.. _FreeNAS® Support Resources:

FreeNAS® Support Resources
===========================

FreeNAS® has a large installation base and an active user community.
This means that many usage questions have already been answered and
the details are available on the Internet. If you get stuck using
FreeNAS®, spend a few moments searching the Internet for the word
*FreeNAS* with some key words that describe your error message or the
function that you are trying to implement.

The rest of this section discusses the following resources which are
available to FreeNAS® users:

* :ref:`Website and Social Media`

* :ref:`Forums`

* :ref:`IRC`

* :ref:`Mailing Lists`

* :ref:`Videos`

* :ref:`Professional Support`

* :ref:`Training`

.. _Website and Social Media:

Website and Social Media
------------------------

The
`FreeNAS® website <http://www.freenas.org/>`_
contains links to all of the available documentation, support, and
social media resources. Major announcements are also posted to the
main page.

Users are welcome to network on the FreeNAS® social media sites:

* `LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/groups/FreeNAS8-3903140>`_

* `Google+ <https://plus.google.com/110373675402281849911/posts>`_

* `Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/freenascommunity>`_

* `Twitter <https://twitter.com/freenasteam>`_


.. index:: Forums
.. _Forums:

Forums
------

Another information source is the FreeNAS® Forums which contain
user-contributed tips and guides which have been categorized, making
it an ideal resource if you wish to learn more about a certain aspect
of FreeNAS®. A searchbar is included should you wish to search by
keyword; alternately, you can click a category to browse through the
threads that exist for that topic.

The following categories are available under **Forum Information:**

* `Forum Guidelines
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/forum-guidelines-read-before-posting.26/>`_:
  read this first before creating a forum post.

* `Announcements
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/announcements.27/>`_:
  subscribe to this forum if you wish to receive announcements about
  new FreeNAS® versions and features.

The following categories are available under **Help and Support:**

* `New to FreeNAS?
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/new-to-freenas.5/>`_:
  post here if you are new to FreeNAS® and are unsure which category
  best matches your question.

* `Feature Requests
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/feature-requests.6/>`_:
  for the discussion of upcoming features.

* `Bug Reporting
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/bug-reporting.7/>`_:
  use this forum if you think you have found a bug in FreeNAS® and
  want to discuss it before creating a support ticket.

* `Hardware
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/hardware.18/>`__: for
  the discussion of hardware and tips for getting the most out of your
  hardware.

* `User Authentication
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/user-authentication.19/>`_:
  LDAP and Active Directory.

* `Sharing
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/sharing.20/>`_: AFP,
  CIFS, NFS, and iSCSI.

* `Storage
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/storage.21/>`_:
  replication, snapshots, volumes, and ZFS.

* `Networking
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/networking.22/>`_:
  networking hardware, performance, link aggregation, VLANs, DDNS,
  FTP, SNMP, SSH, and TFTP.

* `Installation
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/installation.32/>`__:
  installing help or advice before performing the installation.

* `Plugins
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/plugins.34/>`_:
  provides a discussion area for creating and troubleshooting PBIs.

The following categories are available under **Development:**

* `FreeNAS
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/freenas.9/>`_: general
  development discussion.

* `nanobsd
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/nanobsd.10/>`_: the
  embedded operating system FreeNAS® is based upon.

* `Django
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/django.11/>`_: the web
  framework used by the FreeNAS® graphical administrative interface.

* `Dojo Toolkit
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/dojo-toolkit.12/>`_:
  the javascript toolkit used to create widgets and handle client side
  processing.

The following categories are available under **How-To Guides:**

* `Hacking
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/hacking.14/>`_:
  undocumented tricks for getting the most out of your FreeNAS®
  system.

* `Installation
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/installation.15/>`__:
  specific installation scenarios (hardware and/or software).

* `Configuration
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/configuration.16/>`_:
  specific configuration scenarios (e.g. software or client
  configuration).

* `Hardware
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/hardware.17/>`__:
  instructions for setting up specific hardware.

* `Useful Scripts
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/useful-scripts.47/>`_:
  user-contributed scripts.

If you are looking for tips on how to test and increase the
performance of your system, check out the `Performance
<https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/performance.37/>`_
forum.

The following categories are available under **Community Forum:**

* `Off-topic
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/off-topic.23/>`_: want
  to discuss something of interest to FreeNAS® users but which is not
  necessarily related to FreeNAS®? This is your place.

* `Resources
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/resources.24/>`_:

  blogs, reviews, and other sources of FreeNAS® information not listed 
  at
  `freenas.org <http://www.freenas.org/>`_.

* `Introductions
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/introductions.25/>`_:
  FreeNAS® Community meet 'n greet - introduce yourself and let us
  know who we are chatting with.

The following language-specific categories are available under
**International**, allowing FreeNAS® users to interact with each other
in their native language:

* `Dutch - Nederlands
  <http://forums.freenas.org/forumdisplay.php?35-Dutch-Nederlands>`_

* `French - Francais
  <http://forums.freenas.org/forumdisplay.php?29-French-Francais>`_

* `German - Deutsch
  <http://forums.freenas.org/forumdisplay.php?31-German-Deutsch>`_

* `Italian - Italiano
  <http://forums.freenas.org/forumdisplay.php?30-Italian-Italiano>`_

* `Portuguese - Português
  <http://forums.freenas.org/forums/portuguese-português.44/>`_

* `Russian <http://goo.gl/sCMUe5>`_

* `Spanish - Espanol
  <http://forums.freenas.org/forumdisplay.php?33-Spanish-Espanol>`_

* `Swedish - Svenske
  <https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?forums/swedish-svenske.51/>`_

* `Turkish - Türkçe
  <http://forums.freenas.org/forumdisplay.php?36-Turkish-T%FCrk%E7e>`_

If you wish to ask a question on the forum, you will need to click the
"Sign Up Now!" link to create an account and login using that account.

When asking a question on the forum, it is important that you:

* First check to see if the question has already been asked. If you
  find a similar question, do not create a new thread. Instead use the
  "Reply" link at the bottom of the post to add your comments to the
  existing thread.

* Review the available categories to see which one is most closely
  related to your question. Click on that category and use the
  "Post New Thread" button to open the editor. After typing your post
  and before you click the "Create Thread" button, make sure the
  "Watch this thread..." box is checked. If you want to be notified by
  email, also check the "and receive email notifications" box. That
  way you will be notified whenever anyone answers your question.

.. index:: IRC
.. _IRC:

IRC
---

If you wish to ask a question in real time, you can try the *#freenas*
channel on IRC
`Freenode <http://freenode.net/index.shtml>`_.
Depending upon the time of day and your time zone, a FreeNAS®
developer or other FreeNAS® users may be available to assist you. If
you do not get an answer right away, remain on the channel as other
users tend to read the channel history in order to answer questions as
they are able to.

Typically, an IRC `client
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_Relay_Chat_clients>`_
is used to access the *#freenas* IRC channel. Alternately, you can
access the
`webchat <http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=freenas>`_
version of the channel from a web browser.

To get the most out of the IRC channel, keep the following points in
mind:

* Do not ask "can anyone help me?"; instead, just ask your question.
  If someone knows the answer, they will try to assist you.

* Do not ask a question and then leave. Users who know the answer
  cannot help you if you disappear.

* Do not take it personally if no one answers or demand that someone
  answers your question. Maybe no one who knows the answer is
  available, maybe your question is really hard, or maybe it is a
  question that has already been answered many times in the other
  support resources. Try asking again in a few hours or research the
  other resources to see if you have missed anything.

* Do not post error messages in the channel as the IRC software will
  probably kick you out. Instead, use a pasting service such as
  `pastebin <http://www.pastebin.com/>`_
  and paste the resulting URL into the IRC discussion.

.. index:: Mailing Lists
.. _Mailing Lists:

Mailing Lists
-------------

Several FreeNAS® mailing lists are available which allow users and
developers to ask and answer questions related to the topic of the
mailing list. To post an email to a list, you will need to subscribe
to it first. Each mailing list is archived, allowing you to browse for
information by date, thread name, or author.

The following mailing lists are available:

* `Freenas-announce
  <http://lists.freenas.org/mailman/listinfo/freenas-announce>`_:
  this is a low-volume, read-only list where major milestones, such as
  new releases, are announced.

* `Freenas-commit
  <http://lists.freenas.org/mailman/listinfo/freenas-commit>`_:
  this is a read-only list. As code changes in the FreeNAS®
  repository, the commit message is automatically sent to this list.

* `Freenas-devel
  <http://lists.freenas.org/mailman/listinfo/freenas-devel>`_:
  FreeNAS® developers are subscribed to this list. Technical questions
  about the current FreeNAS® release can be posted here.

* `Freenas-docs
  <http://lists.freenas.org/mailman/listinfo/freenas-docs>`_:
  this list is for discussion regarding
  `FreeNAS® documentation <http://doc.freenas.org/>`_.

* `Freenas-testing
  <http://lists.freenas.org/mailman/listinfo/freenas-testing>`_:
  FreeNAS® developers are subscribed to this list. Technical questions
  about the upcoming FreeNAS® release and feedback on testing
  snapshots can be posted here.

* `Freenas-translations
  <http://lists.freenas.org/mailman/listinfo/freenas-translations>`_:
  this list is for discussion regarding
  `FreeNAS® localization <http://pootle.freenas.org/>`_
  and translating FreeNAS® documentation.

.. note:: the mailing lists were migrated from SourceForge to Mailman
          in December, 2013. Archives of the SourceForge mailing lists
          are available at `Gmane
          <http://dir.gmane.org/index.php?prefix=gmane.os.freenas>`_.

.. _Videos:

Videos
------

A series of instructional videos are available for FreeNAS®. They
include:

* `Changes in FreeNAS® 9.3
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weKWqmbWdR4>`_

* `FreeNAS 9.3 Updates <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC7af_ahwSE>`_

* `How to Upgrade FreeNAS 9.3
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L61IJF98eP8>`_

* `How to Install FreeNAS 9.3
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-mRgeDS8rk>`_

* `FreeNAS® 9.3 Shares Overview (AFP, NFS, CIFS, + New WebDAV)
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVJQ0Vx_6i4>`_

* `How to Replace HDD in FreeNAS® 9.3
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8bvtj-LQ_A>`_

* `TrueNAS 9.3 Snapshots Setup
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R92wb_xN9k4>`_

* `Install Murmur (Mumble server) on FreeNAS/FreeBSD
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAeZRNfarJc>`_

* `FreeNAS 9.3 - First Time Setup Wizard
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isvHJ51YRBk>`_

* `FreeNAS® 9.3 Permissions Overview
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBszScnsRgY>`_

* `FreeNAS 9.3 iSCSI Overview
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvyOWlFISdo&>`_

* `FreeNAS 9.10 - Certificate Authority & SSL Certificates
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT1Le5VQIc0>`_


.. index:: Professional Support
.. _Professional Support:

Professional Support
--------------------

In addition to the freely available community resources, professional
support may be available through iXsystem's network of third-party
consultants. Submit a support inquiry using the form at
`<https://www.ixsystems.com/freenas-commercial-support/>`_.

.. index:: Training
.. _Training:

Training
--------

iXsystems also offers professional training modules. Each module is
designed to accelerate your FreeNAS® learning curve and to save you
hours of learning by trial and error. FreeNAS® training classes are
1-4 hours in length, topic-specific, and provide the information you
need to quickly get up to speed in FreeNAS® and ZFS. Refer to the
`FreeNAS Training and Certification website
<http://www.freenas.org/freenas-zfs-training/>`_ for more information
about the courses, pricing, and availability.
