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Dell PowerFlex Appliance with PowerFlex 4.x Administration Guide

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Shares and exports

Shares represent mount points through which users or hosts can access file system resources. Each share is associated with a single file system and inherits the file system protocol (SMB or NFS) established for that file system. Shares of a multiprotocol file system can be either SMB or NFS.

Access to shares is determined depending on the type of file system:

  • Windows (SMB) shares: Access is controlled by SMB share permissions and the ACLs on the shared directories and files. For example, you can configure share permissions using the Microsoft Computer Management utility.
    • Active directory SMB servers: Configure access for users and groups using Windows directory access controls. User/group authentication is performed through Active Directory.
    • Stand-alone SMB servers: Manage a stand-alone SMB server within a workgroup from a Microsoft Windows host.
  • Linux/UNIX (NFS) exports: Hosts access is defined by the NFS access control settings of the NFS export. Use PowerFlex Manager to configure access for individual Linux/UNIX hosts or IP subnets.

All shares within a single file system draw from the total quantity of storage allocated for the file system. Consequently, storage space for shares is managed at the file system level.

SMB and NFS configuration details

The following table provides details you will need when creating files systems, SMB shares or NFS exports.

Table 1. SMB and NFS configuration optionsSMB and NFS configuration options and descriptions
Option Description
Name

The name provided for the export or share, along with the NAS server name is the name by which the hosts will access the export or share.

NFS export, and SMB share names must be unique at the NAS server level per protocol. However, you can specify the same name for SMB shares and NFS exports.

Local path

The path to the file system storage resource on the storage system. This path specifies the unique location of the share on the storage system.

SMB shares:

  • An SMB file system allows you to create multiple shares with the same local path. In these cases, you can specify different host-side access controls for different users, but the shares within the file system will all access common content.
  • A directory must exist before you can create shares on it. Therefore, if you want the SMB shares within the same file system to access different content, you must first create a directory on the Windows host that is mapped to the file system. Then, you can create corresponding shares using PowerFlex Manager. You can also create and manage SMB shares from the Microsoft Management Console.

NFS exports:

  • Each NFS export must have a unique local path. PowerFlex automatically assigns this path to the initial export created within a new file system. The local path name is based on the file system name.
  • Before you can create additional exports within an NFS file system, you must create a directory to share from a Linux/UNIX host that is connected to the file system. Then, you can create a share from PowerFlex Manager and set access permissions accordingly.
SMB share path or export path

The path used by the host to connect to the share or export.

PowerFlex creates the export path based on the IP address of the file system, and the name of the export or share. Hosts use either the file name or the export path to mount or map to the export or share from a network host.

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