Local NAS

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This lab demonstrates how to build a flexible, scalable Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution using Linux's Logical Volume Management (LVM) and the Samba (SMB/CIFS) protocol.

Learning Objectives

  • Configure storage virtualization using Logical Volume Management (LVM).
  • Understand Physical Volumes (PV), Volume Groups (VG), and Logical Volumes (LV).
  • Set up and secure file shares over a network using Samba.

Prerequisites

  • Linux VM (Ubuntu/Debian) with root access.
  • Basic understanding of storage devices and partitions.

Step 1: Storage Pooling with LVM

LVM allows us to pool multiple physical disks into a single logical "blob" of storage that can be easily resized.

  1. Create Virtual Disks: We'll use loop devices to simulate 3 physical disks of 500MB each.
for i in {1..3}; do truncate -s 500M disk_$i.img; done
sudo losetup -f disk_1.img
sudo losetup -f disk_2.img
sudo losetup -f disk_3.img
# Check your devices
losetup -a

Assume the devices are /dev/loop0, /dev/loop1, and /dev/loop2.

  1. Initialize Physical Volumes (PV):
sudo pvcreate /dev/loop0 /dev/loop1 /dev/loop2
  1. Create a Volume Group (VG): This "pools" the three disks together.
sudo vgcreate nas_pool /dev/loop0 /dev/loop1 /dev/loop2
sudo vgs # Verify the pool size (~1.5GB)
  1. Carve out a Logical Volume (LV): This is what we will actually format.
sudo lvcreate -L 1G -n nas_data nas_pool
sudo lvs # Verify the LV

Step 2: Formatting & Persistent Mounting

  1. Format with XFS:
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/nas_pool/nas_data
  1. Mount the storage:
sudo mkdir -p /srv/nas_share
sudo mount /dev/nas_pool/nas_data /srv/nas_share
  1. Make it persistent: Find the UUID and add it to /etc/fstab.
sudo blkid /dev/nas_pool/nas_data
# Add to /etc/fstab: UUID=xxxx /srv/nas_share xfs defaults 0 2

Step 3: Samba Configuration

Now we will share this volume over the network using the SMB protocol.

  1. Install Samba:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y samba
  1. Configure the Share: Add the following to the end of /etc/samba/smb.conf:
[CloudNAS]
   path = /srv/nas_share
   browseable = yes
   read only = no
   guest ok = no
   valid users = @smbgroup
  1. Set Permissions:
sudo groupadd smbgroup
sudo chgrp smbgroup /srv/nas_share
sudo chmod 775 /srv/nas_share

Step 4: Access Control

  1. Create a Samba User:
sudo useradd -M -s /sbin/nologin nasuser
sudo usermod -aG smbgroup nasuser
sudo smbpasswd -a nasuser
  1. Restart Services:
sudo systemctl restart smbd

Step 5: Client Connection

From a secondary machine (or your host):

  1. Linux: mount -t cifs -o username=nasuser //IP_ADDRESS/CloudNAS /mnt/remote_nas
  2. Windows: Map Network Drive to \\IP_ADDRESS\CloudNAS
  3. Mac: Connect to Server smb://IP_ADDRESS/CloudNAS

Test: Create a folder from the client and verify it exists on the NAS server in /srv/nas_share.

Lab Reflection

  1. If your NAS runs out of space, what LVM commands would you use to add a 4th disk and grow the filesystem?
  2. What is the difference between an SMB share and an S3 bucket in terms of how an application would use them?
  3. Why is LVM essential for "elastic" cloud-style storage?
Core Principles P2P IPFS