Configuration Of The FreeNAS SMART Monitoring Service

I would recommend you set up email notifications before configuring this.

Click “Services” in the left column, scroll down to find “S.M.A.R.T.”, and click the pencil icon to the right.

A window should now pop up.

In the window leave the “Check interval:” set at its default value of 30 minutes.

Fester sets the “Power mode:” drop down selection box to Never. This will ensure that the drives are checked no matter what their status.

Leave the “Difference:” and “Informational:” text boxes at their default value of 0.

Now set the drive temperature warning threshold called “Critical:” by putting the desired value into the corresponding text box. Any figures placed here are in degrees Celsius (Fester favours a figure of 50^o C, but the prevailing view among active members of the FreeNAS forums is 40^o C). If any of the drives being monitored reaches or exceeds the temperature stated in the text box then the server will issue a warning.

Now enter in the “Email” text box the internal email address of the user the SMART monitor service is to alert (in Fester’s case this is r[email protected]).

Then click the “Save” button.

The final thing is to test it works.

Go back into the SMART service configuration window by clicking on that small spanner icon again.

In the “Critical:” text box enter a value that is way below the ambient temperature of the room in which the server is situated (Fester suggests about 1^o C should do it).

Now click the “Save” button and wait.

Due to the fact that the temperature of the HDDs in the server will be higher than the threshold we have set, a warning email should be triggered. When you get the email you know the service is working.

Be sure to return the value in the “Critical:” text box to a more appropriate value when you are done.