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7.4. SMB

The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol can be used to access to Red Hat Storage volumes by exporting directories in GlusterFS volumes as SMB shares on the server.
This section describes how to enable SMB shares, how to mount SMB shares on Microsoft Windows-based clients (both manually and automatically) and how to verify if the share has been mounted successfully.

Note

SMB access using the Mac OS X Finder is not supported.
The Mac OS X command line can be used to access Red Hat Storage volumes using SMB.

Warning

The Samba version 3 is being deprecated from Red Hat Storage 3.0 Update 4. Further updates will not be provided for samba-3.x. It is recommended that you upgrade to Samba-4.x, which is provided in a separate channel or repository, for all updates including the security updates. For more information regarding the installation and upgrade steps refer the Red Hat Storage 3 Installation Guide

7.4.1. Sharing Volumes over SMB
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The following configuration items need to be implemented before using SMB with Red Hat Storage.
  1. Run gluster volume set VOLNAME stat-prefetch off to disable stat-prefetch for the volume.
  2. Run gluster volume set VOLNAME server.allow-insecure on to permit insecure ports.

    Note

    This allows Samba to communicate with brick processes even with untrusted ports.
  3. Edit the /etc/glusterfs/glusterd.vol in each Red Hat Storage node, and add the following setting: 
    option rpc-auth-allow-insecure on
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    Note

    This allows Samba to communicate with glusterd even with untrusted ports.
  4. Restart glusterd service on each Red Hat Server node.
  5. Run the following command to verify proper lock and I/O coherency. 
    gluster volume set VOLNAME storage.batch-fsync-delay-usec 0
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    Note

    To enable Samba to start on boot, run the following command: 
    # chkconfig smb on
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When a volume is started using the gluster volume start VOLNAME command, the volume is automatically exported through Samba on all Red Hat Storage servers running Samba.
  1. With elevated privileges, navigate to /var/lib/glusterd/hooks/1/start/post
  2. Rename the S30samba-start.sh to K30samba-start.sh.
    For more information about these scripts, see Section 16.2, “Prepackaged Scripts”.
  3. Run # smbstatus -S on the client to display the status of the volume: 
    Service        pid     machine             Connected at
-------------------------------------------------------------------
gluster-VOLNAME 11967   __ffff_192.168.1.60  Mon Aug  6 02:23:25 2012
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To be able mount from any server in the trusted storage pool, repeat these steps on each Red Hat Storage node. For more advanced configurations, refer to the Samba documentation.
  1. Either disable sharing over SMB for the whole cluster as detailed in Section 7.4.1, “Sharing Volumes over SMB” or run the following command to disable automatic SMB sharing per-volume: 
    # gluster volume set user.smb disable
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  2. Open the /etc/samba/smb.conf file in a text editor and add the following lines for a simple configuration: 
    [gluster-VOLNAME]
comment = For samba share of volume VOLNAME
vfs objects = glusterfs
glusterfs:volume = VOLNAME
glusterfs:logfile = /var/log/samba/VOLNAME.log
glusterfs:loglevel = 7
path = /
read only = no
guest ok = yes
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    The configuration options are described in the following table:
    Expand
    Table 7.7. Configuration Options
    Configuration Options Required? Default Value Description
    Path Yes n/a It represents the path that is relative to the root of the gluster volume that is being shared. Hence / represents the root of the gluster volume. Exporting a subdirectory of a volume is supported and /subdir in path exports only that subdirectory of the volume.
    glusterfs:volume Yes n/a The volume name that is shared.
    glusterfs:logfile No NULL Path to the log file that will be used by the gluster modules that are loaded by the vfs plugin. Standard Samba variable substitutions as mentioned in smb.conf are supported.
    glusterfs:loglevel No 7 This option is equivalent to the client-log-level option of gluster. 7 is the default value and corresponds to the INFO level.
    glusterfs:volfile_server No localhost The gluster server to be contacted to fetch the volfile for the volume.
  3. Run service smb [re]start to start or restart the smb service.
  4. Run smbpasswd to set the SMB password. 
    # smbpasswd -a username
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    Specify the SMB password. This password is used during the SMB mount.

7.4.2. Mounting Volumes using SMB
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Samba follows the permissions on the shared directory, and uses the logged in username to perform access control.
To allow a non root user to read/write into the mounted volume, ensure you execute the following steps:
  1. Add the user on all the Samba servers based on your configuration:
    # adduser username
  2. Add the user to the list of Samba users on all Samba servers and assign password by executing the following command:
    # smbpasswd -a username
  3. Perform a FUSE mount of the gluster volume on any one of the Samba servers and provide required permissions to the user by executing the following commands:
    # mount -t glusterfs -oacl ip address volname mountpoint
    # setfacl -muser:<username>:rwx <mountpoint>
  4. Provide required permissions to the user by executing appropriate setfacl command. For example:
    # setfacl -m user:username:rwx mountpoint

Mounting a Volume Manually using SMB on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Mount a Red Hat Storage volume manually using Server Message Block (SMB) on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
  1. Install the cifs-utils package on the client. 
    # yum install cifs-utils
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  2. Run mount -t cifs to mount the exported SMB share, using the syntax example as guidance.

    Example 7.1. mount -t cifs Command Syntax

    # mount -t cifs \\\\Samba_Server_IP_Address\\Share_Name Mount_Point-o user=<username>,pass=<password>
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    Run # mount -t cifs \\\\SAMBA_SERVER_IP\\gluster-VOLNAME /mnt/smb -o user=<username>,pass=<password> for a Red Hat Storage volume exported through SMB, which uses the /etc/samba/smb.conf file with the following configuration. 
    [gluster-VOLNAME]
comment = For samba share of volume VOLNAME
vfs objects = glusterfs
glusterfs:volume = VOLNAME
glusterfs:logfile = /var/log/samba/VOLNAME.log
glusterfs:loglevel = 7
path = /
read only = no
guest ok = yes
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  3. Run # smbstatus -S on the server to display the status of the volume: 
    Service        pid     machine             Connected at
-------------------------------------------------------------------
gluster-VOLNAME 11967   __ffff_192.168.1.60  Mon Aug  6 02:23:25 2012
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Mounting a Volume Manually using SMB through Microsoft Windows Explorer

Mount a Red Hat Storage volume manually using Server Message Block (SMB) on Microsoft Windows using Windows Explorer.
  1. In Windows Explorer, click Tools Map Network Drive…. to open the Map Network Drive screen.
  2. Choose the drive letter using the Drive drop-down list.
  3. In the Folder text box, specify the path of the server and the shared resource in the following format: \\SERVER_NAME\VOLNAME.
  4. Click Finish to complete the process, and display the network drive in Windows Explorer.
  5. Navigate to the network drive to verify it has mounted correctly.

Mounting a Volume Manually using SMB on Microsoft Windows Command-line.

Mount a Red Hat Storage volume manually using Server Message Block (SMB) on Microsoft Windows using Windows Explorer.
  1. Click Start Run, and then type cmd.
  2. Enter net use z: \\SERVER_NAME\VOLNAME, where z: is the drive letter to assign to the shared volume.
    For example, net use y: \\server1\test-volume
  3. Navigate to the network drive to verify it has mounted correctly.
You can configure your system to automatically mount Red Hat Storage volumes using SMB on Microsoft Windows-based clients each time the system starts.

Mounting a Volume Automatically using SMB on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Mount a Red Hat Storage Volume automatically using NFS at server start.
  1. Open the /etc/fstab file in a text editor.
  2. Append the following configuration to the fstab file.
    You must specify the filename and its path that contains the user name and/or password in the credentials option in /etc/fstab file. See the mount.cifs man page for more information. 
    \\HOSTNAME|IPADDRESS\SHARE_NAME MOUNTDIR
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    Using the example server names, the entry contains the following replaced values. 
    \\server1\test-volume /mnt/glusterfs cifs credentials=/etc/samba/passwd,_netdev 0 0
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  3. Run # smbstatus -S on the client to display the status of the volume: 
    Service        pid     machine             Connected at
-------------------------------------------------------------------
gluster-VOLNAME 11967   __ffff_192.168.1.60  Mon Aug  6 02:23:25 2012
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Mounting a Volume Automatically on Server Start using SMB through Microsoft Windows Explorer

Mount a Red Hat Storage volume manually using Server Message Block (SMB) on Microsoft Windows using Windows Explorer.
  1. In Windows Explorer, click Tools Map Network Drive…. to open the Map Network Drive screen.
  2. Choose the drive letter using the Drive drop-down list.
  3. In the Folder text box, specify the path of the server and the shared resource in the following format: \\SERVER_NAME\VOLNAME.
  4. Click the Reconnect at logon check box.
  5. Click Finish to complete the process, and display the network drive in Windows Explorer.
  6. If the Windows Security screen pops up, enter the username and password and click OK.
  7. Navigate to the network drive to verify it has mounted correctly.
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