How To Setup File Sharing and Collaboration on Your NAS

Introduction:

In Business, whether it’s small or large scale, the need for file sharing and collaboration solutions is present. However, the solutions to establish collaboration and file sharing can vary depending on the scale and number of users, remote access, etc..

File sharing solutions could be a Cloud-based (Sharepoint, Google Drive ) , On-premise Storage (Network Attached Storage, Storage Area Network)

In this guide, I’ll focus on Utilizing Network Attached Storage features that provide efficient collaboration and file sharing platforms.

Setting Up Qnap NAS for File Sharing:

Step – 1 – Login into Qnap Web Management Portal:

Enter the IP Address of your NAS into a web browser and enter your credentials, then head to control panel:

Step – 2 – Enable Network File Sharing Protocols:

You need to enable SMB for Windows, and AFP for MacOS, and NFS for linux workstations:

On Control Panel, Click on Win/Mac/NFS/WebDaV in Network & File Services Section:

Once opened, on Microsoft Networking (SMB) tab, ensure that the option “ Enable file services for Microsoft Networking (SMB)” is Enabled, then Click “Apply” 

You can also add the NAS to a Domain if you are using Active Directory, or LDAP if you have an LDAP server in your Network.

Next, on Apple Networking (AFP) tab, ensure the option “Enable AFP (Apple Filing Protocol)” is enabled, then Click “apply”

Then, ob NFS Service tab, Enable the option “Enable Network File System (NFS) Service”, the click “Apply”

Step – 3 – Create a User that will be used to access the Shared Folders:

Head to control panel, then “Users” in the “Privilege” Section:

Then in the New Window Opened, Click on “Create a User”:

You can also create multiple users or import users from TXT or CSV file.

Than, Choose a username and password for the New User, these credentials will be used to access the NAS from Windows or Mac or Linux:

There are some optional fields you can enter, like Mobile Number, Email etc .. 

Then click “Create”.

Step – 4 – Create the Shared Folders:

On control panel, Click “Shared Folders” in the “Privilege” Section:

Next, Click in “Create” then “shared folder”:

Now, you can give it a Name, and Specify which Volume you want the shared folder to be in ( if you have multiple Volumes/Luns):

* In some NAS Devices, you can enable encryption of the shared folder, however, you can enable

   encryption for the disk containing your shared folders.

Next, here you can assign permissions for the users you want to this folder ( read, Write, or no access ):

Now the shared Folder is created, you can open it through FileStation:

Additionally, you can always modify the settings of the shared folder from the control panel.

Open the Shared Folders on Devices

Open the Shared Folder from Windows Machine:

On your windows, go to the control panel, and click on “Credentials Manager”

In the Credentials Manager Window, go to “Windows Credentials” tab, then click “Add a Windows credential”:

Here, add the IP address of you NAS Device, something like 192.168.1.65, then the username created on the NAS, and the password, and Click “OK” button:

Then, press Windows+R key to open run.exe, then enter the path for the shared folder as follows:

\\<Your NAS IP>\<shared folder name>. Then click OK

For example, \\192.168.1.10\test

The folder will open in the file explorer, if the user has the access permissions.

Open the Shared Folder from Linux Machine:

Open your Linux terminal,

Installing NFS Client Packages:

For Ubuntu or Debian:

$ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install nfs-common

For CenOS:

$ sudo yum install nfs-utils

Then, Setup a Mount Point to Connect it to the NAS:

$ sudo mkdir /mnt/nas

Next, you need to configure the /etc/fstab file so it will automatically connect to Shared Folder on startup.

Open /etc/fstab in text editor:

$ sudo nano /etc/fstab

Then add a line inside the file as follows:

/etc/fstab # <file system>     <dir>    <type>   <options>            <dump> <pass> <NAS IP>:/test /mnt/nas   nfs   username=test,password=***   0    0

Replace NAS IP with the IP address of your NSA, and /test is the Shared Folder, and /mnt/nas is the directory that is mounted to the Shared Folder, then save the file.

For MacOS, Check Connect To a Network Drive with AFP

Conclusion:

In this article, we have configured Qnap NAS to establish file sharing, supporting multiple protocols for Windows, MacOS and Linux distributions.

To know more about how to effectively use your network attached storage, and how it can help you, check Network Attached Storage Article and Enhance the Security of your NAS.