The nologin option should not be selected as it will not permit access to the account. Shell – This parameter specifies the login shell for our new user rsync. User ID – Unless you have a specific reason to change the User ID you should retain whatever FreeNAS has chosen for you here, typically UID 1001 if this is your first new user account on FreeNAS. Password – Our plans include generating and using ssh keys to authenticate the FreeBSD machine to the FreeNAS machine and not passwords, so leave these fields blank. For purposes of our example though let’s enter rsync.įull Name – This field should match the Name field, so enter rsync again here. You’re welcome to use any user name you’d like here. Name – This is the login name of the new user.

The following parameters will need to be configured: We’ll also create a new user account in FreeNAS named “rsync,” which we will enable access to via ssh but limit its use solely for the purpose of backing up files using rsync.īegin by logging into the FreeNAS web interface, navigate to Access->Users and Groups->Users and select the “+” icon to create a new user account. We’re going to use ssh as our transport method. There are two ways for the FreeBSD machine to contact FreeNAS using rsync: using a remote-shell program as the transport (such as ssh or rsh) or contacting an rsync daemon directly via TCP. The software versions used in this post were as follows: All steps involved assume you have a running implementation of FreeBSD and FreeNAS.

In this post I will describe how to configure FreeBSD, FreeNAS and rsync to securely backup files located on FreeNAS to a FreeBSD machine located at a remote location. It offers a large number of options, including the ability to copy locally, to/from another host over any remote shell, or to/from a remote rsync daemon and, the ability to preserve symbolic links, hard links, file ownership, permissions, devices and times. It’s famous for its “delta-transfer” algorithm, which reduces the amount of data sent over the network by sending only the differences between the source files and the existing files in the destination. rsync is an open source file copying utility for Linux/Unix systems. FreeNAS is an open source storage platform based on FreeBSD that supports file sharing across Windows, Apple, and Unix/Linux systems.

How to install portsnap on freenas