Basic NAS questions - what's the correct installation method?

[purps]

Hi all, have bought my first NAS (a Netgear Stora), and after some help from Thom getting it recognised initially, I have some basic questions about the best way to set it up; the wiki doesn't seem to answer many questions for the NAS noob, so I would like to change that, and add some info for my NAS specifically also.

The goal is to have a NAS that uses the LMCE file structure, and automatically store myth recordings (as well as being the main storage for all my media).

1. After plugging the NAS in, 3 things are detected; MyComputers, FamilyLibrary, MyLibrary, all as children of "STORA". Some are detected as file servers (one of them I think), some are detected as window shares (two of them I think). Is it important which one is chosen, or do all three need to be present? My understanding is that FamilyLibrary is the "general use" one.

2. When adding two (or all three? Damn you memory!) of these NAS items, a username and password needs to be set - can this be anything, or does it need to match the Kubuntu password or the LMCE password? Think it said samba password, so I assume these are to do with the window shares?

3. Once added, does anything need to be done manually to set up permissions? I read a few posts about people have to change permissions before PVR recordings could take place - is this normal? And if this does have to be done, is there a correct way of doing it that minimises the risk of breaking things?

Cheers,
Matt.

[Marie.O]

Let me answer this generally:
* You plug a NAS into the network
* LinuxMCE detects a new file server that you agree to use
* LinuxMCE detects a new share on said file server that you agree to use with LinuxMCE structure and automatically.
* LinuxMCE detects additional new shares, that you say Ignore always
* Enjoy!

That's the plan how it should work. If you have added username and password to the NAS share you selected above, you need to provide the information from your NAS. That information is independent of your LinuxMCE usernames and passwords.

[purps]

Thank you for the lightening fast reply. Let's just make sure I've got this right...

- So one must add it as a file server first, and then at least one windows share in addition? Adding it as a file server alone is no good?

- For the username and password, this is the username and password used to access the NAS admin page itself? Or is there another username/password specifically for the share that should have been set up WITHIN the NAS admin page?

Thanks again, much clearer already.

Cheers,
Matt.

[totallymaxed]

Thank you for the lightening fast reply. Let's just make sure I've got this right...

- So one must add it as a file server first, and then at least one windows share in addition? Adding it as a file server alone is no good?

- For the username and password, this is the username and password used to access the NAS admin page itself? Or is there another username/password specifically for the share that should have been set up WITHIN the NAS admin page?

Thanks again, much clearer already.

Cheers,
Matt.

Hi Matt,

Setup the NAS with either its default Shares or create one specially etc. Now attach it to the LAN side of your Core. The PnP system will detect a file-server and present a detection screen for it - click on the file-server and add it. Do the reload router when prompted. Now wait for the share to get detected and select it and choose to use the LinuxMCE directory structure, enter any user/pass you have set when setting up the NAS's share. Job done.

All the best


Andrew

[purps]

OK that makes sense, thank you.

I will need to look at the settings when I get home, but I do know I never specified a username/password for the default shares (I only have the default ones), so I guess user and password should be left blank in this case?

I'm not sure one can add their own new share with this NAS, as it is very basic.

Cheers,
Matt.

[purps]

Well I set up the NAS as recommended by possy and Andrew, and all seemed to go well. I don't think however that myth can access it, as I cannot watch live TV; the screen flicks between the frontend menu screen and the "1" countdown screen forever and ever. I have no other storage, which would explain this behaviour I guess.

Is this a permissions problem? If so, what is the correct way of changing it?

I am certain the username/password is entered correctly. It turns out that the username/password is the same as the Netgear Stora admin login/pass by the way, which I verified by logging into the samba share from a standard desktop on the internal network.

(I'll get all this info, both general and specific to the Stora, in the wiki)

Cheers,
Matt.

[purps]

Bit more information...

If I access the Stora directly through another computer, I DO have write access (after entering the Stora credentials of course).

However if I access the Stora through another computer VIA the symlinks in the LMCE public folder, I do NOT have write access. Same goes if I try to access the share from the core itself in dolphin.

Cheers,
Matt.

[klovell]

Bit more information...

If I access the Stora directly through another computer, I DO have write access (after entering the Stora credentials of course).

However if I access the Stora through another computer VIA the symlinks in the LMCE public folder, I do NOT have write access. Same goes if I try to access the share from the core itself in dolphin.

Cheers,
Matt.

I used to have that problem.  I don't have a stora but I'm familiar with them, the general concept is the same as my nas and most others.  I had to add the administrative credentials to the nas device in web admin.  So in the device tree, find your nas, add the admin credentials (the logon to the website) and select the requires password option.  For the share I left it as public and manually created the LMCE structure.  I don't know why but I found that if I used the LMCE structure I can read and write to the share from LMCE (most of the time) but from a PC I could only read.  Now I can read and write from Lmce and PCs.  Also, before adding the admin credentials the shares worked but It didn't know how much space was available on the share....weird.   I should add that I don't use MYth so I don't know how this will affect watching TV.

Another option that worked for me but for unrelated reasons i opt not to use; Create a password protected share and a user on your Stora and assign that user full access to the share.  If the user is an admin on the nas, use that user for both the nas device and the share in LMCE.  I founds that if I did that I could use the LMCE structure and have full access to the share from LMCE and PCs.

[purps]

Thank you for the suggestion. I entered the NAS admin credentials for the file server itself in web admin (the parent of the windows share), but myth still can't put its live stream/recordings on the NAS. And still can't write to it via the symlinks the LMCE public folder (not that I really care about that, but I guess it's all the same problem).

Any other suggestions as to what might be causing this issue please?

Cheers,
Matt.

[purps]

WTF - when I put my external IP in on an outside computer to access the LMCE admin page, it shows the NAS admin page!

If I put in https://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/lmce-admin/index.php it says "Not Found. The requested URL /lmce-admin/index.php was not found on this server." Same if I try to access the web orbiter with https://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/lmce-admin/weborbiter.php.

How on Earth can that be happening??

EDIT: I came up with a solution... it's called an RMA. How it associated itself with my external IP I don't know, but I certainly don't like it. Have ordered a D-Link DNS-320 instead.

[purps]

Right, got a different NAS now, the D-Link DNS-320, and guess what, same problem. I've set the NAS up exactly as recommended, but LMCE still does not have permission to write to the NAS (live TV will not work).

I can fix the problem temporarily by doing a "chmod -R 777" on the symlink for the NAS windows share in the /home/public/data/pvr folder, but this does not stick after a reload or a restart.

What is the problem here? Is there any way I can permanently fix this? Can I permanently give LMCE permission to write to the NAS?

Cheers,
Matt.

[pigdog]

Hi,

I just gave this thread a quick read and am presently over tired but...

... are you talking about having to put in username/passwoed in webadmin to connect to the NAS and things aren't going well?

[klovell]

Right, got a different NAS now, the D-Link DNS-320, and guess what, same problem. I've set the NAS up exactly as recommended, but LMCE still does not have permission to write to the NAS (live TV will not work).

I can fix the problem temporarily by doing a "chmod -R 777" on the symlink for the NAS windows share in the /home/public/data/pvr folder, but this does not stick after a reload or a restart.

What is the problem here? Is there any way I can permanently fix this? Can I permanently give LMCE permission to write to the NAS?

Cheers,
Matt.

How are you trying to write to the nas?  Are you ripping a disc, browsing to \\dcerouter from a pc, kde, etc?

[purps]

Myth not being able to store live TV is the primary concern.

LMCE does not appear to have permission to write to /home/public/data/pvr/"Windows Share-Volume_1 [107]", but doing a chmod -R 777 to "Windows Share-Volume_1 [107]" temporarily fixes the problem and allows me to watch live TV via myth. After a reload/reset, the problem returns.

I followed this guide http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/D-Link_DNS-323_How_To_Install_On_LMCE-810 to the letter, checked all the info in web admin, and all the passwords are set up properly as far as I can tell.

Cheers,
Matt.

[pigdog]

Hi purps,

There are presently two options using the DNS-323 with minimum firmware version 1.07.
      - Don't use username/password - no authentication required.
      - Use username/password with smb.conf parameter.

Just curious - do you have the same problem without using password/smb.conf?

Cheers