# NAS Connectivity



## idiot (Apr 20, 2021)

Can anyone provide a valid reason why there is little to no support for connecting to NAS devices? Granted, I'm running a Buffalo NAS that in and of itself provides poor networking support (NFS 3 with a bunch of bending over backwards and SMB 1/2). I am absolutely baffled as to why FreeBSD has such poor support for NAS devices. Am I missing something? I've tried NFS with no success and obviously SMB isn't an option.

I'm making an assumption here the if I were to install a desktop environment I'll be able to utilize the file manager to access my NAS, but that will defeat the purpose of using FreeBSD in the first place, after all there's GxxxBSD which already has a desktop with little to no fuss. I'm using FreeBSD because I want a lightweight server, but that will be a moot point if I install a desktop.

Any insight will be much appreciated- including being told to look elsewhere.

Thank you.


----------



## SirDice (Apr 20, 2021)

idiot said:


> Granted, I'm running a Buffalo NAS that in and of itself provides poor networking support (NFS 3 with a bunch of bending over backwards and SMB 1/2)


FreeBSD supports NFSv3/NFSv4 and smbfs(5) out of the box. Granted smbfs(5) only supports SMBv1 but apparently so does your NAS, so what's the problem? Besides that there's also iscsi(4), which a modern (enterprise) NAS would certainly support. 



idiot said:


> I am absolutely baffled as to why FreeBSD has such poor support for NAS devices. Am I missing something?


I'm not sure what you expect FreeBSD needs to support here?


----------



## ct85711 (Apr 20, 2021)

idiot said:


> I'm making an assumption here the if I were to install a desktop environment I'll be able to utilize the file manager to access my NAS, but that will defeat the purpose of using FreeBSD in the first place, after all there's GxxxBSD which already has a desktop with little to no fuss. I'm using FreeBSD because I want a lightweight server, but that will be a moot point if I install a desktop.


A lot of why, is because having the GUI desktop often comes with an automounter and/or has the same protocols built in to the software so can mount/access the NAS without you explicitly mounting it.  On any other system without the desktop, you'd be in the same place on FreeBSD in that you have to mount the drive first.


----------



## msplsh (Apr 20, 2021)

SirDice said:


> I'm not sure what you expect FreeBSD needs to support here?


SMB v2 mounting


----------



## SirDice (Apr 20, 2021)

msplsh said:


> SMB v2 mounting


Yeah, that's definitely something that could be improved. I'd like to see SMBv3 too. SMBv1 is really long past its sell-by-date.


----------



## msplsh (Apr 20, 2021)

Maybe sysutils/fusefs-smbnetfs


----------



## ShelLuser (Apr 20, 2021)

I can't help be convinced that the OP is blaming FreeBSD for the shortcomings of his own NAS. I have absolutely no issues with connecting to my Synology NAS even though it was mainly designed with Windows & Apple connectivity in mind. Still... SMB (still supports _and_ accepts SMB1 even though the security manager is decently picky), FTP (not ideal but it could be an option; maybe using sysutils/fusefs-curlftpfs (I have no idea what this is, I'm assuming it supports FTP)) and ofcourse NFS. You can even combine / implement this using the auto mounter ("autofs") so that you don't have to bother with manual (un)mounting.


----------



## aragats (Apr 21, 2021)

I'm the second confirming that Synology NAS is totally "supported" by FreeBSD.
Speaking about SMB: I really don't see why it's really needed nowadays in home environment. MS Windows 10 supports NFS and SSH without installing any third-party programs, so does macOS.


----------



## ct85711 (Apr 21, 2021)

aragats said:


> MS Windows 10 supports NFS


Sadly, the NFS support on windows, is for Pro edition or higher, Home edition it isn't supported directly unless you get some 3rd party software that hasn't seen much updates for several years.


----------

