Add A NFS Storage

Network File System (NFS) is a popular distributed file system protocol that allows a user on a client computer to access files over a network in a manner similar to how local storage is accessed. This document guides you through the process of integrating NFS storage with MetaDefender for Secure Storage.

1. Understanding NFS Server and Client

In a NFS setup, there are two primary components:

1. NFS Server: This is the machine where your files are stored. It must be configured to share files using the NFS protocol.
2. NFS Client: This is the machine where MetaDefender for Secure Storage is installed. It accesses the files stored on the NFS Server.

2. Setting up the NFS Server machine

Please make sure your files are shared via NFS protocol.

To enable remediations capabilities of MetaDefender for Secure Storage (sanitization, file moving / deleting), we need to have write access to your shared folder. To allow write access, please choose the appropriate configuration for your server. More details here

3. Setting up the NFS Client machine

Before integrating NFS storage with MetaDefender for Secure Storage, a mount needs to be created from the NFS Client machine to the NFS Server. Follow these steps on the NFS Client machine:

1. Install NFS:

   • For Debian-based distributions, install nfs-common.
   • For Fedora-based distributions, install nfs-utils.
   • Our product is not bound to a specific NFS version. It should work as expected with the version provided by the above package.

2. Prepare the Mount Directory:

   • The default directory for all mounts is /mnt/mdss/nfs. Within this directory, create a new folder, for example, company-files, where the NFS mount will be performed.
   • All new files and folders created by MetaDefender for Secure Storage (during Sanitization, Remediations) will adopt the same read, write and execute permissions as the parent directory. This means you need to set the appropriate permissions to the company-files folder in order new items to be accessible for the desired audience.

3. Perform the NFS Mount:

   • Execute the following command:sudo mount {nfs_server_ip}:/srv/company-shared-files /mnt/mdss/nfs/company-files
   • This command mounts the shared files from the NFS Server to the company-files directory on the NFS Client.

4. Ensure Persistent Mounting:

   • To maintain the mount across reboots, add the following entry to the /etc/fstab file: {nfs_server_ip}:/srv/company-shared-files /mnt/mdss/nfs/company-files nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0
   • Without this step, the mount will be lost when the NFS Client machine is restarted.

4. Adding an NFS storage in MDSS

In order to integrate NFS with MetaDefender for Secure Storage, please follow these steps:

1. From the left side menu, navigate to Storage units and from the Network-Attached Storage tab, choose Add NFS Storage:

2. Assign a meaningful name to your NFS storage for easy identification later.
3. Input the mount directory where your NFS shared files are mounted on the MetaDefender for Secure Storage machine. For instance, if your files are mounted at /mnt/mdss/nfs/company-files, simply enter company-files in the text box.
4. Click Add in order to finish the process.

5. Additional NFS Configuration

NFS offers a wide range of configurations to suit different needs. For more detailed information on NFS configurations, please refer to the following resources based on your operating system:

• NFS Server and NFS Client configuration on Fedora
• NFS Server and NFS Client configuration on Ubuntu