File server

File server#

The File server application is built with Samba. It provides shared folders and home directories to users and groups of an Active Directory domain.

This application is available by installing a Samba account provider (see Active Directory) with the Provide file shares and authentication to Windows clients switch enabled.

Warning

Only one domain controller in the AD domain can be configured with a LAN IP address and serves Authentication, Shares and DNS to Windows clients. Other DCs are bound to the cluster private VPN and are accessible only to cluster applications.

Shared folders#

Open Samba application from the app drawer, select Shared folders from the left menu and click on Create shared folder.

The following parameters are required to create the new shared folder:

  • Name: the name of the shared folder

  • Description: free text, displayed to SMB clients as the “share comment”

  • Main group: select a domain group to assign initial permissions to the share

  • Initial permissions: pick one of the three available choices. Note that in any case the Domain Admins group is initially granted full privileges.

    1. Main group can read and write, everyone else can read

    2. Main group can read and write, everyone else has no access

    3. Everyone can read and write, main group included

Note

To access the shared folder it is necessary to provide valid domain credentials. Anonymous or guest access is not allowed for security reasons [1].

Once created, from the three-dots menu, the following actions are available on the shared folder:

  • Edit description: change the share descriptive text

  • Set permissions: remove any existing ACLs and recursively grant new initial ACLs

  • Delete: remove the shared folder and its contents

The Show ACLs button displays the filesystem ACLs applied to the shared folder root directory. It is possible to edit ACLs with a SMB client, like the Windows Explorer application installed with Windows Pro flavours, or the smbcacls command provided by the Samba project.

Restore File server from backup#

Warning

To avoid reconfiguring network clients, the system should provide the same IP address that was used in the Samba File server backup.

First of all, apply the procedure described in Restore applications by selecting the backup of the Samba module.

If the restored controller is the first of the domain there are two alternatives:

  1. If the system IP address is the same used in the backup set, DC services are started automatically and no further actions are required.

  2. If the previous condition does not apply, DC services are started using the system VPN IP address as fallback. A similar command is required to select another IP address in a second time:

    api-cli run module/samba0/set-ipaddress --data '{"ipaddress": "10.15.21.100"}'

    Replace samba0 with the correct module identifier. Replace the ipaddress value with the correct IP address.

Otherwise, if one or more domain controllers already exist:

  • go to Domain and users page and open the Unconfigured provider link;

  • fill the form to join a new DC to the domain.

Footnotes