How would you go about configuring security on an NFS file share if it was impossible to edit the exports file (due to the NAS configuration not exposing it to the administrator)?
3 Answers
It depends on the specifics of the NAS device. Some provide web management interfaces such as NetApp's FilerView which allow the admin to configure NFS and CIFS share permissions. NetApp also provides a command line filer admin interface accessible via telnet. Similar story for other NAS I've seen such as BlueArc, DataDomain and EMC.
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It's a Buffalo TeraStation and the administrative interface is very limited and does not give me the level of control that I need.– lintunenDec 15, 2009 at 10:15
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1Probably not the answer you're hoping for but, you may want to investigate alternatives to Buffalo. The Buffalo support web site has multiple complaints about their NFS features and it didn't look like they had anything to offer regarding your question there on this issue.– FredDec 15, 2009 at 22:42
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I was aware there would possibly be limitations as I wouldn't regard it as a professional level NAS. I have contacted support myself and they weren't able to offer me any options other than a warning that I'd void the warranty if I tried to expose the exports file.– lintunenDec 21, 2009 at 9:31
you can manually manage shares while running (not permanent) with exportfs on a Linux NFS implementation.
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1I'm not sure if that is a probable solution because from what I understand configuring exportfs relies on being able to configure the NFS server and the only means of configuring NFS on the NAS is via it's limited web interface. I wonder if there is any kind of 'layer' that can be used over the top to control permissions of mounted NFS shares.– lintunenDec 15, 2009 at 10:19
In that case I'd be using a seperate network (segment / VLAN) for NAS.
We even do this with our NetApp's, albeit for performance and Jumbo Frame support.
