NAS (Network Attached Storage)
System Setup Summary
External USB HDD
Connect an external USB HDD to the system and identify it using the lsblk command. After confirming the device name, create a mount point at /mnt/external. To ensure the drive auto-mounts at boot, retrieve the UUID of the device using blkid:
sudo blkid /dev/sdd1
Add an entry to /etc/fstab to automatically mount the drive on startup:
UUID=your-uuid-here /mnt/external ext4 defaults 0 2
Reload the system with sudo mount -a to mount the drive immediately.
Western Digital NAS Drives (RAID1 Removal)
Identify two Western Digital NAS drives, originally configured in RAID1, in the system. These drives were previously used in a QNAP NAS, which typically uses a RAID configuration with LVM for disk management. Use this configuration to combine RAID for redundancy and LVM for flexible volume management.
Identify the active RAID arrays using the following command:
cat /proc/mdstat
To remove the RAID1 setup, stop the RAID arrays using mdadm:
sudo mdadm --stop /dev/md123
sudo mdadm --stop /dev/md124
sudo mdadm --stop /dev/md125
sudo mdadm --stop /dev/md126
sudo mdadm --stop /dev/md127
Clear the RAID superblocks from the drives:
sudo mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb3
sudo mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdc3
Deactivate the logical volumes:
sudo lvchange -an vg1/lv1
sudo lvchange -an vg1/lv544
Remove the logical volumes and volume groups:
sudo lvremove /dev/vg1/lv1
sudo lvremove /dev/vg1/lv544
sudo vgremove vg1
Clear the physical volumes:
sudo pvremove /dev/sdb3
sudo pvremove /dev/sdc3
Delete existing partitions on /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc using fdisk:
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
sudo fdisk /dev/sdc
Create new ext4 filesystems on both drives:
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1
Create mount points at /mnt/drive1 and /mnt/drive2, and mount the drives:
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/drive1
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/drive2
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/drive1
sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/drive2
Retrieve the UUIDs of both drives:
sudo blkid /dev/sdb1
sudo blkid /dev/sdc1
Add entries to /etc/fstab to ensure auto-mounting:
# Western Digital 4TB #1
/dev/disk/by-uuid/5feead0e-89c5-4339-a777-fcbfa9ace876 /mnt/drive1 ext4 defaults 0 1
# Western Digital 4TB #2
/dev/disk/by-uuid/9b73c31c-e610-4f56-8e3f-7362f61904fa /mnt/drive2 ext4 defaults 0 1
Seagate 14TB Drive
Unmount the Seagate 14TB drive, which was previously mounted at /seagate:
sudo umount /seagate
Retrieve the UUID of the drive:
sudo blkid /dev/sdd1
Add an entry to /etc/fstab to mount the drive at /mnt/drive3:
# Seagate External 14TB
/dev/disk/by-uuid/b40810fe-764a-428a-8f0c-663db4745966 /mnt/drive3 ext4 defaults 0 1
Reload the system to apply the changes:
sudo mount -a
Final /etc/fstab Configuration:
# Western Digital 4TB #1
/dev/disk/by-uuid/5feead0e-89c5-4339-a777-fcbfa9ace876 /mnt/drive1 ext4 defaults 0 1
# Western Digital 4TB #2
/dev/disk/by-uuid/9b73c31c-e610-4f56-8e3f-7362f61904fa /mnt/drive2 ext4 defaults 0 1
# Seagate External 14TB
/dev/disk/by-uuid/b40810fe-764a-428a-8f0c-663db4745966 /mnt/drive3 ext4 defaults 0 1
Installing Samba
To install Samba on the system, run the following command:
sudo apt install samba
Once installed, start and enable the Samba service:
sudo systemctl start smbd
sudo systemctl enable smbd
Verify that the Samba service is running:
sudo systemctl status smbd
Samba Configuration
To configure the Public share, update your /etc/samba/smb.conf file with the following:
[Public]
path = /mnt/drive3
browseable = yes
read only = yes
guest ok = yes
write list = kyle, liz
Restart the Samba service to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart smbd
Adding the liz User to the System
To add the liz user to the system, use the following command:
sudo adduser liz
Follow the prompts to create the user and set a password.
Adding Users to Samba
To add the kyle and liz users to Samba, use the following commands:
sudo smbpasswd -a kyle
sudo smbpasswd -a liz
This will prompt you to set Samba-specific passwords for both users.
Testing the Samba Configuration with smbclient
To test the Samba configuration from a client machine, use the smbclient tool to connect to the share. For example, to test the Public share:
For the kyle user:
smbclient //nas.lan/Public -U kyle
For the liz user:
smbclient //nas.lan/Public -U liz
For guest access (if allowed):
smbclient //nas.lan/Public -N
Use the ls command within smbclient to list the contents of the share:
ls
Unmount the Drives
Ensure the drives are unmounted before proceeding.
sudo umount /mnt/drive1
sudo umount /mnt/drive2
Scan for Bad Sectors Using badblocks
Use badblocks to scan for bad sectors on each drive. This will perform a non-destructive read-only test.
sudo badblocks -sv /dev/sdb
sudo badblocks -sv /dev/sdc
If you'd like a more thorough test (which will take longer), you can use the following command, which writes test patterns to the disk and reads them back:
sudo badblocks -wsv /dev/sdb
sudo badblocks -wsv /dev/sdc
Warning: Using the -w option will destroy all data on the drives.
Install ZFS on Ubuntu Server 24.04
Install the ZFS utilities if they are not already installed:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install zfsutils-linux
Destroy the Current ext4 Filesystem (if necessary)
After scanning for bad sectors, if you are certain you want to proceed, you’ll need to wipe the existing ext4 partitions on both drives:
sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdb
sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdc
Create a New ZFS Pool
Once the partitions are wiped, create a ZFS pool. Replace media with your desired pool name.
- For a mirrored setup (provides redundancy):
sudo zpool create media mirror /dev/sdb /dev/sdc
- For a striped setup (combines space without redundancy):
sudo zpool create media /dev/sdb /dev/sdc
Check the Status of the ZFS Pool
Verify the status of the new ZFS pool:
sudo zpool status
Set Auto-Mount at Boot (Optional)
Ensure the ZFS pool mounts automatically at boot:
sudo zpool set autoexpand=on media
Plex
Install Plex on the server by downloading the deb or by running:
curl -L https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server-new/1.40.5.8921-836b34c27/debian/plexmediaserver_1.40.5.8921-836b34c27_amd64.deb | sudo dpkg -i -
Visit https://www.plex.tv/claim/, log in, and then copy the claim code.
Claim your Plex instance using the claim code you generated earlier by running the following command on the server:
curl -X POST 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/myplex/claim?token=CLAIM_CODE'
This request may take a while to complete.
WTF
On the server, stop Plex:
sudo systemctl stop plexmediaserver
Edit the Plex configuration file:
sudo nano /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Preferences.xml
And remove the values from the following attributes, if they exist:
PlexOnlineNamePlexOnlineTokenPlexOnlineEmailPlexOnlineHome(if it exists)
Start Plex:
sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver
Try again.