New FreeNAS Beta (r5606)

Just after the release of the first beta, a couple of serious problems came to life. As such, we've respun the release to fix these issues.

• gmirror error displayed bogusly
• the extremely long write times for disks
• The lack of feedback during the installation (although with the significantly faster imaging, this is much less of an issue).
• Default ownership and permission for Windows shares has been fixed
• Shares are browseable by default now
• The extra and redundant steps in the installer have been eliminated
• The inconsistent menus in the installer have been made regular
• A ZFS issue on reboot has been corrected
• Multi-line config fields have been fixed
• Problems with snmp have been resolve
• proftpd's config file is now generated properly the second time
• minor nits fixed in many places

You can find the release notes or the release. Stay tuned for more updates.

FreeNAS 8 Beta released

iXsystems is pleased to announced FreeNAS 8.0 Beta. FreeNAS 8.0 has undergone a complete rewrite. We've redesigned the GUI to be easier to use and extend. We've upgraded many technologies in the system for improved hardware support, faster I/O, better modularity, and easier upgrades. We trust that you'll find the system easier to use and, in time, much more feature rich than the current FreeNAS offering.

The base system has migrated from FreeBSD 7.x and the m0m0wall build system to FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE and NanoBSD. The system startup has migrated from the older php scripts to the standard FreeBSD rc.d boot system. We've pushed many of the bug fixes and system improvements back into FreeBSD.

We've rewritten the GUI using Python and Django. We've completely removed the old php system. In addition to Django, we're using Dojango and Dojo to implement AJAX features. The new system is much more modular than the old system. We will use this modularity in a future version for easy integration of custom features into your FreeNAS box.

The installer has been rewritten using pc-sysinstall, the future FreeBSD installation technology. The scripts have a similar feel to the old PHP scripts for users of the current system. The ISO now is only an installer. You can no longer run in live mode from a CDROM.

The installation types have changed; there's no longer an embedded or full install, nor can the image be installed on a data disk. You must now install FreeNAS onto a dedicated device. FreeNAS supports USB flash, CompactFlash, hard drives, ssd or any other mass storage device supported by FreeBSD.

FreeNAS 8.0 features ZFS version 14.

FreeNAS 8.0 beta has retained the core functionality of a storage appliance. The media center features of the box have not been reimplemented in the core FreeNAS package. A media center add-on package will provide this functionality in the future. We've focused on creating a robust, easy-to-use, and extensible system. We're creating the base to allow other types of packages to be added, such as printer support, scanner support, or home automation.

To help prioritize what current features are turned into packages in future FreeNAS releases, please visit http://support.freenas.org/ to provide feedback. Please add feature requests tickets. If a feature you would like to see in FreeNAS already has a ticket please just subscribe to it add a small comment, even if it's a "++." It will help us better judge and meet community needs.

You can download FreeNAS from Source Forge and read all the release notes on our wiki.