File Server for arbitrary directory

Feature
,
1

I’d like to use nethserver as a file server, but I want to store the data “somewhere else” - and not in /var/lib/nethserver/ibay.

Is it ok (and possibly supported?) if I do the following

  • cd /home

  • mkdir /myexternaldata (in reality, I want to use an iSCSI-NAS here)

  • cd /var/lib/nethserver/ibay

  • mkdir myNASshare

  • mount -B /home/myexternaldata /var/lib/nethserver/ibay/myNASshare

  • then I go to nethserver’s web interface and “create” a share named “myNASshare”.

At first sight, this seems to work - but I want to rule out that this procedure can collide with anything running invisibly,

2

Hi Ralf welcome here!

Check these posts:

3

Thanks, Alessio, and I had found these two before, too.
As I am quite new to Unix (including CentOS, of course), I am a bit weary still.

But I guess that I may take your links as a “Yes” to my main question?
This means, the way I described is “quite ok”, is it?

4

Almost :slight_smile: Just invert the 2 last steps:

  • go to nethserver’s web interface and “create” a share named “myNASshare”.
  • mount -B /home/myexternaldata /var/lib/nethserver/ibay/myNASshare (you can it to the fstab also)

This is not the best solution. but should work for most scenarios.

5

Why so? (Of course, I’d like to learn how things work :wink: …)

“My way” did work apparently, so why should I do it the other way around?
Can it be a problem if I create a share with the GUI if the directory already exists?
Or, why do you recommend “your way”?

6

Because the system takes care to correctly set all permissions.
“Your way” doesn’t break anything right now, but it may change in the future :wink: