources and may cause Samba performance to be less than optimal.

Samba’s write cache parameter has been reported to improve write performance in some configurations and can be added to the “Auxiliary parameters” field. Use an integer value which is a multiple of _SC_PAGESIZE (typically 4096) to avoid memory fragmentation. This will increase Samba’s memory requirements and should not be used on systems with limited RAM.

If you wish to increase network performance, read the Samba section on socket options. It indicates which options are available and recommends that you experiment to see which are supported by your clients and improve your network’s performance.

Windows automatically caches file sharing information. If you make changes to a CIFS share or to the permissions of a volume/dataset being shared by CIFS and are no longer able to access the share, try logging out and back into the Windows system. Alternately, users can type net use /delete from the command line to clear their SMB sessions.

Windows also automatically caches login information. If you wish users to be prompted to login every time access is required, reduce the cache settings on the client computers.

Where possible, avoid using a mix of case in filenames as this may cause confusion for Windows users. Representing and resolving filenames with Samba explains this in more detail.

If a particular user cannot connect to a CIFS share, double-check that their password does not contain the ? character. If it does, have the user change their password and try again.

If permissions work for Windows users but not for OS X users, try disabling “Unix Extensions” and restarting the CIFS service.

If the CIFS service will not start, run this command from Shell to see if there is an error in the configuration:

testparm /usr/local/etc/smb4.conf

If clients have problems connecting to the CIFS share, go to Services ‣ CIFS and verify that “Server maximum protocol” is set to “SMB2”.

It is recommended to use a dataset for CIFS sharing. When creating the dataset, make sure that the “Share type” is set to Windows.

Do not use chmod to attempt to fix the permissions on a CIFS share as it destroys the Windows ACLs. The correct way to manage permissions on a CIFS share is to manage the share security from a Windows system as either the owner of the share or a member of the group the share is owned by. To do so, right-click on the share, click “Properties” and navigate to the “Security” tab. If you already destroyed the ACLs using chmod, winacl can be used to fix them. Type winacl from Shell for usage instructions.

The Common Errors section of the Samba documentation contains additional troubleshooting tips.

11.4. Domain Controller

FreeNAS® can be configured to act either as the domain controller for a network or to join an existing Active Directory network as a domain controller.

Note

this section demonstrates how to configure the FreeNAS® system to act as a domain controller. If your goal is to integrate with an existing Active Directory network in order to access its authentication and authorization services, instead configure Active Directory.

Be aware that configuring a domain controller is a complex process that requires a good understanding of how Active Directory works. While Services ‣ Domain Controller makes it easy to input the needed settings into the administrative graphical interface, it is up to you to understand what those settings should be. Before beginning your configuration, read through the Samba AD DC HOWTO. Once FreeNAS® is configured, use the RSAT utility from a Windows system to manage the domain controller. The Samba AD DC HOWTO includes instructions for installing and configuring RSAT.

Figure 11.4a shows the configuration screen for creating a domain controller and Table 11.4a summarizes the available options.

Figure 11.4a: Domain Controller Settings

_images/directory1a.png

Table 11.4a: Domain Controller Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Realm string capitalized DNS realm name
Domain string capitalized domain name
Server Role drop-down menu at this time, the only supported role is as the domain controller for a new domain
DNS Forwarder string IP address of DNS forwarder; required for recursive queries when SAMBA_INTERNAL is selected
Domain Forest Level drop-down menu choices are 2000, 2003, 2008, or 2008_R2; refer to Understanding Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Functional Levels for details
Administrator password string password to be used for the Active Directory administrator account
Kerberos Realm drop-down menu this drop-down menu will auto-populate using the information from “Realm” when the settings in this screen are saved

11.5. Dynamic DNS

Dynamic DNS (DDNS) is useful if your FreeNAS® system is connected to an ISP that periodically changes the IP address of the system. With dynamic DNS, the system can automatically associate its current IP address with a domain name, allowing you to access the FreeNAS® system even if the IP address changes. DDNS requires you to register with a DDNS service such as DynDNS.

Figure 11.5a shows the DDNS configuration screen and Table 11.5a summarizes the configuration options. The values you need to input will be given to you by the DDNS provider. After configuring DDNS, don’t forget to start the DDNS service in Services ‣ Control Services.

Figure 11.5a: Configuring DDNS

_images/ddns.png

Table 11.5a: DDNS Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Provider drop-down menu several providers are supported; if your provider is not listed, leave this field blank and specify the custom provider in the “Auxiliary parameters” field
IP Server string can be used to specify the hostname and port of the IP check server
Domain name string fully qualified domain name (e.g. yourname.dyndns.org)
Username string username used to logon to the provider and update the record
Password string password used to logon to the provider and update the record
Update period integer how often the IP is checked in seconds
Forced update period integer how often the IP should be updated, even it has not changed, in seconds
Auxiliary parameters string additional parameters passed to the provider during record update; an example of specifying a custom provider is dyndns_system default@provider.com

If you are using freedns.afraid.org, see this forum post for an example working configuration.

11.6. FTP

FreeNAS® uses the proftpd FTP server to provide FTP services. Once the FTP service is configured and started, clients can browse and download data using a web browser or FTP client software. The advantage of FTP is that easy-to-use cross-platform utilities are available to manage uploads to and downloads from the FreeNAS® system. The disadvantage of FTP is that it is considered to be an insecure protocol, meaning that it should not be used to transfer sensitive files. If you are concerned about sensitive data, see Encrypting FTP.

This section provides an overview of the FTP configuration options. It then provides examples for configuring anonymous FTP, specified user access within a chroot environment, encrypting FTP connections, and troubleshooting tips.

Figure 11.6a shows the configuration screen for Services ‣ FTP. Some settings are only available in “Advanced Mode”. To see these settings, either click the “Advanced Mode” button or configure the system to always display these settings by checking the box “Show advanced fields by default” in System ‣ Advanced.

Figure 11.6a: Configuring FTP

_images/ftp1.png

Table 11.6a summarizes the available options when configuring the FTP server:

Table 11.6a: FTP Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Port integer port the FTP service listens on
Clients integer maximum number of simultaneous clients
Connections integer maximum number of connections per IP address where 0 means unlimited
Login Attempts integer maximum number of attempts before client is disconnected; increase this if users are prone to typos
Timeout integer maximum client idle time in seconds before client is disconnected
Allow Root Login checkbox discouraged as increases security risk
Allow Anonymous Login checkbox enables anonymous FTP logins with access to the directory specified in “Path”
Path browse button root directory for anonymous FTP connections
Allow Local User Login checkbox required if “Anonymous Login” is disabled
Display Login string message displayed to local login users after authentication; not displayed to anonymous login users
File Permission checkboxes only available in “Advanced Mode”; sets default permissions for newly created files
Directory Permission checkboxes only available in “Advanced Mode”; sets default permissions for newly created directories
Enable FXP checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; enables File eXchange Protocol which is discouraged as it makes the server vulnerable to FTP bounce attacks
Allow Transfer Resumption checkbox allows FTP clients to resume interrupted transfers
Always Chroot checkbox a local user is only allowed access to their home directory unless the user is a member of group wheel
Require IDENT Authentication checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; will result in timeouts if identd is not running on the client
Perform Reverse DNS Lookups checkbox perform reverse DNS lookups on client IPs; can cause long delays if reverse DNS is not configured
Masquerade address string public IP address or hostname; set if FTP clients can not connect through a NAT device
Minimum passive port integer only available in “Advanced Mode”; used by clients in PASV mode, default of 0 means any port above 1023
Maximum passive port integer only available in “Advanced Mode”; used by clients in PASV mode, default of 0 means any port above 1023
Local user upload bandwidth integer only available in “Advanced Mode”; in KB/s, default of 0 means unlimited
Local user download bandwidth integer only available in “Advanced Mode”; in KB/s, default of 0 means unlimited
Anonymous user upload bandwidth integer only available in “Advanced Mode”; in KB/s, default of 0 means unlimited
Anonymous user download bandwidth integer only available in “Advanced Mode”; in KB/s, default of 0 means unlimited
Enable TLS checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; enables encrypted connections and requires a certificate to be created or imported using Certificates
TLS policy drop-down menu only available in “Advanced Mode”; the selected policy defines whether the control channel, data channel, both channels, or neither channel, of an FTP session must occur over SSL/TLS; the policies are described here
TLS allow client renegotiations checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; checking this box is not recommended as it breaks several security measures; for this and the rest of the TLS fields, refer to mod_tls for more details
TLS allow dot login checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked, the user’s home directory is checked for a .tlslogin file which contains one or more PEM-encoded certificates; if not found, the user will be prompted for password authentication
TLS allow per user checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked, the user’s password may be sent unencrypted
TLS common name required checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked, the common name in the certificate must match the FQDN of the host
TLS enable diagnostics checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked when troubleshooting a connection, will log more verbosely
TLS export certificate data checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked, exports the certificate environment variables
TLS no certificate request checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; try checking this box if the client can not connect and you suspect that the client software is not properly handling the server’s certificate request
TLS no empty fragments checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; checking this box is not recommended as it bypasses a security mechanism
TLS no session reuse required checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; checking this box reduces the security of the connection so only do so if the client does not understand reused SSL sessions
TLS export standard vars checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked, sets several environment variables
TLS DNS name required checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked, the client’s DNS name must resolve to its IP address and the cert must contain the same DNS name
TLS IP address required checkbox only available in “Advanced Mode”; if checked, the client’s certificate must contain the IP address that matches the IP address of the client
Certificate drop-down menu the SSL certificate to be used for TLS FTP connections; to create a certificate, use System –> Certificates
Auxiliary parameters string only available in “Advanced Mode”; used to add proftpd(8) parameters not covered elsewhere in this screen

The following example demonstrates the auxiliary parameters that will prevent all users from performing the FTP DELETE command:

<Limit DELE>
DenyAll
</Limit>

11.6.1. Anonymous FTP

Anonymous FTP may be appropriate for a small network where the FreeNAS® system is not accessible from the Internet and everyone in your internal network needs easy access to the stored data. Anonymous FTP does not require you to create a user account for every user. In addition, passwords are not required so you don’t have to manage changed passwords on the FreeNAS® system.

To configure anonymous FTP:

  1. Give the built-in ftp user account permissions to the volume/dataset to be shared in Storage ‣ Volumes as follows:

    • “Owner(user)”: select the built-in ftp user from the drop-down menu
    • “Owner(group)”: select the built-in ftp group from the drop-down menu
    • “Mode”: review that the permissions are appropriate for the share

    Note

    for FTP, the type of client does not matter when it comes to the type of ACL. This means that you always use Unix ACLs, even if Windows clients will be accessing FreeNAS® via FTP.

  2. Configure anonymous FTP in Services ‣ FTP by setting the following attributes:

    • check the box “Allow Anonymous Login”
    • “Path”: browse to the volume/dataset/directory to be shared
  3. Start the FTP service in Services ‣ Control Services. Click the red “OFF” button next to FTP. After a second or so, it will change to a blue “ON”, indicating that the service has been enabled.

  4. Test the connection from a client using a utility such as Filezilla.

In the example shown in Figure 11.6b, a user has input the following information into the Filezilla client:

  • IP address of the FreeNAS® server: 192.168.1.113
  • “Username”: anonymous
  • “Password”: the email address of the user

Figure 11.6b: Connecting Using Filezilla

_images/filezilla.png

The messages within the client indicate that the FTP connection is successful. The user can now navigate the contents of the root folder on the remote site—this is the volume/dataset that was specified in the FTP service configuration. The user can also transfer files between the local site (their system) and the remote site (the FreeNAS® system).

11.6.2. FTP in chroot

If you require your users to authenticate before accessing the data on the FreeNAS® system, you will need to either create a user account for each user or import existing user accounts using Active Directory or LDAP. If you then create a ZFS dataset for each user, you can chroot each user so that they are limited to the contents of their own home directory. Datasets provide the added benefit of configuring a quota so that the size of the user’s home directory is limited to the size of the quota.

To configure this scenario:

  1. Create a ZFS dataset for each user in Storage ‣ Volumes. Click an existing ZFS volume ‣ Create ZFS Dataset and set an appropriate quota for each dataset. Repeat this process to create a dataset for every user that will need access to the FTP service.

  2. If you are not using AD or LDAP, create a user account for each user in Account ‣ Users ‣ Add User. For each user, browse to the dataset created for that user in the “Home Directory” field. Repeat this process to create a user account for every user that will need access to the FTP service, making sure to assign each user their own dataset.

  3. Set the permissions for each dataset in Storage ‣ Volumes. Click the “Change Permissions” button for a dataset to assign a user account as “Owner” of that dataset and to set the desired permissions for that user. Repeat for each dataset.

    Note

    for FTP, the type of client does not matter when it comes to the type of ACL. This means that you always use Unix ACLs, even if Windows clients will be accessing FreeNAS® via FTP.

  4. Configure FTP in Services ‣ FTP with the following attributes:

    • “Path”: browse to the parent volume containing the datasets
    • make sure the boxes for “Allow Anonymous Login” and “Allow Root Login” are unchecked
    • check the box “Allow Local User Login”
    • check the box “Always Chroot”
  5. Start the FTP service in Services ‣ Control Services. Click the red “OFF” button next to FTP. After a second or so, it will change to a blue “ON”, indicating that the service has been enabled.

  6. Test the connection from a client using a utility such as Filezilla.

To test this configuration in Filezilla, use the IP address of the FreeNAS® system, the Username of a user that has been associated with a dataset, and the Password for that user. The messages should indicate that the authorization and the FTP connection are successful. The user can now navigate the contents of the root folder on the remote site—this time it is not the entire volume but the dataset that was created for that user. The user should be able to transfer files between the local site (their system) and the remote site (their dataset on the FreeNAS® system).

11.6.3. Encrypting FTP

To configure any FTP scenario to use encrypted connections:

  1. Import or create a certificate authority using the instructions in CAs. Then, import or create the certificate to use for encrypted connections using the instructions in Certificates.
  2. In Services ‣ FTP. Check the box “Enable TLS” and select the certificate in the “Certificate” drop-down menu.
  3. Specify secure FTP when accessing the FreeNAS® system. For example, in Filezilla input ftps://IP_address (for an implicit connection) or ftpes://IP_address (for an explicit connection) as the Host when connecting. The first time a user connects, they should be presented with the certificate of the FreeNAS® system. Click “OK” to accept the certificate and negotiate an encrypted connection.
  4. To force encrypted connections, select on for the “TLS Policy”.

11.6.4. Troubleshooting FTP

The FTP service will not start if it can not resolve the system’s hostname to an IP address using DNS. To see if the FTP service is running, open Shell and issue the command:

sockstat -4p 21

If there is nothing listening on port 21, the FTP service isn’t running. To see the error message that occurs when FreeNAS® tries to start the FTP service, go to System ‣ Advanced, check the box “Show console messages in the footer” and click “Save”. Next, go to Services ‣ Control Services and switch the FTP service off then back on in the GUI. Watch the console messages at the bottom of the browser for errors.

If the error refers to DNS, either create an entry in your local DNS server with the FreeNAS® system’s hostname and IP address or add an entry for the IP address of the FreeNAS® system in the “Host name database” field of Network ‣ Global Configuration.

11.7. iSCSI

Refer to Block (iSCSI) for instructions on how to configure iSCSI. To start the iSCSI service, click its entry in “Services”.

Note

a warning message will occur if you stop the iSCSI service when initiators are connected. Type ctladm islist to determine the names of the connected initiators.

11.8. LLDP

The Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) is used by network devices to advertise their identity, capabilities, and neighbors on an Ethernet network. FreeNAS® uses the ladvd LLDP implementation. If your network contains managed switches, configuring and starting the LLDP service will tell the FreeNAS® system to advertise itself on the network.

Figure 11.8a shows the LLDP configuration screen and Table 11.8a summarizes the configuration options for the LLDP service.

Figure 11.8a: Configuring LLDP

_images/lldp.png

Table 11.8a: LLDP Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Interface Description checkbox when checked, receive mode is enabled and received peer information is saved in interface descriptions
Country Code string required for LLDP location support; input 2 letter ISO 3166 country code
Location string optional; specify the physical location of the host

11.9. NFS

The settings that are configured when creating NFS Shares in Sharing ‣ Unix (NFS) Shares ‣ Add Unix (NFS) Share are specific to each configured NFS Share. In contrast, global settings which apply to all NFS shares are configured in Services ‣ NFS.

Figure 11.9a shows the configuration screen and Table 11.9a summarizes the configuration options for the NFS service.

Figure 11.9a: Configuring NFS

_images/nfs1b.png

Table 11.9a: NFS Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Number of servers integer run sysctl -n kern.smp.cpus from Shell to determine the number; do not exceed the number listed in the output of that command
Serve UDP NFS clients checkbox check if NFS client needs to use UDP
Bind IP Addresses checkboxes select the IP address(es) to listen for NFS requests; if left unchecked, NFS will listen on all available addresses
Allow non-root mount checkbox check this box only if the NFS client requires it
Enable NFSv4 checkbox the default is to use NFSv3, check this box to switch to NFSv4
Require Kerberos for NFSv4 checkbox when checked, NFS shares will fail if the Kerberos ticket is unavailable
mountd(8) bind port integer optional; specify port for mountd(8) to bind to
rpc.statd(8) bind port integer optional; specify port for rpc.statd(8) to bind to
rpc.lockd(8) bind port integer optional; specify port for rpc.lockd(8) to bind to
Support>16 groups   check this box if any users are members of more than 16 groups (useful in AD environments); note that this assumes that group membership has been configured correctly on the NFS server

11.10. Rsync

Services ‣ Rsync is used to configure an rsync server when using rsync module mode. See the section on Rsync Module Mode for a configuration example.

This section describes the configurable options for the rsyncd service and rsync modules.

11.10.1. Configure Rsyncd

Figure 11.10a shows the rsyncd configuration screen which is accessed from Services ‣ Rsync ‣ Configure Rsyncd.

Figure 11.10a: Rsyncd Configuration

_images/rsyncd.png

Table 11.10a summarizes the options that can be configured for the rsync daemon:

Table 11.10a: Rsync Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
TCP Port integer port for rsyncd to listen on, default is 873
Auxiliary parameters string additional parameters from rsyncd.conf(5)

11.10.2. Rsync Modules

Figure 11.10b shows the configuration screen that appears when you click Services ‣ Rsync ‣ Rsync Modules ‣ Add Rsync Module.

Table 11.10b summarizes the options that can be configured when creating a rsync module.

Figure 11.10b: Adding an Rsync Module

_images/rsync3.png

Table 11.10b: Rsync Module Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Module name string mandatory; needs to match the setting on the rsync client
Comment string optional description
Path browse button volume/dataset to hold received data
Access Mode drop-down menu choices are Read and Write, Read-only, or Write-only
Maximum connections integer 0 is unlimited
User drop-down menu select user that file transfers to and from that module should take place as
Group drop-down menu select group that file transfers to and from that module should take place as
Hosts allow string see rsyncd.conf(5) for allowed formats
Hosts deny string see rsyncd.conf(5) for allowed formats
Auxiliary parameters string additional parameters from rsyncd.conf(5)

11.11. S.M.A.R.T.

FreeNAS® uses the smartd(8) service to monitor disk S.M.A.R.T. data for disk health. To fully configure S.M.A.R.T. you need to:

  1. Schedule when to run the S.M.A.R.T. tests in Tasks ‣ S.M.A.R.T. Tests ‣ Add S.M.A.R.T. Test.
  2. Enable or disable S.M.A.R.T. for each disk member of a volume in Volumes ‣ View Volumes. By default, this is already enabled on all disks that support S.M.A.R.T.
  3. Check the configuration of the S.M.A.R.T. service as described in this section.
  4. Start the S.M.A.R.T. service in Services ‣ Control Services.

Figure 11.11a shows the configuration screen that appears when you click Services ‣ S.M.A.R.T.

Figure 11.11a: S.M.A.R.T Configuration Options

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Note

smartd will wake up at every configured “Check Interval”. It will check the times you configured in Tasks ‣ S.M.A.R.T. Tests to see if any tests should be run. Since the smallest time increment for a test is an hour (60 minutes), it does not make sense to set a “Check Interval” value higher than 60 minutes. For example, if you set the “Check Interval” for 120 minutes and the smart test to every hour, the test will only be run every 2 hours since the daemon only wakes up every 2 hours.

Table 11.11a summarizes the options in the S.M.A.R.T configuration screen.

Table 11.11a: S.M.A.R.T Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Check interval integer in minutes, how often to wake up smartd to check to see if any tests have been configured to run
Power mode drop-down menu the configured test is not performed if the system enters the specified power mode; choices are: Never, Sleep, Standby, or Idle
Difference integer in degrees Celsius default of 0 disables this check, otherwise reports if the temperature of a drive has changed by N degrees Celsius since last report
Informational integer in degrees Celsius default of 0 disables this check, otherwise will message with a log level of LOG_INFO if the temperature is higher than specified degrees in Celsius
Critical integer in degrees Celsius default of 0 disables this check, otherwise will message with a log level of LOG_CRIT and send an email if the temperature is higher than specified degrees in Celsius
Email to report string email address of person or alias to receive S.M.A.R.T. alerts

11.12. SNMP

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is used to monitor network-attached devices for conditions that warrant administrative attention. FreeNAS® uses Net-SNMP to provide SNMP. When you start the SNMP service, the following port will be enabled on the FreeNAS® system:

  • UDP 161 (listens here for SNMP requests)

Available MIBS are located in /usr/local/share/snmp/mibs.

Figure 11.12a shows the SNMP configuration screen. Table 11.12a summarizes the configuration options.

Figure 11.12a: Configuring SNMP

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Table 11.12a: SNMP Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Location string optional description of system’s location
Contact string optional email address of administrator
SNMP v3 Support checkbox check this box to enable support for SNMP version 3
Community string password used on the SNMP network, default is public and should be changed for security reasons; this value can be empty for SNMPv3 networks
Username string only applies if “SNMP v3 Support” is checked; specify the username to register with this service; refer to snmpd.conf(5) for more information regarding the configuration of this setting as well as the “Authentication Type”, “Password”, “Privacy Protocol”, and “Privacy Passphrase” fields
Authentication Type drop-down menu only applies if “SNMP v3 Support” is checked; choices are MD5 or SHA
Password string only applies if “SNMP v3 Support” is checked; specify and confirm a password of at least 8 characters
Privacy Protocol drop-down menu only applies if “SNMP v3 Support” is checked; choices are AES or DES
Privacy Passphrase string if not specified, “Password” is used
Auxiliary Parameters string additional snmpd.conf(5) options not covered in this screen, one per line

11.13. SSH

Secure Shell (SSH) allows for files to be transferred securely over an encrypted network. If you configure your FreeNAS® system as an SSH server, the users in your network will need to use SSH client software in order to transfer files using SSH.

This section shows the FreeNAS® SSH configuration options, demonstrates an example configuration that restricts users to their home directory, and provides some troubleshooting tips.

Figure 11.13a shows the Services ‣ SSH configuration screen. Once you have configured SSH, don’t forget to start it in Services ‣ Control Services.

Figure 11.13a: SSH Configuration

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Table 11.13a summarizes the configuration options. Some settings are only available in “Advanced Mode”. To see these settings, either click the “Advanced Mode” button or configure the system to always display these settings by checking the box “Show advanced fields by default” in System ‣ Advanced.

Table 11.13a: SSH Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Bind Interfaces selection only available in “Advanced Mode”; by default, SSH listens on all interfaces unless you specify which interfaces by highlighting them in the “Available” field and adding them to the “Selected” field
TCP Port integer port to open for SSH connection requests; 22 by default
Login as Root with password checkbox for security reasons, root logins are discouraged and disabled by default if enabled, password must be set for root user in “View Users”
Allow Password Authentication checkbox if unchecked, key based authentication for all users is required; requires additional setup on both the SSH client and server
Allow Kerberos Authentication checkbox before checking this box, ensure that Kerberos Realms and Kerberos Keytabs have been configured and that the FreeNAS system can communicate with the KDC
Allow TCP Port Forwarding checkbox allows users to bypass firewall restrictions using SSH’s port forwarding feature
Compress Connections checkbox may reduce latency over slow networks
SFTP Log Level drop-down menu only available in “Advanced Mode”; select the syslog(3) level of the SFTP server
SFTP Log Facility drop-down menu only available in “Advanced Mode”; select the syslog(3) facility of the SFTP server
Extra Options string only available in “Advanced Mode”; additional sshd_config(5) options not covered in this screen, one per line; these options are case-sensitive and mis-spellings may prevent the SSH service from starting

A few sshd_config(5) options that are useful to input in the “Extra Options” field include:

  • increase the ClientAliveInterval if SSH connections tend to drop
  • ClientMaxStartup defaults to 10; increase this value if you need more concurrent SSH connections

11.13.1. SCP Only

When you configure SSH, authenticated users with a user account created using Account ‣ Users ‣ Add User can use the ssh command to login to the FreeNAS® system over the network. A user’s home directory will be the volume/dataset specified in the “Home Directory” field of their FreeNAS® user account. While the SSH login will default to the user’s home directory, users are able to navigate outside of their home directory which can pose a security risk.

It is possible to allow users to use the scp and sftp commands to transfer files between their local computer and their home directory on the FreeNAS® system, while restricting them from logging into the system using ssh. To configure this scenario, go to Account ‣ Users ‣ View Users, select the user and click “Modify User”, and change the user’s “Shell” to scponly. Repeat for each user that needs restricted SSH access.

Test the configuration from another system by running the sftp, ssh, and scp commands as the user. The sftp and scp commands should work but the ssh should fail.

Note

some utilities such as WinSCP and Filezilla can bypass the scponly shell. This section assumes that users are accessing the system using the command line versions of scp and sftp.

11.13.2. Troubleshooting SSH

If you add any “Extra Options”, be aware that the keywords listed in sshd_config(5) are case sensitive. This means that your configuration will fail to do what you intended if you do not match the upper and lowercase letters of the keyword.

If your clients are receiving “reverse DNS” or timeout errors, add an entry for the IP address of the FreeNAS® system in the “Host name database” field of Network ‣ Global Configuration.

When configuring SSH, always test your configuration as an SSH user account to ensure that the user is limited to what you have configured and that they have permission to transfer files within the intended directories. If the user account is experiencing problems, the SSH error messages are usually pretty specific to what the problem is. Type the following command within Shell to read these messages as they occur:

tail -f /var/log/messages

Additional messages regarding authentication errors may be found in /var/log/auth.log.

11.14. TFTP

Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is a light-weight version of FTP usually used to transfer configuration or boot files between machines, such as routers, in a local environment. TFTP provides an extremely limited set of commands and provides no authentication.

If the FreeNAS® system will be used to store images and configuration files for the network’s devices, configure and start the TFTP service. Starting the TFTP service will open UDP port 69.

Note

in versions of FreeNAS® prior to 8.3.0, TFTP is limited to a maximum file size of 32MB.

Figure 11.14a shows the TFTP configuration screen and Table 11.14a summarizes the available options:

Figure 11.14a: TFTP Configuration

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Table 11.14a: TFTP Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Directory browse button browse to an existing directory to be used for storage; some devices require a specific directory name, refer to the device’s documentation for details
Allow New Files checkbox enable if network devices need to send files to the system (e.g. backup their config)
Port integer UDP port to listen for TFTP requests, 69 by default
Username drop-down menu account used for tftp requests; must have permission to the “Directory”
Umask integer umask for newly created files, default is 022 (everyone can read, nobody can write); some devices require a less strict umask
Extra options string additional tftpd(8) options not shown in this screen, one per line

11.15. UPS

FreeNAS® uses NUT (Network UPS Tools) to provide UPS support. If the FreeNAS® system is connected to a UPS device, configure the UPS service then start it in Services ‣ Control Services.

Figure 11.15a shows the UPS configuration screen:

Figure 11.15a: UPS Configuration Screen

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Table 11.15a summarizes the options in the UPS Configuration screen.

Table 11.15a: UPS Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
UPS Mode drop-down menu select from Master or Slave
Identifier string can contain alphanumeric, period, comma, hyphen, and underscore characters
Driver drop-down menu supported UPS devices are listed at http://www.networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html
Port drop-down menu select the serial or USB port the UPS is plugged into (see NOTE below)
Auxiliary Parameters string additional options from ups.conf(5)
Description string optional
Shutdown mode drop-down menu choices are UPS goes on battery and UPS reaches low battery
Shutdown timer integer in seconds; will initiate shutdown after this many seconds after UPS enters UPS goes on battery, unless power is restored
Monitor User string default is upsmon
Monitor Password string default is known value fixmepass and should be changed; can not contain a space or #
Extra users string defines the accounts that have administrative access; see upsd.users(5) for examples
Remote monitor checkbox if enabled, be aware that the default is to listen on all interfaces and to use the known values user upsmon and password fixmepass
Send Email Status Updates checkbox if checked, activates the “To email” field
To email email address if “Send Email” box checked, email address of person to receive status updates
Email subject string if “Send Email” box checked, subject of email updates
Power Off UPS checkbox if checked, the UPS will also power off after shutting down the FreeNAS system

Note

for USB devices, the easiest way to determine the correct device name is to check the box “Show console messages” in System ‣ Advanced. Plug in the USB device and the console messages will give the name of the /dev/ugenX.X device; where the X’s are the numbers that show on the console.

upsc(8) can be used to get status variables from the UPS daemon such as the current charge and input voltage. It can be run from Shell using the following syntax. The man page gives some other usage examples.

upsc ups@localhost

upscmd(8) can be used to send commands directly to the UPS, assuming that the hardware supports the command being sent. Only users with administrative rights can use this command. These users are created in the “Extra users” field.

11.16. WebDAV

Beginning with FreeNAS® 9.3, WebDAV can be configured to provide a file browser over a web connection. Before starting this service, you must create at least one WebDAV share using Sharing ‣ WebDAV Shares ‣ Add WebDAV Share. Refer to WebDAV Shares for instructions on how to create a share and then how to connect to it once the service is configured and started.

The settings in the WebDAV service apply to all WebDAV shares. Figure 11.16a shows the WebDAV configuration screen. Table 11.16a summarizes the available options.

Figure 11.16a: WebDAV Configuration Screen

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Table 11.16a: WebDAV Configuration Options

Setting Value Description
Protocol drop-down menu choices are HTTP (connection always unencrypted), HTTPS (connection always encrypted), or HTTP+HTTPS (both types of connections allowed)
HTTP Port string only appears if the selected “Protocol” is HTTP or HTTP+HTTPS and is used to specify the port to be used for unencrypted connections; the default of 8080 should work, if you change it, do not pick a port number already being used by another service
HTTPS Port string only appears if the selected “Protocol” is HTTPS or HTTP+HTTPS and is used to specify the port to be used for encrypted connections; the default of 8081 should work, if you change it, do not pick a port number already being used by another service
Webdav SSL Certificate drop-down menu only appears if the selected “Protocol” is HTTPS or HTTP+HTTPS; select the the SSL certificate to be used for encrypted connections; to create a certificate, use System –> Certificates
HTTP Authentication drop-down menu choices are Basic Authentication (unencrypted) or Digest Authentication (encrypted)
Webdav Password string default is davtest; this should be changed as it is a known value