Specific RPI server help

[Helpful Tech Witch]

I have a rpi and wan to use it as a file server.
Bassically, I want it to show up as a network drive on windows, where ever I am, plus if it can show up as a network drive on linux, that would be nice

I know Ill need a open port for the pi to use it off the local conection, but what do I need to do otherwise.

For the most case ill use it as a local alternative for google drive, as well as a server to store copies of all of my disc games.

There is a small chance I might be using it in other ways, like a backup server, but thats not planned now.

The PI is a Raspbery pi 4 8gb, it is currently overclocked as hard as it can be. Im running ubuntu desktop on it, id run server, but I cant get wireless set up on it

What do I need to do?

[Eigenvektor]

Easiest solution is probably to install a Samba (SMB) server on it. Then you can mount it as a network drive on Windows. This should also work for Linux, but I usually just use SSHFS. You can also use NFS, but that's a bit more work on Windows. Alternatives would be something like OwnCloud or NextCloud.

[Master Disaster]

Port forwarding shouldn't be required internally (unless the Pi has its own firewall). Assuming you're running a recent build of Ubuntu you can run "sudo systemctl status firewalld" to find out. If its enabled (IIRC its disabled by default on Desktop) then just do "sudo firewall-cmd --add-service --permanent samba" to allow it through then "sudo firewall-cmd --reload" to apply the changes.

 

SAMBA works perfectly on both Windows & Linux, on Ubuntu you'll want to install cifs-utils then you can either mount using fstab or as a systemd module. On Windows it should just show in Network Places or you can mount as a network drive.

 

Edit - Obvs you won't need to install cifs-utils on the server, SAMBA comes with it anyway but then you shouldn't want to network mount local storage anyway

[jde3]

"where ever you are?"  You might want to check out Nextcloud.. Basically it's self hosted Dropbox.. (however saying that might be insulting to Nextcloud because it's far better than DB)

[Master Disaster]

2 minutes ago, jde3 said:

"where ever you are?"  You might want to check out Nextcloud.. Basically it's self hosted Dropbox.

Pretty useless as a NAS volume though and requires a LAMP/LEMP stack, not sure I'd be OK running mySQL/MariaDB on a RasPi.

 

Edit - Actually IIRC it supports SQLlite so yeah, it'd probably work fine on a Pi.

[jde3]

Actually no.. but.. it depends on the implementation he wants..

 

if he wants a NAS for an internal network with larger files NFS/CIFS. (Do not share NFS or CIFS over the internet)

If he wants storage where ever in the world he is.. Nextcloud on a VPS is excellent.

However if he wants really large files over the internet being shared Syncthing might be a good option.

 

You shoehorn yourself into constraints on the problem by starting out with "I've got an old raspi I want to use it to.." -- Start with what problem you are trying to solve first then work your way back to the hardware or implementation you want to use to solve it.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

10 minutes ago, jde3 said:

Actually no.. but.. it depends on the implementation he wants..

 

if he wants a NAS for an internal network with larger files NFS/CIFS. (Do not share NFS or CIFS over the internet)

If he wants storage where ever in the world he is.. Nextcloud on a VPS is excellent.

However if he wants really large files over the internet being shared Syncthing might be a good option.

 

You shoehorn yourself into constraints on the problem by starting out with "I've got an old raspi I want to use it to.." -- Start with what problem you are trying to solve first then work your way back to the hardware or implementation you want to use to solve it.

Its not really a old one, id been wanting one to try some server hostign etc, it wont be much to deal with in terms of drives, just at most 2x500gb hdds.\

 

I was going to use samba, is that not what I shoudl use then?

[jde3]

23 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Its not really a old one, id been wanting one to try some server hostign etc, it wont be much to deal with in terms of drives, just at most 2x500gb hdds.\

 

I was going to use samba, is that not what I shoudl use then?

Samba (CIFS Protocol) is fine to use in all cases except over the internet. LAN only.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Just now, jde3 said:

Samba (CIFS Protocol) is fine to use in all cases except over the internet. LAN only.

Wht should I use for over internet if I wanted to?
I know its possible to open port 445 to use it over the internet, but whats wrong? just security?

[jde3]

7 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Wht should I use for over internet if I wanted to?
I know its possible to open port 445 to use it over the internet, but whats wrong? just security?

It's terribly insecure. (so much so it's often blocked by ISP's) Beyond that it's not really designed for it. It may function poorly or even corrupt files. There are many reasons you don't want to do this.

Syncthing would be a more apt solution or perhaps something like WebDAV. WebDAV isn't really that popular anymore but.. it works well over the internet and OS's can mount it like a disk (if you wanted to do so) -- It is essentially a protocol like CIFS or NFS but built for the internet.

 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

23 minutes ago, jde3 said:

It's terribly insecure. (so much so it's often blocked by ISP's) Beyond that it's not really designed for it. Their are many reasons you don't want to do that.

Syncthing would be a more apt solution or perhaps something like WebDAV.

 

It sounds link syncthing is just file syncing, not like file serving.

[jde3]

4 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

It sounds link syncthing is just file syncing, not like file serving.

Correct. Looks like WebDAV is what you want? File hosting/transfers over the internet?

Digital Ocean has a guide for WebDAV on Apache with Lets Encrypt SSL. I haven't read this but they generally do high quality guides.
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-configure-webdav-access-with-apache-on-ubuntu-18-04

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 hour ago, jde3 said:

Correct. Looks like WebDAV is what you want? File hosting/transfers over the internet?

Not most of the time, I really mainly want over my lan.

If anything I can just ssl into my pi whenever I want to enable/disable over the internet?

I did try to setup samba last night, its running but wont work with windows/linux for editing the file.