Is there a file manager app for pools?

TrueNAS General
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Hello everyone. My first post on the new forum. I have used the old forum many times in the past and was directed here for new questions.

If you don’t feel like reading below details I need a file manager app.

I recently had to learn a little but not everything about SSH so I can delete a folder in a dataset on my 50TB TrueNAS server that I could not delete by connecting to it through my regular ways which is a SMB share. I was very nervous doing this procedure as from what I have read that SSH connection to a server is basically like you are on a physical computer and can easily destroy data. I am not very familiar with freebsd commands but I can follow written directions well and that is how I was able to create from scratch my 57TB TrueNAS server that uses 8 drives, 2 datasets and has been running flawlessly for most of 5 years now! Thanks TrueNAS! I only had to shut down the server a couple times, which was to change fans and to change the MINI SAS to SATA cables.

So I will get to my question. Is there a graphical file manager app that I can put on my TruNAS machine that will make emergency file manipulation easier and faster on the datasets instead of sending files back and forth over my gigabit network? I don’t have anything installed on the server except what comes with the TrueNAS.install. My current version is TrueNAS Core 13.0-U6.1. I did not update it as I do not see any benefits for my current configuration. Also, I only reboot the server when absolutely necessary.

So to fix problems and I want to move large amounts of data between datasets the way I do it now is that everything gets sent over the network to the computer I have the SMB share on and then back to the server which is slow. So the data comes to my remote SMB share computer and makes a sharp u-turn and goes back to the server over the single gigabit connection. It is easy that way but very slow with 35TB of data currently on it. Also, as I found out, it is not 100% exact as one folder would not want to be deleted because of a weird EVERYONE permission issue which is why I had to fix it recently with SSH and thought if there is a way to do this with a file manager right on the server.

I will list my machine specs and additional info if you are interested:

CPU: Intel CORE I3-10100
RAM: 128 GB DDR4 3200
Cache drive: NVME 256 GB
HBA: LSI Broadcom SAS 9300-8i 8-port 12Gb/s SATA+SAS PCI-Express 3.0
Boot drive: 120 GB SATA
Pool 1: 6 x 14 TB SATA drives 2 of those drives are parity I’m unsure of the correct terminology here but I think it’s ZFS RAID-Z2? I also have spare identical 14 TB drive on a shelf ready for replacement if needed at any time.
Pool 2: 2 x 8 TB SATA drives that are encrypted and mirrored for most security.
LAN: Built in Gigabit on motherboard.

All storage drives I’m using originally were Western Digital external USB units that I shucked. There was a good deal at the time and I went for it. Also I like that they are lower RPM so they should last a long time and with the cache drive and lots of ram I have not run into any speed issues so far. Server has almost 100% uptime since built with not one physical error. The system consumes 100W running idle.

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Not really. FileBrowser is the closest, but it isn’t designed to handle the whole pool. iX accepted a feature request to add one several years ago, but we’re still waiting for it to be implemented.

The closest alternative, which has been installed by default on TrueNAS for several years, is the Midnight Commander. mc to start it. More information here:

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Wow! I am shocked! Have you used this and noticed any problems? Like stability of the TruNAS server or weird errors? This kind of reminds me of System Comander or Dosshell from back in the dos days! And I think I know the answer to this but I guess this is not recommended by IX?

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mc is pretty much a clone of the old Norton Commander. I use it pretty routinely and don’t experience (or imagine) any problems that would result from it–obviously you shouldn’t be messing with system files this way, but that’s true anyway.

As to whether it’s “recommended by iX,” it’s really hard to say. They made the affirmative decision to include this tool (there was a time when it wasn’t there), so I think it’s safe to say they don’t violently oppose its use.

Edit: I’d overlooked that you’re running CORE. There are no “apps” for CORE, nor are there (any more) plugins, which you never should have been using in the first place. There are apps for SCALE/Community Edition, one of which is FileBrowser, but again it really isn’t designed to manage the whole pool.

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Hmm. I was happy for a sec but then you said that this will not work on Core. So what if I install Scale? will it detect the datasets I already made with Core?

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What did I say will not work on CORE? mc works perfectly on CORE. Plugins on CORE are long since dead.

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You said previously there is no apps for Core. Isn’t Midnight Commander an app?

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No, at least not in the sense in which I meant “apps”–as I think is obvious from my saying it works perfectly on CORE.

“Apps” as I was using the term are the SCALE/Community Edition parallel to plugins on CORE, though hopefully iX will be more committed to maintaining them. They’re additional software that you can install through the web interface that now (as of 24.10) runs under Docker, and in almost all cases they each have their own web interface. One of those apps is FileBrowser, which I’d mentioned above.

There’s a sense in which any piece of software an end-user might run could be considered an application, but that isn’t the sense in which I was using the term.

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Ok then I apologize. I like how my machine is running now and don’t want to mess it up with software that may not be safe for it. One day I will make another one with better hardware. Thanks for your time and responses as no one else wanted too. I will give this Midnight Commander a try in the near future.