Server Message Block

2. Compute Teams 2.1 Security Teams device security
1

Introduction

Server Message Block (SMB) is the primary file sharing protocol supported by Infinite Disk, enabling file access from a range of devices including:

  1. Apple iOS
  2. Apple macOS
  3. Microsoft Windows
  4. Google Android
  5. Linux
  6. Others

Unless there are special restrictions, by default SMB should be make available as a way of access Infinite Disk.

Samba

Samba is the default SMB server. Currently supported versions are:

  • 4.20 (recommended)
  • 4.18
  • 4.15

Demonstration

All Personal Alias will have have access to demonstration SMB storage under Infinite Disk entity.

CIFS Documents Provider
End-to-End File Encryption
End-to-End File Encryption
2

Apple iOS

Infinite Disk SMB can be accessed directly by Apple iOS with its official built-in Files app:

1. Installation

  1. Open the Files app files_app and tap 3-dot at the top of the Browse screen. If 3-dot is not shown, tap Browse again.

  2. Tap Connect to Server.

    connect_to_server
    connect_to_server400×249 34.7 KB

  3. Enter smb.vahfoom3iquahfah.infinitedisk.com in the Server field.

    server
    server400×226 13.4 KB

  4. Enter the username and password.

    username
    username400×414 21.3 KB

  5. If connected successfully, the remote folder will be displayed. The username used in this user guide is sambatest.

    remote_shared_folder
    remote_shared_folder400×221 15.6 KB

2. Reference

3

Apple macOS

Infinite Disk SMB can be accessed directly by Apple macOS:

1. Browse

2. Share

3. Time Machine

4. Remote SMB

5. Tech Notes

Infinite Disk has ALREADY been set up as a SMB server to support file access from Apple macOS, there is NOTHING to do, below are just some background information for the techs on the server side.

  1. Time Machine
    https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Configure_Samba_to_Work_Better_with_Mac_OS_X

  2. Spotlight
    https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Spotlight_with_Elasticsearch_Backend

4

Microsoft Windows

Infinite Disk SMB can be accessed directly by Microsoft Windows:

1. Windows Explorer

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-connect-to-linux-samba-shares-from-windows-10/

Installation

  1. Open File Explorer from the taskbar or the Start win_logo menu, or press the Windows logo key
    win_logo + E.

  2. Select This PC from the left pane. Then, on the File Explorer ribbon, select More
    win_3-dot and Map network drive.

    win_map
    win_map400×234 43.7 KB

  3. Enter \\smb.vahfoom3iquahfah.infinitedisk.com\sambatest in the Folder field and click on the Finish button.

    win_network_drive
    win_network_drive400×283 27 KB

  4. Enter the username and password and click on the OK button.

    win_username
    win_username400×358 23.9 KB

  5. If the connection is successful, the remote shared folder will be displayed. The username used in this user guide is sambatest.

    win_samba_drive
    win_samba_drive400×278 37.7 KB

2. Remote SMB

3. Legacy SMB 1.0

With our support for Web Services for Devices, SMB 1.0 support is not normally required anymore, but just in case:

4. Tech Notes

Infinite Disk has ALREADY been set up as a SMB server to support file access from Microsoft Windows, there is NOTHING to do, below are just some background information for the techs on the server side.

  1. Newer Windows 10 and 11 use Web Services for Devices (WSD), so wsdd22 daemon is needed.
    GitHub - Netgear/wsdd2: WSD/LLMNR Discovery/Name Service Daemon

  2. Shadow Copy
    https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/current/man-html/vfs_shadow_copy2.8.html

  3. Samba Standalone Server
    https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_Samba_as_a_Standalone_Server

5

Google Android

The standard Google Android Files App has NO native support for SMB and its own SMB app has been abandoned. The Samsung My Files app DOES have support for SMB.

Infinite Disk SMB can be accessed by most third-party Android Apps with SMB support. However most of them are closed sourced, so should not be used.

The recommended Open Sourced SMB app is Material Files:

  1. Download from F-Droid:
    Material Files | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

  2. Download from Google Play:
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.zhanghai.android.files

Installation

  1. Open the Material Files app menu android_3-dot at the top of the screen and select Add Storage.

    android_add_storage
    android_add_storage400×280 26.7 KB

  2. Tap SMB Server.

    android_smb_server
    android_smb_server400×593 44.9 KB

  3. Tap Add Manually.

    android_add_manually
    android_add_manually400×191 18 KB

  4. Enter smb.vahfoom3iquahfah.infinitedisk.com as the hostname and other details as below and tap Connect and add.

    android_username
    android_username400×844 48.3 KB

  5. If the connection is successful, the remote server will be displayed.

    android_remote_shared_folder
    android_remote_shared_folder400×335 34.9 KB

  6. To access the remote shared folder, tap the remote server above. The username used in this user guide is sambatest.

    android_remote_shared_folder
    android_remote_shared_folder400×204 20.9 KB

6

Linux

1. SMB Client

The Samba package comes with client software (smbclient) which can be used on all Linux Distributions.

smbclient is also available through different libraries e.g. javascript samba client.

2. SMB Protocol

To see which SMB protocol are supported on SMB server:

nmap -p139 --script smb-protocols <server-address>

Reference:
https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/smb-protocols.html

3. Tech Notes

Infinite Disk has ALREADY been set up as a SMB server to support file access from Linux, there is NOTHING to do, below are just some background information on the server side for the techs.

Linux has 2 good SMB servers both support improved security in SMB 3.1.1.

  1. ksmbd
    https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/filesystems/cifs/ksmbd.html
    GitHub - cifsd-team/ksmbd: ksmbd kernel server(SMB/CIFS server)
    https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Linux_Kernel_Server
    KSMBD - Wikipedia

  2. samba
    https://www.samba.org
    https://wiki.samba.org
    Samba (software) - Wikipedia

Infinite Disk defaults to Samba due to extra features (e.g. shadowcopy, macOS Timemachine etc.) but ksmbd is leaner and is also supported.

By default samba should have these VFS Modules as a minimum :

  • vfs_catia
  • vfs_fruit
  • vfs_shadow_copy2

Apple Time Machine reference:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61070777/issue-using-samba-4-9-with-time-machine

7

Others

Infinite Disk SMB can be accessed using SMB client software on most operating systems.

1. Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD)

Most popular BSDs have SMB client support e.g. FreeBSD

2. Oracle Solaris

Oracle Solaris has its own SMB Client.

3. IBM z/OS

IBM z/OS does not have SMB client and its SMB server is not going to last for long, so you should access Infinite Disk using NFS instead of SMB.

4. Game Consoles, Smart TVs etc.

There are numerous hacks and programs to get SMB clients into Playstations, Nintendo, Xboxes etc. We are not supporting them ourselves, but it should be a lot of fun, Good Luck!