Frequently Asked Question

Overview

Synology NAS is designed to make storing and sharing files within your local network quick and simple, allowing you to directly access shared folders and files on the Synology NAS without going through the hassle of logging into DSM everytime. You will be able to access files on your Synology NAS with NFS just like other network devices.

This article guides you through the steps of using your Linux computer to access your Synology NAS within the local network.

1. Before You Start

This article assumes that you have already done the following:

• Configured your Synology NAS to be accessible over the Internet.

2. Enabling NFS on Your Synology NAS

Before accessing a shared folder with your NFS client, you will need to change the system settings of your Synology NAS to allow sharing via NFS. Please follow the steps below.
1. Log into DSM with an account belonging to the administrators group.
2. Go to Control Panel > File Services.


3. On the Win/Mac/NFS tab, tick the box Enable NFS.


4. Click Apply to save settings.

3. Assign NFS Permissions to Shared Folders

Before accessing any shared folders with your NFS client, you must first configure the NFS permissions of the shared folder you wish to access. The steps below will guide you through the process of changing NFS permissions of the shared folders on your Synology NAS.

1. Go to Control Panel > Shared Folder.


2. Select the shared folder that you wish to access with your NFS client, and click Edit.


3. Go to the NFS Permissions tab. Click Create.



4. Edit the following fields:

• Hostname or IP: Enter the IP address of the NFS client which will access the shared folder. You may specify a host in three ways:
  • Single Host: The fully qualified domain name, or an IP address.
  • Wildcards: *, *.synology.com
  • IP networks: 203.74.205.32/255.255.252.0, /24
• Privilege: Select read/write permissions for the NFS client.
• Security: Specify the security flavor to implement.
  • AUTH_SYS: Use the NFS client's UID (user identifier) and GID (group identifier) to check access permissions.
  • Kerberos authentication: Perform Kerberos authentication when the NFS client connects to the shared folder. The client can only access the shared folder after passing Kerberos authentication.
  • Kerberos integrity: Perform Kerberos authentication and ensure the integrity of packets during data transfer.
  • Kerberos privacy: Perform Kerberos authentication and encrypt the NFS packets during data transfer, thus preventing malicious parties from tampering with NFS traffic.
• Squash: This field allows you to control users' access privileges of the NFS client. Please select one of the following:
  • No mapping: Allows all users of NFS client, including root users, to maintain original access privileges.
  • Map root to admin: Assigns access privileges to root users of NFS client equivalent to the admin user access privileges on your system.
  • Map root to guest: Assigns access privileges to root users of NFS client equivalent to the guest access privileges on your system.
  • Map all users to admin: Assigns access privileges to all users of NFS client equivalent to the admin user access privileges on your system.
• Asynchronous: Checking this option allows your Synology NAS to reply to requests from NFS clients before any changes to files are completed, yielding better performance.
• Allowed non-privileged port: Checking this option allows NFS clients to use non-privileged ports (i.e. ports greater than 1024) when connecting to the Synology NAS.

5. Click OK to finish.
6. Click OK to apply the NFS permissions.


Note: When the format of the server name is *.domain, the NFS client's IP address must have a corresponding DNS PTR record, in order to allow the Synology NAS to find the name *.domain by searching for the corresponding IP address.

4. Mounting Shared Folders via NFS

Once you have completed the steps above, you can mount the shared folder with your NFS client. In the section below, we will access the shared folder using Linux.
1. Open a web browser and log into DSM with an account belonging to the administrators group.
2. Go to Control Panel > Shared Folder. Select a shared folder, and click Edit.
3. Go to the NFS Permissions tab. Here you can find the mount path of the shared folder, which follows the format / [volume name] / [shared folder name ].

4. On your Linux computer, open the command console.
5. Enter the mount command as follows:
mount [Synology NAS IP address] : [mount path of shared folder] / [mount point on NFS client]
6. Enter the disk free (df) command to confirm you have successfully mounted the shared folder.



Can't mount the shared folder? The user account you enter here must have access privileges for the shared folder that you wish to map.