View source for Building a Storage Server

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{{!}}+ Proven on:
{{!}}- --="" debian=""
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{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 40px;" {{!}} 12 (bookworm)
{{!}} Developed as a LXC

<br>
{{!}}}

We will be creating our storage server as an [[PVE LXC Containers|LXC]] under [[Proxmox Stuff|Proxmox]] with dedicated physical drives on the physical server.

With a bit of thought, you'll note that most of these instructions apply just as well without the dedicated drive(s) involved.

(NOTE: any file/folder names in '''''bold & italic''''' here are examples of what I'm doing on a local system & may be different depending on YOUR needs...)

== Building the LXC under Proxmox ==

=== Configuring the LXC ===
Configure this as a '''Privileged''' container.

Under '''Options / Features''', turn on '''Nesting''', '''NFS''' & '''SMB/CIFS.'''

It will simply your life if you can set up local users matching each network user that will be accessing this server. On my network, there are only 3 users that match this criteria. But, you may want to look into [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos_(protocol) kerberos] or some such.

For our purposes here, we'll simply create each user in the simplest way

(Done while logged into the LXC)
* <code>sudo adduser '''user1'''</code>
* <code>sudo adduser '''user2'''</code>
* <code>sudo adduser '''user3'''</code>
(And, of course, simply fill in the appropriate information for each user...)

=== Setting up dedicated drives ===
(Done while logged into the server itself)

See: [[Adding a new drive from the command line]]

Personally, I like to handle my drives '''by label''' to make them easier to find & move around if needed.

In this case, I'm adding 5 drives to the LXC...

This section is to be done while logged into the Proxmox server as '''root'''.

Create mountpoints for the drives:

* <code>mkdir '''''/mnt/Storage-0'''''</code>
* <code>mkdir '''''/mnt/Storage-1'''''</code>
* <code>mkdir '''''/mnt/Storage-2'''''</code>
* <code>mkdir '''''/mnt/Storage-3'''''</code>
* <code>mkdir '''''/mnt/Storage-4'''''</code>
Mount your dedicated drives on the Physical server itself. To do this at the command line:

* <code>mount -L '''''Storage-0 /mnt/Storage-0'''''</code>
* <code>mount -L '''''Storage-1 /mnt/Storage-1'''''</code>
* <code>mount -L '''''Storage-2 /mnt/Storage-2'''''</code>
* <code>mount -L '''''Storage-3 /mnt/Storage-3'''''</code>
* <code>mount -L '''''Storage-4 /mnt/Storage-4'''''</code>
Of course, you'll need to make these mounts persistent

* <code>sudo vi /etc/fstab</code>
 LABEL='''''Storage-0'''''     /mnt/'''''Storage-0'''''    ext4   defaults 0 0
 LABEL='''''Storage-1'''''     /mnt/'''''Storage-1'''''    ext4   defaults 0 0
 LABEL='''''Storage-2'''''     /mnt/'''''Storage-2'''''    ext4   defaults 0 0
 LABEL='''''Storage-3'''''     /mnt/'''''Storage-3'''''    ext4   defaults 0 0
 LABEL='''''Storage-4'''''     /mnt/'''''Storage-4'''''    ext4   defaults 0 0
Then you can use [https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Linux_Container#_bind_mount_points bindmount] to attach them to your LXC.

* <code>pct set '''''10020''''' -mp0 /mnt/Storage-0,mp=/mnt/Storage-0</code>
* <code>pct set '''''10020''''' -mp1 /mnt/Storage-1,mp=/mnt/Storage-1</code>
* <code>pct set '''''10020''''' -mp2 /mnt/Storage-2,mp=/mnt/Storage-2</code>
* <code>pct set '''''10020''''' -mp3 /mnt/Storage-3,mp=/mnt/Storage-3</code>
* <code>pct set '''''10020''''' -mp4 /mnt/Storage-4,mp=/mnt/Storage-4</code>
At this point, I would recommend rebooting the LXC, either through the GUI or:

* <code>pct reboot '''''10020'''''</code>

=== The shares ===
The actual share setup is a fairly subjective & complex subject.  It will vary a fair bit depending on your circumstances & needs.  I'll be writing up as generic a layout as I can, but you may wish to expand on it.

This storage server will be setup to make available the following tree of shares:

* Backups
** Backups/'''''Machine1'''''
** Backups/'''''Machine2'''''
** Backups/'''''Machine3'''''
* Media
** Media/'''''Music'''''
** Media/'''''Movies'''''
** Media/'''''Photos'''''
* Documents
** Documents/'''''User1'''''
** Documents/'''''User2'''''
** Documents/'''''User3'''''
** Documents/'''''Shared'''''

=== Prepping the shares ===
This section is to be done while logged into the LXC.

Create the starting points

(All of these '''bind mounts''' are done to manage how the shares appear to client machines and help separate things from their physical drive descriptions.)
* <code>sudo mkdir /Backups</code>
* <code>sudo mkdir /Media</code>
* <code>sudo mkdir /Documents</code>
Create the folders to be shared (I've created subfolders on the drive(s) through the usual methods...)
* <code>sudo mkdir /Backups/'''''Cecil'''''</code>
** <code>sudo mount -o bind /mnt/Storage-3/'''''Cecil-Backup'''''/ /Backups/'''''Cecil'''''</code>
* <code>sudo mkdir /Media/'''''Photos''''' /Media/'''''Music''''' /Media/'''''Movies'''''</code>
** <code>sudo mount -o bind /mnt/Storage-3/'''''Photos''''' /Media/'''''Photos'''''</code>
** <code>sudo mount -o bind /mnt/Storage-4/'''''Music''''' /Media/'''''Music'''''</code>
** <code>sudo mount -o bind /mnt/Storage-4/'''''Movies''''' /Media/'''''Movies'''''</code>
* <code>sudo mkdir /Documents/'''''tinker'''''</code>
** <code>sudo mount -o bind /mnt/Storage-2/'''''tinker''''' /Documents/'''''tinker'''''</code>
* etc, etc, etc...
Of course, you'll need to make these mounts persistent

* <code>sudo vi /etc/fstab</code>

 <code>/mnt/Storage-3/'''''Cecil-Backup'''''/ /Backups/'''''Cecil''''' none defaults,bind 0 0</code>
 <code>/mnt/Storage-3/'''''Photos''''' /Media/'''''Photos''''' none defaults,bind 0 0</code>
 <code>/mnt/Storage-4/'''''Music''''' /Media/'''''Music''''' none defaults,bind 0 0</code>
 <code>/mnt/Storage-4/'''''Movies''''' /Media/'''''Movies''''' none defaults,bind 0 0</code>
 <code>/mnt/Storage-2/'''''tinker''''' /Documents/'''''tinker''''' none defaults,bind 0 0</code>

* <code>sudo systemctl daemon-reload</code>
* <code>sudo mount -a</code>

== NFS (Network File System) ==
See: [[Setting up NFS for file sharing]]

=== Configuring the NFS shares ===

* <code>sudo vi /etc/exports</code>
<u>...WIP...</u>
* <code>sudo exportfs -a</code>
* <code>sudo /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart</code>

== SMB (Server Message Block (Windows file sharing...)) ==
See: [[Installing Samba from the command line]]

=== Set up Samba Users ===
(Because Samba STILL can't just use the authentication built into the system... :| )
* <code>sudo smbpasswd -a '''''USER'''''</code>
* repeat...

=== Configuring the SMB shares ===

* <code>sudo vi /etc/samba/smb.conf</code>
<u>...WIP...</u>
* <code>sudo systemctl restart smbd</code>

== FTP (File Transfer Protocol) ==
See: [[FTP Serving]]

=== Configuring the FTP shares ===
<u>...WIP...</u>
* <code>sudo service proftpd restart</code>

== tFTP (TRIVIAL File Transfer Protocol) ==
See: [[tFTP Serving]]

=== Configuring the tFTP shares ===
<u>...WIP...</u>
* <code>sudo systemctl restart tftpd-hpa.service</code>

== RSYNC as a daemon ==
<u>...WIP...</u>

From the rsync man page:

<pre>
STARTING AN RSYNC DAEMON TO ACCEPT CONNECTIONS
       In order to connect to an rsync daemon, the remote system needs to have a daemon already running (or
       it needs to have configured something like inetd to spawn an rsync daemon for  incoming  connections
       on  a  particular  port).  For full information on how to start a daemon that will handling incoming
       socket connections, see the rsyncd.conf(5) man page -- that is the config file for the  daemon,  and
       it  contains  the full details for how to run the daemon (including stand-alone and inetd configura‐
       tions).

       If you're using one of the remote-shell transports for the transfer, there is no  need  to  manually
       start an rsync daemon.
</pre>