Manage SMB using the GUI

This page provides procedures for setting up an SMB cluster over WEKA filesystems and managing the cluster itself, using the GUI.

Using the GUI, you can:

• Configure the SMB cluster (not applicable for legacy SMB)

• Edit the SMB cluster

• Join the SMB cluster to Active Directory

• Add servers to the SMB cluster

• Remove servers from the SMB cluster

• Delete the SMB cluster

• Display the SMB shares list

• Add an SMB share

• Edit an SMB share

• Remove an SMB share

Configure the SMB cluster

An SMB cluster comprises at least three WEKA servers running the SMB-W stack.

Before you begin

Verify that the dedicated filesystem for persistent protocol configurations is created. If not, create it. For details, see #dedicated-filesystem-requirement-for-persistent-protocol-configurations

Procedure

1. From the menu, select Manage > Protocols.

2. From the Protocols pane, select SMB.

3. On the Configuration tab, select Configure.

4. In the SMB Cluster Configuration dialog, set the following properties:

   • Name: NetBIOS name for the SMB cluster must be 1-15 characters long, using only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) and hyphens (-). Names are case-insensitive, cannot start with a hyphen, and must be unique within the network. Spaces and special characters are not allowed. This will be the name of the Active Directory computer object and the hostname part of the FQDN.

   • Domain: The Active Directory domain to join the SMB cluster.

   • Domain NetBIOS Name: (Optional) The domain NetBIOS name.

   • Encryption: Select the in-transit encryption mode to use in the SMB cluster:

     • enabled: Enables encryption negotiation but doesn't turn it on automatically for supported sessions and shared connections.

     • desired: Enables encryption negotiation and turns on data encryption for supported sessions and shared connections.

     • required: Enforces data encryption on sessions and shared connections. Clients that do not support encryption will be denied access to the server.

   • Servers: List 3-8 WEKA system servers to participate in the SMB cluster based on the server IDs in WEKA.

   • IPs: (Optional) List of virtual IPs (comma-separated) used as floating IPs for the SMB cluster to provide HA to clients. These IPs must be unique; do not assign these IPs to any host on the network. For an IP range, use the following format: a.b.c.x-y.

   • Config Filesystem: select the filesystem used for persisting cluster-wide protocol configurations.

   • Symbolic Link: Determines if symbolic links are allowed in the SMB cluster:

     • ON: Enables symbolic links. Use with caution, as it can introduce security risks by exposing data across shares.

     • OFF: Disables symbolic links, enhancing security by preventing link-based vulnerabilities.

Important: If a symbolic link in one share points to a file system in another share, users in the first share can access the data in the second share. Ensure you understand the security implications before enabling this option.

Due to cloud provider network limitations, setting a list of SMB floating IPs in all cloud installations is impossible. In this case, the SMB service must be accessed using the cluster nodes' primary addresses.

1. Select Save.

SMB cluster configuration

Once the system completes configuration, the server statuses change from not ready (❌) to ready (✅).

SMB cluster configuration example

Edit the SMB cluster

You can modify the encryption and IP settings according to your needs.

Procedure

1. In the SMB Cluster Configuration, select the pencil icon.

Edit the SMB cluster

1. In the Edit SMB Configuration dialog, do the following:

   • Encryption: Select one of the in-transit encryption enforcements: enabled, desired, or required.

   • IPs: List of virtual IPs (comma-separated) used as floating IPs for the SMB cluster. (Floating IPs are not supported for cloud installations.)

Edit SMB configuration

3. Select Save.

Join the SMB cluster to Active Directory

To enable the SMB cluster to use Active Directory to resolve the access of users and user groups, join the SMB cluster to Active Directory (AD).

Before you begin

Resolve the AD domain controllers

Add the AD DNS configuration to every SMB protocol backend.

Follow these steps:

1. Access the CLI.

2. Edit the /etc/resolv.conf file to include the DNS settings specific to your domain.

For example, your configuration might look like this:

nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4
search example.com

Replace 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 with the appropriate nameserver IP addresses for your domain and example.com with your actual domain name.

Procedure

1. In the SMB Cluster Configuration, select Join.

Join the SMB cluster in the Active Directory

1. In the Join to Active Directory dialog, set the following properties:

   • Username and Password: A username and password of an account that has join privileges to the Active Directory domain. WEKA does not save these credentials. Instead, the SMB cluster creates a computer account for use.

   • Server: (Optional) WEKA automatically identifies an AD Domain Controller server (from /etc/resolv.conf) based on the AD domain name. You do not need to set the server name. In some cases, specify the AD server if required.

   • Computers Org. Unit: The default AD organizational unit (OU) for the computer account is the Computers directory. You can define any OU to create the computer account that the joining account has permission to, such as SMB servers or corporate computers.

Join Active Directory dialog

Once the SMB cluster joins the Active Directory domain, the join status next to the domain changes to Joined.

To join an existing SMB cluster to a different Active Directory domain, select Leave. To confirm the action, enter the username and password used to join the Active Directory domain.

Post-configuration in the DNS Manager and Active Directory

The following procedures are provided for reference purposes. For specific steps related to your environment, contact your IT administrator.

Add an A record for SMB protocol backends

1. Open DNS Manager: Navigate to Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > DNS.

2. Access DNS zones: In the DNS Manager console, double-click the DNS server name to display the list of zones.

3. Open Forward Lookup Zones.

4. Create a new A record: Right-click on the relevant domain and select New Record.

5. Enter record details:

   • Specify the name (for example, TAZ) and the IP address of the backend server.

   • Select the record type as A.

6. Configure record options:

   • Select the Create Associated PTR record option.

   • Select the Allow any authenticated user to update DNS record with the same owner name option.

7. Finalize the Record: Select OK to add the new A record.

Set UID and GID for SMB protocol backends

Repeat the following steps for every backend participating in the SMB protocol.

1. Navigate to Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. From the View menu, select Advanced Features.

3. In the Computers section, right-click on an SMB protocol backend and select Properties.

4. Select the Attribute Editor tab and modify the following:

   • Locate the gidNumber attribute and set its value to 0.

   • Locate the uidNumber attribute and set its value to 0.

5. Select OK to save the changes.

Set UID and GID for SMB users

Repeat the following steps for every user consuming WEKA services over the SMB protocol.

1. Navigate to Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. From the View menu, select Advanced Features.

3. In the Users section, right-click on a user consuming WEKA services over the SMB protocol, and select Properties.

4. Select the Attribute Editor tab and modify the following:

   • Locate the gidNumber attribute and set its value to an appropriate number or, if unknown, any numeric value between 0 and 4290000000.

   • Locate the uidNumber attribute and set its value to an appropriate number or, if unknown, any numeric value between 0 and 4290000000.

1. Select OK to save the changes.

Add servers to the SMB cluster

Adding servers to the SMB cluster can provide several benefits and address various requirements, such as scalability, load balancing, high availability, and improved fault tolerance.

Before you begin

• Ensure the SMB cluster is joined to an Active Directory domain. See Join the SMB cluster to Active Directory.

Procedure

1. On the Servers pane, select Add.

2. In the Add SMB Cluster Servers dialog, select one or more available servers (a maximum of eight servers) from the list.

3. Select Save.

Add servers to the SMB cluster

Remove servers from the SMB cluster

If the SMB cluster has more servers than you need, you can remove the server.

The minimum required number of servers in an SMB cluster is three.

Procedure

1. To remove one server, select the three dots next to the server to remove and select Remove.

Remove one server from the SMB cluster

1. To remove more than one server, select the servers to remove from the Remove SMB Cluster Servers dialog (click the X), and select Save.

Remove more than one server from the SMB cluster

Delete the SMB cluster

Deleting the SMB cluster resets its configuration data. Deleting an SMB cluster only applies to SMB-W.

Procedure

1. In the SMB Cluster Configuration, select the trash icon.

Delete the SMB cluster configuration

1. In the SMB Configuration Reset message, select Reset.

Display the SMB shares list

The Shares tab displays the SMB shares created in the system. You can also customize the table columns of the SMB shares.

Procedure

1. From the menu, select Manage > Protocols.

2. From the Protocols pane, select SMB.

3. Select the Shares tab. You can filter the list using any column in the table.

SMB shares list

Add an SMB share

Once the SMB cluster is created, you can create SMB shares (maximum of 1024). Each share must have a name and a shared path to the filesystem, which can be the root of the filesystem or a subdirectory

Before you begin

• Ensure the SMB cluster is joined to the Active Directory. For details, see Join the SMB cluster to Active Directory.

• Ensure the filesystem is already mounted and the directory you want to share is created in the filesystem. For details, see Mount filesystems;

Procedure

1. In the Shares tab, select +Create.

2. In the Add SMB Share dialog, set the following properties:

   • Name: A meaningful name for the SMB share.

   • Filesystem: The filesystem name that includes the directory to share. Select one from the list. A filesystem with Required Authentication set to ON cannot be used for SMB share.

   • Description: A description or purpose of the SMB share.

   • Path: A valid internal path, relative to the root, within the filesystem to expose the SMB share.

   If required, select Advanced and set the following:

   • Encryption: Select in-transit encryption enforcement of the share. The global cluster encryption settings can affect the actual encryption.

   • Direct Object Store Sync: Enables immediate synchronization of files to the object store, bypassing time-based file retention policies. When enabled, newly created or modified files in the share are prioritized for release without delay.

   • Read Only: Select to set the share as read-only.

   • Hidden: Select if you want to hide the share so it is not visible when viewing the list of system shares.

   • Allow Guest Access: Select if you want guests to access without authentication.

   • Access Permissions: Define the share access permissions. If you select ON, select the access type and the users or groups allowed to access the share (comma-separated users and groups list, add '@' as a group prefix). Not supported in SMB-W.

   • Files/Directories POSIX Mode Mask: Set the new default file and directory permissions in a numeric (octal) format created through the share.

   • ACLs Enabled: Enables or disables Windows Access-Control Lists (ACLs) for the share. When enabled, WEKA applies the selected Access Control Model. Only applicable for SMB-W.

   • Access Control Model: Specifies the type of access control to use for the share. Options include POSIX, Windows, or Hybrid (default: POSIX). Hybrid ACL allows seamless interoperability between POSIX and Windows systems by exchanging permissions based on timestamps. The most recent permission, regardless of the system it originated from, takes precedence. Only applicable for SMB-W.

   • Case Sensitivity: Enables or disables case sensitivity for the specified SMB share (default: ON). When enabled, the share distinguishes between files with the same name but different capitalization. This option applies exclusively to the SMB-W cluster.

   • ADS: Enables using Alternate Data Streams (ADS) on a specified SMB share. Possible values: ON, OFF (default: ON). For macOS clients, if ACLs are disabled (acl=off), set enable-ADS to off. For Windows clients, when enabled, ADS data is stored in the file’s extended attributes (XAttr), which consumes XAttr space.

3. Select Save.

Access the share from Windows

1. Right-click on This PC.

2. Select Map network drive.

3. In the Folder field, enter the path to the share, for example, \\smbshare\mynewshare.

4. If prompted, enter the required credentials.

Edit an SMB share

You can update some of the SMB share settings. These include encryption, hiding the share, allowing guest access, and setting the share as read-only.

Procedure

1. In the Shares tab, select the three dots of the share and select Edit.

Edit an SMB share

1. In the Update Share Settings dialog, update the relevant properties and select Save.

Update the SMB share settings

Remove an SMB share

Procedure

1. In the Shares tab, select the three dots of the share and select Remove.

Remove an SMB share

1. In the confirmation message that appears, select Confirm. The removed share no longer appears in the SMB Shares list.