How to Install and Configure a Storage Server

Posted Mar 6, 2026

By Aaron

17 min read

Table of Contents

Network Attached Storage
Requirements
Download the OS
Install the OS
Configure the System
Set Up the ZFS Pool
Configure Cockpit (Web UI)
Configure Samba Server
Configure Samba Shares
Configure NFS Shares

Network Attached Storage

A NAS is basically just a file server attached via the network so devices like phones and laptops can connect to it wirelessly. Other devices attach to it via the network as well. It is not like attaching a USB drive or an external hard drive which would be more similar to a DAS (Direct Attached Storage)

Requirements

Computer that has
1. One drive for OS
2. SATA ports
3. Drives for those SATA ports
Choose your OS
Choose your file system
For this guide I chose Fedora 43 for the OS and ZFS for the file system.

Download the OS

Go to www.fedora.com/downloads to download the latest version of Fedora. At the time of this guide, Fedora 43 is the latest and I will choose the one for Intel and AMD x86_64 systems, the DVD iso.

Next, depending on your current system, you will need to install the iso onto a usb flashdrive. If you are on Windows, you can use Rufus, or if you are on Mac you can use Balena Etcher. Links are here:

Windows - Rufus
Mac:
- Website
- brew install --cask balenaetcher

Once you installed the iso onto the usb drive, plug it into your target computer/server and boot it up. Make sure to enter into the BIOS of your target computer so you can set the boot drive to the usb drive you just plugged in.

Install the OS

For Fedora, you will enter into the installation screen. Configure the disk you are going to install the OS to, and make sure you set a user with a password.

You should be able to also set the hostname by going into the Network tab. You can also configure the network settings in this tab.

  
sudo dnf upgrade -y
# then
sudo systemctl reboot

Configure the System

SSH Access

For best practice, setting up key-based authentication is better than using a password. Lets set this up.

Step 1. Generate the Key Pair On Your Main Computer

Open up a terminal and generate the SSH key pair:

  
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com"

You can accept the defaults by pressing enter, or you can choose to encrypt this file by entering in a password.

The default on a Mac/Linux machine will place the files in the default location of ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

This will create two files:

~/.ssh/id_ed25519 - Your private key (Don’t ever share this)
~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub - Your public key (This is what we will put on the server)

Step 2. Copy Your Public Key

Display your public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Copy the entire output. Should look something like this:

ssh-ed25519 AAAAC32Nzs24880CSDF23AAAA... your-email@example.com

Step 3. Add the Key to Your Server

On your target machine (the storage server we are setting up), open a terminal. Create the directory and the authorized_keys file:

  
mkdir -p ~/.ssh
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Copy your ssh key into the authorized_keys file, save then exit (Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter). Now set the permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 4. Test the Key Authentication

Back on your main machine, ssh into the storage server:

ssh username@your-server-ip

Optionally you can also start from the storage server terminal. Create keys there with the same command ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com" then from your main machine do this command ssh-copy-id username@your-server-ip

You should now be able to access your storage server via ssh without a password.

Step 5. Disable Password Authentication

Now that we have successfully been able to ssh into the storage server with a key instead of the password, we can safely disable the password authentication in the ssh settings.

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/50-disable-password.conf

Then add the following:

PasswordAuthentication no

Now, restart the service to enable the updated setting:

sudo systemctl restart sshd

From your main machine try to force a password authentication:

  
ssh -o PreferredAuthentications=password -o PubkeyAuthentication=no username@your-server-ip

You should see this:

  
Permission denied (publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic).

Configure DNF Package Manager (Optional)

Fedora uses DNF5 for package management. Its configuration lives at /etc/dnf/dnf.conf. View the current settings:

cat /etc/dnf/dnf.conf

It is minimal by default, and you can see all available options by using man:

man dnf.conf

The most common tweak people add is to set the default install option to “Y” instead of “N”:

sudo nano /etc/dnf/dnf.conf

Paste in:

  
[main]
defaultyes=True
max_parallel_downloads=10
fastestmirror=True
keepcache=True

defaultyes=True - Already set by Fedora, makes “yes” the default for prompts
max_parallel_downloads=10 - Download multiple packages simultaneously (default is 3)
fastestmirror=True - Automatically select the fastest mirror
keepcache=True - Keep downloaded packages in cache (useful if you reinstall often, but uses disk space)

Install Essential Packages

  
sudo dnf install -y \
    curl \
    wget \
    git \
    htop \
    net-tools \
    unzip \
    util-linux-user \
    nano

Configure Firewall

Fedora uses firewalld instead of UFW. It’s zone-based and integrates well with the rest of the system.

  
sudo firewall-cmd --state
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=cockpit
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

Enable Automatic Updates

  
sudo dnf install -y dnf-automatic

Edit the configuration:

sudo nano /etc/dnf/automatic.conf

Set these values:

  
[commands]
upgrade_type = security
apply_updates = yes

Enable and start the timer:

  
sudo systemctl enable --now dnf-automatic.timer

Install ZFS

Add the ZFS repository (using Fedora 42 package for compatibility):

  
sudo dnf install -y https://zfsonlinux.org/fedora/zfs-release-2-5.fc42.noarch.rpm

Install kernel headers (must be installed before ZFS):

  
sudo dnf install -y kernel-devel-$(uname -r | awk -F'-' '{print $1}')

Install ZFS:

  
sudo dnf install -y zfs

Load the ZFS kernel module:

sudo modprobe zfs

Enable automatic module loading on boot:

echo zfs | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/zfs.conf

Verify ZFS is working:

zfs version

Set Up the ZFS Pool

List Devices

To see the available disks use the command lsblk

Take note of what disks you have available. Example:

aaron@thor:~$ lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
sda            8:0    0 232.9G  0 disk
└─md0          9:0    0 232.8G  0 raid1
  ├─md0p1    259:0    0    50G  0 part  /
  └─md0p2    259:1    0 182.8G  0 part  /home
sdb            8:16   0 232.9G  0 disk
└─md0          9:0    0 232.8G  0 raid1
  ├─md0p1    259:0    0    50G  0 part  /
  └─md0p2    259:1    0 182.8G  0 part  /home
zram0        251:0    0   7.6G  0 disk  [SWAP]

In my test system, I have two drives already set up. They are listed as sda and sdb.

For your setup, you may have the devices listed as sdc, sdd, sde, etc.

For more reliable identification, use disk IDs: ls -la /dev/disk/by-id/

Wipe Devices

Make sure to not format your OS drive!

Next we will need to wipe these drives to prepare them for installing the file system.

  
sudo wipefs --all --force /dev/sda
sudo wipefs --all --force /dev/sdb

If the drives were part of a previous ZFS pool, you may also need to clear the ZFS labels:

  
sudo zpool labelclear -f /dev/sda
sudo zpool labelclear -f /dev/sdb

Create the Mirror Pool

sudo zpool create -m /data data mirror /dev/disk/by-id/... /dev/disk/by-id/...

This creates a pool named data mounted at /data. Replace the device paths with your actual drive paths — use lsblk to identify them and make sure you’re not formatting your OS drive.

Create Datasets

ZFS datasets are like folders with superpowers. Each can have its own compression, quota, and snapshot settings.

  
sudo zfs create data/media
sudo zfs create data/backups
sudo zfs create data/documents
sudo zfs set compression=lz4 data

Your datasets are now available at /data/media, /data/backups, etc.

Verify

zpool status
zfs list

You should now see your healthy mirror pool and all datasets with compression enabled.

Auto-Import on Boot

  
sudo systemctl enable zfs-import-cache.service
sudo systemctl enable zfs-import-scan.service
sudo systemctl enable zfs-mount.service
sudo systemctl enable zfs.target

If your pool doesn’t mount automatically after a reboot, you can manually import and mount it:

  
sudo zpool import
sudo zpool import data
sudo zfs mount -a

Basic ZFS Maintenance

  
sudo zpool status
zfs list
sudo zfs snapshot data/media@before-upgrade
sudo zfs rollback data/media@before-upgrade
sudo zpool scrub data

Automate Monthly Scrubs

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/zfs-scrub.service

  
[Unit]
Description=ZFS monthly scrub
After=zfs.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/zpool scrub data

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/zfs-scrub.timer

  
[Unit]
Description=Run ZFS scrub monthly

[Timer]
OnCalendar=monthly
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Enable the timer:

  
sudo systemctl enable --now zfs-scrub.timer
systemctl list-timers zfs-scrub.timer

The Persistent=true option means if the system was off when the timer was supposed to fire, it will run the scrub on the next boot.

Configure Cockpit (Web UI)

Cockpit is a web-based management interface for Fedora/RHEL systems. It gives you a browser dashboard for monitoring CPU, memory, storage, logs, and services — useful for managing your NAS without always dropping into a terminal.

Install Cockpit

Cockpit comes pre-installed on Fedora Server, but if it’s missing:

  
sudo dnf install -y cockpit
sudo dnf install -y cockpit-storaged

Enable and Start Cockpit

  
sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

Firewall

You already added Cockpit to the firewall earlier in this guide. If you skipped that step, add it now:

  
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=cockpit
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Access Cockpit

Open a browser and navigate to:

https://your-server-ip:9090

You’ll get a self-signed certificate warning on first visit — this is expected. Accept the exception to proceed. You can replace it with a real cert later if desired.

You should now see the Cockpit dashboard showing system health, storage, logs, and running services.

Configure Samba Server

This section covers setting up Samba on your NAS so that other machines (Windows, Mac, Linux) can mount your ZFS datasets as network shares.

Install Samba

  
sudo dnf install -y samba samba-common samba-client

Configure Samba

Edit the main config file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

A basic config for sharing your ZFS datasets:

  
[global]
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = NAS Server
   security = user
   map to guest = bad user
   log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
   max log size = 50

[media]
   path = /data/media
   valid users = aaron
   read only = no
   browsable = yes
   create mask = 0664
   directory mask = 0775

[backups]
   path = /data/backups
   valid users = aaron
   read only = no
   browsable = yes
   create mask = 0660
   directory mask = 0770

Create a Samba User

Samba maintains its own password database separate from Linux system passwords. Add your user:

  
sudo smbpasswd -a aaron
sudo smbpasswd -e aaron

Fedora’s SELinux will block Samba from reading your ZFS mount unless you label it correctly:

  
sudo setsebool -P samba_export_all_rw on
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t samba_share_t "/data(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /data

Enable and Start Samba

  
sudo systemctl enable --now smb nmb

Open the Firewall

  
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=samba
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Verify

From another machine, test that your shares are visible:

smbclient -L //your-server-ip -U aaron

You should see your shares (media, backups) listed. Other machines can now mount them using the steps in the Configure Samba Shares section below.

Configure Samba Shares

CIFS (Common Internet File System) is the protocol used to mount Windows/Samba shares on Linux. cifs-utils is the package that provides this support.

Install CIFS

sudo dnf install cifs-utils

Basic Mount

  
sudo mount -t cifs //SERVER_IP/share_name /mnt/mountpoint -o username=youruser

Example:

  
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/media
sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/media /mnt/media -o username=aaron

Common Mount Options

Options	Description
username=	Samba username
password=	Password (best practice to use credentials file instead)
credentials=	Path to a credentials file (more secure than password)
uid=	Local user that owns the mount files
gid=	Local group that owns the mounted files
file_mode=0644	Permissions for files
dir_mode=0755	Permissions for directories
vers=3.0	SMB Protocol version (2.1, 3.0, 3.1.1)
iocharset=utf8	Character encoding
nopperm	Skip local permission checks (useful for mixed environments)

Credentials File

Putting your password in /etc/fstab or on the command line is a bad idea. Use a credentials file instead:

sudo nano /etc/samba/credentials/myserver

  
username=youruser
password=yourpassword
domain=WORKGROUP

Set permissions:

sudo chmod 600 /etc/samba/credentials/myserver
sudo chown root:root /etc/samba/credentials/myserver

Mount using the credentials file:

  
sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/media /mnt/media -o credentials=/etc/samba/credentials/myserver

Persistent mount via /etc/fstab:

//192.168.1.10/media  /mnt/media  cifs  credentials=/etc/samba/credentials/myserver,uid=1000,gid=1000,file_mode=0644,dir_mode=0755,_netdev  0  0

The _netdev option is important — it tells the system to wait for the network to be up before mounting. Without it, the mount can fail on boot.

Test your fstab entry without rebooting:

sudo mount -a

Fedora-Specific: SELinux Considerations

Fedora ships with SELinux enforcing by default. If you’re writing to a CIFS mount and getting permission denied errors even though permissions look correct, SELinux may be blocking it.

  
sudo ausearch -m avc -ts recent
sudo setsebool -P use_samba_home_dirs on

Unmounting

  
sudo umount /mnt/media
sudo umount -l /mnt/media  # lazy unmount if target is busy

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely Cause	Fix
`mount error(13): Permission denied`	Wrong credentials or guest access disabled	Double-check username/password, verify Samba user exists on server
`mount error(115): Operation now in progress`	Network timeout, server unreachable	Check server IP, firewall, Samba service running
`mount error(2): No such file or directory`	Share name wrong or doesn’t exist	Run `smbclient -L //SERVER_IP -U username` to list available shares
Files show as root-owned	Missing `uid`/`gid` options	Add `uid=1000,gid=1000` to mount options
Works manually but fails on boot	Missing `_netdev`	Add `_netdev` to fstab options

You can verify available shares on a server before mounting with:

smbclient -L //192.168.1.10 -U youruser

Configure NFS Shares

Install NFS

sudo dnf install nfs-utils

Configure the Exports File (Server Side)

The /etc/exports file controls what directories your NAS shares out and who can access them.

sudo nano /etc/exports

Basic syntax:

/path/to/share    client_ip(options)

Example — sharing your ZFS datasets to a specific subnet:

/data/media       192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash)
/data/backups     192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,root_squash)
/data/documents   192.168.1.50(ro,sync,no_subtree_check)

Common export options:

Option	Description
`rw`	Allow read and write
`ro`	Read only
`sync`	Write to disk before replying (safer, slightly slower)
`async`	Reply before writing to disk (faster, slight data-loss risk on crash)
`no_subtree_check`	Disables subtree checking — recommended, improves reliability
`root_squash`	Maps remote root user to anonymous (safer for untrusted clients)
`no_root_squash`	Lets remote root act as local root (use only on trusted machines)
`all_squash`	Maps all users to anonymous (most restrictive)
`anonuid=`	Sets the UID for anonymous/squashed users
`anongid=`	Sets the GID for anonymous/squashed users
`fsid=0`	Required for NFSv4 to designate the root export

After editing /etc/exports, apply the changes without restarting NFS:

  
sudo exportfs -arv
sudo exportfs -v

Enable and Start NFS Server

  
sudo systemctl enable --now nfs-server

Open the Firewall (Server Side)

  
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=nfs
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=mountd
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=rpc-bind
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

These firewall rules are for running Fedora as an NFS server. If you’re only mounting shares from another server, you don’t need these.

Basic Manual Mount

  
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/media
sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.10:/srv/media /mnt/media

Check What a Server is Exporting

showmount -e 192.168.1.10

Common Mount Options

Option	Description
`vers=4.2`	NFS version (prefer 4.1 or 4.2 for modern servers)
`rw`	Mount read/write (default)
`ro`	Mount read-only
`hard`	Retry indefinitely if server goes down (safer for data)
`soft`	Give up after a timeout (faster failure, riskier)
`noatime`	Don’t update file access times — improves performance
`_netdev`	Wait for network before mounting (required in fstab)

Persistent mount via /etc/fstab:

192.168.1.10:/srv/media  /mnt/media  nfs  vers=4.2,hard,noatime,_netdev  0  0

Just like CIFS, _netdev is critical here — without it the system will try to mount before the network is up and hang or fail at boot.

Test it:

sudo mount -a

NFS Versions — Which to Use?

Version	Notes
NFSv3	Older, stateless, still widely supported. Use if server is old
NFSv4	Default on modern systems, stateful, better performance
NFSv4.1	Adds parallel NFS (pNFS) and session improvements
NFSv4.2	Current best — adds server-side copy, sparse file support

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely Cause	Fix
`mount.nfs: access denied`	Your IP isn’t in the server’s `/etc/exports`	Add your client IP to the export on the server
`mount.nfs: Connection timed out`	Firewall blocking, NFS service not running on server	Check `sudo systemctl status nfs-server` on the server side
Files show wrong ownership (nobody/nogroup)	NFSv4 ID mapping issue	Ensure `nfs-idmapd` is running: `sudo systemctl enable --now nfs-idmapd`
Mount hangs at boot	Missing `_netdev` in fstab	Add `_netdev` to mount options

CIFS vs NFS — Quick Comparison

	CIFS	NFS
Best for	Mixed environments (Windows + Linux + Mac)	Linux-to-Linux
Auth method	Username/password	IP-based (server `/etc/exports`)
Performance	Slightly more overhead	Generally faster on LAN
macOS support	Yes (Finder native)	Yes (but CIFS is easier on Mac)
Windows support	Native	Needs extra client software

References

Network Attached Storage - Wikipedia
Direct Attached Storage - Wikipedia
You don’t need TrueNAS or unRAID! How I setup a pure Linux NAS - TwoGuyzTech - YouTube
The ULTIMATE Fedora Server Guide - Full Walkthrough (Podman, Cockpit, ZFS) - TechHut - YouTube
The ULTIMATE Fedora Server Guide - Full Walkthrough (Podman, Cockpit, ZFS) - TechHut - Article

how-to

This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.

Network Attached Storage

Requirements

Download the OS

Install the OS

Configure the System

SSH Access

Step 1. Generate the Key Pair On Your Main Computer

Step 2. Copy Your Public Key

Step 3. Add the Key to Your Server

Step 4. Test the Key Authentication

Step 5. Disable Password Authentication

Step 6. Verify Password Login is Disabled

Configure DNF Package Manager (Optional)

Install Essential Packages

Configure Firewall

Enable Automatic Updates

Install ZFS

Set Up the ZFS Pool

List Devices

Wipe Devices

Create the Mirror Pool

Create Datasets

Verify

Auto-Import on Boot

Basic ZFS Maintenance

Automate Monthly Scrubs

Configure Cockpit (Web UI)

Install Cockpit

Enable and Start Cockpit

Firewall

Access Cockpit

Configure Samba Server

Install Samba

Configure Samba

Create a Samba User

SELinux — Label the Share Paths

Enable and Start Samba

Open the Firewall

Verify

Configure Samba Shares

Install CIFS

Basic Mount

Common Mount Options

Credentials File

Fedora-Specific: SELinux Considerations

Unmounting

Troubleshooting

Configure NFS Shares

Install NFS

Configure the Exports File (Server Side)

Enable and Start NFS Server

Open the Firewall (Server Side)

Basic Manual Mount

Check What a Server is Exporting

Common Mount Options

NFS Versions — Which to Use?

Troubleshooting

CIFS vs NFS — Quick Comparison

References

Trending Tags