bsd nas ( + vbox web-gui ! )

[mocore]

on a bit of a tangent from "Linux NAS Hardware" http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,1851.0.html

i have been looking for some kind of similar sloution!

and found xigmanas , 500mb live image

https://xigmanas.com/xnaswp/

"XigmaNAS can be installed on an extremely wide range of hardware.
Anything from an actual server to an old repurposed computer you may have laying around. "

the hw compatability wiki @ https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=xigmanas_users_hardware
has a much depth esp wrt to disks

all though curently im winging it  re/up-cycling "old" slavaged skyhd box 500GB/1TB  & repurposed pc 

after boot a prompt with an options list
can be used to configure / manage / access some essentual functions 
 like config network , install to disk , start stop web-gui server , set  web-gui password , manage web-gui access
 
and many more options are  acessable via web-gui control panel

which intrestingly includes some kind of  virtualbox box web-gui !
with guest remote display avalable via vnc

of corse cli/ssh access is also avalable!

install was fairly simple enough
( i had some problems/error's with laptop dvd + sata2usb adaptor , older laptop dvd in pata2usb caddy worked )
install option gpt/efi only worked on a board with EFI booted in efi mode
mbr option work when the gpt/efi options failed to boot after sucessfull install ( perhaps this could have been fixed in bios cfg ??)

last partition (pt3) step has option to use all remaning space

after install
adding primary disk and the (pt3) "data" mount point  in the web gui


to get tcl iso inorder to test in vbox

i had to install wget
> pkg install wget

then grab something to test

> cd /mnt/data
> wget $some_core_iso


in the virtualsation tab of the web gui 
chnage some settings
eg vbox home dir to cd /mnt/data
and enable ( top tight chkbox )
save
then just follow the  "Administrative WebGUI (phpVirtualBox)" link

i briefly setup/tested services/ftp

it appears rsync is avalable , which could be usefull for eg: local mirroring

if any one happens to get git web working in XigmaNAS ,
please share you methods hear !

..after some small atempts , (iguess) the path forward is a advansed/"full" install ( which i imagin is like traditional/scater mode install to disk ??)
or some bsd bind mount equivlent (nullfs) !
or unionfs ??
as it appears?? git must be rebuilt with git web option ??
and trying to add ports to XigmaNAS live install runs out of space =p

simpleer option might be  tc + git-web in vm ... 

  hope the above is useful or at least understanable/readable xD

[gadget42]

enjoyed reading these:

https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=xigmanas_users_hardware

https://blocksandfiles.com/2020/04/14/wd-red-nas-drives-shingled-magnetic-recording/

https://blocksandfiles.com/2020/04/15/shingled-drives-have-non-shingled-zones-for-caching-writes/

sharing is caring

[mocore]

gadget42  noproblem!
just goes to show
"Life *is* like a box of chocolates hard disks!. You never know what you're gonna get."


...ftr  wrt modifying this nas fs/config

XigmaNAS is a continuation of the original FreeNAS code

https://archiveos.org/nas4free/

People tend to forget that the base for FreeNAS is actually NanoBSD which is FreeBSD version for embedded devices.

- https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/build-a-zfs-nas-no-i-dont-want-freenas.50054/post-281122

..curiouser and curiouser...

https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/nanobsd/index.html - Introduction to NanoBSD

A NanoBSD image is built using a simple nanobsd.sh shell script, which can be found in the /usr/src/tools/tools/nanobsd directory.

intresting indeed !!

as if the situation with *some* hardisk was ot bad enough
i have also read that other off the shelf  nas-hardware might come with its own hw/sw chalanges

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/freebsd-on-synology-nas-hardware.78289/

 on the subject of xigmanas , they are now aparently building  on (debian)linux
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/06/truenas-isnt-abandoning-bsd-but-it-is-adopting-linux/
https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/starting-our-next-open-source-project-truenas-scale.85203/
https://github.com/truenas/scale-build

 

[mocore]

https://old.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/12gumrn/truenas_is_sunsetting_freebsd_based_products/
...
https://old.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/12gumrn/truenas_is_sunsetting_freebsd_based_products/jfpcz5t/

 
https://old.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/12gumrn/truenas_is_sunsetting_freebsd_based_products/jfmmvlp/

If you can read through, understand, and follow about three chapters of the FreeBSD handbook, then you don't need FreeNAS or TrueNAS because they don't offer anything the OS doesn't offer in a straightforward way. The same can't be said for Linux, AFAIK, so for that platform having an app is more valuable and necessary.

Linux is basically going the way of Windows where it will have all these utilities that only make sense within the context of Linux, i.e. they solve problems that Linux has and other OSs don't have. Docker is a good example - there is no FreeBSD equivalent because FreeBSD doesn't have the same dependency issues.