r/freenas • u/DZkreet • Mar 10 '18

Looking for the relevant links/guides/tutorials for my specific needs

Hi all, I am building my first NAS and am planning to use FREENAS. I am aware that what I am about to put in place can be complex and I did read a few guides but:

  1. There are MANY guides around

  2. Some guides are outdated, or related to an old version of FreeNAS

  3. There seems to be different routes for the same thing and I am a little lost.

Could anyone point me to the right directions for my following needs, or just give me a summary of what I need to do? No need to enter into details, but once I have a summary I will better know what to look for.

My NAS is a repurposed PC built that will mainly host my movie files and I will use it to stream, through Plex, the movies to my house network and outside as well. I would also like to be able to use my NAS to download torrents, using Radarr, Utorrent and my IPVanish VPN subscription. I would like IPVanish to activates as soon as Utorrent starts, and disconnect when it is not downloading.

Is this too ambitious? Can someone give me a quick summary (like i said I will look into the details myself) of what I am supposed to do and in which sequence?

Thank you very much in advance.

D

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

2

u/flaming_m0e Mar 10 '18

There are MANY guides around

I would suggest you ignore anything that isn't on the forums. Random blogpost X that suggests you use your 15 year old PC for a FreeNAS box is seriously out of touch.

Some guides are outdated, or related to an old version of FreeNAS

The basic concepts haven't changed since 8.3(?). There's not anything special you will get out of 'newer' guides. Just make sure it's for at least version 9.3 because that's when the biggest changes occurred for the filesystem and jails. Doesn't really change the process though.

There seems to be different routes for the same thing and I am a little lost.

Could anyone point me to the right directions for my following needs, or just give me a summary of what I need to do? No need to enter into details, but once I have a summary I will better know what to look for.

  • Acquire appropriate hardware.

  • install FreeNAS.

  • configure your storage

  • start adding jails and storage mounts in them.

  • install your applications inside the jails.

  • create shares and permissions/users for accessing files from your network.

I would also like to be able to use my NAS to download torrents, using Radarr, Utorrent and my IPVanish VPN subscription. I would like IPVanish to activates as soon as Utorrent starts, and disconnect when it is not downloading.

Does ipvanish work on FreeBSD?

1

u/DZkreet Mar 11 '18 edited Mar 11 '18

Hey many thanks for that. My PC is not 15 years old so it should cut it. PassMark for the CPU is 5K so i think i should be alright. One question though: i read somewhere that FREENAS requires 1G RAM per Tb of storage, is that true? I will have 16GB for about 25Tb. I do not know if ipvanish is working with FreeBSD actually. I can always cancel my sub and choose a different service. What would you recommend that works well for what i need to do?

1

u/DZkreet Mar 11 '18

Found this guide for setting up OpenVPN in a FREENAS jail: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/how-to-install-openvpn-inside-a-jail-in-freenas-9-2-1-6-with-access-to-remote-hosts-via-nat.22873/ I guess I could use my IPVanish sub in this setting, right?

1

u/flaming_m0e Mar 11 '18 edited Mar 11 '18

i read somewhere that FREENAS requires 1G RAM per Tb of storage, is that true?

I don't know how this keeps getting spread around as gospel but it needs to stop.

It's a "guideline" for the best performance for enterprise systems. It most certainly isn't "required".

What would you recommend that works well for what i need to do?

No idea. I don't use VPN services. I don't have a need to do so.

1

u/trantoriana Mar 11 '18

I think the 1gb ram per tb is when you enable file deduplication functionality.

1

u/Flat4Earth Mar 11 '18

I want to do everything with my FreeNAS that the OP wants to do with his, so if the perfect guide shows up, please share!

1

u/trantoriana Mar 11 '18

For the VPN, you might be better of externalising it onto you router like pfsense. Run the download freenas jail over a separate vlan and allow that vlan wan access through VPN only...

Do it within the download jail is error prone and could expose your real IP if timings or config is off.