NAS setup question(s)

[wove]

I am trying to get Linux to connect to this TimeCapsule/Router, Wireless, NAS thing. Of course Apple devices just see it and use it, Windows sees it as an SMB share, and Linux just complains that either nothing is there, or connection failure.

The router portion on the device has three network options. DHCP & NAT, DHCP Only, and OFF (Bridge Mode). I am not clear what specifically those terms mean in practice. OFF (Bridge Mode) seems to work the best at least everything seems to see the device. DHCP Only kills of using the wireless and DHCP & NAT wants/needs a different configuration in my ISP provided router, which supplies the WAN connection for the TimeCapsule device.

Would appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction.

[chris]

If Windows sees an SMB share, can Linux see the share too? smbclient -L timecapIPaddress . If so, at least the IP address is correct. You can connect to server with the SMB (Windows) protocol. Try mount.cifs or mount.smb3 (see man page).
Both these next are unlikely on Apple kit.
What do you see with nmap timecapIPaddress ? Is Port 22/TCP there? If not, you're missing sshd (secure shell daemon).
Port 2049/TCP is for the network file sharing daemon (nfsd). If not there, no nfs sharing.

[wove]

Thanks for the pointers, Chris. This TimeCapsule is nowhere near as easy to setup as NextCloud, unless you are using Apple kit, in which case it just sets itself up. Of course NextCloud has a client for just about every OS which sort of sets itself up as well. Apple's TimeCapsule was discontinued in 2018 and the last update was provided in 2022.

It does show up in the Gnome file manager, but I am having trouble getting the right combination of settings so that I can actually connect to it. It shows up in the file manager three times. There are two partitions on the TimeCapsule drive itself. One is the backup partition, which provides automatic backup for wife's Mac and my Mac. The other is the file sharing partition, which on Apple hardware shows up and selecting that simply asks for the password to decrypt the partition.

A Windows Network also shows up in the file manager. That is what I assume I should use in Linux. However my entries to connect keep returning a variety of errors, from share not found to improper configuration to authentication error. When trying to connect via smb://(address of device) I get a share not found. Perhaps I should dig up a Windows install and see about setting up a Windows network share from there. Apple does have a Windows utility and perhaps that would make the setup as easy as it is on the Mac side of things. Apple does deserve all the grief it gets, but from the standpoint of "it just works" has a whole lot of upsides.

[chris]

As it's an old Apple device, it's probably using SMB1 which is a no-no for a modern Windows or Linux install. Can you set 'client min protocol = NT1' in your local (linux) smb.conf file? I presume you do have the username/password for the time capsule smb account.

[wove]

You hit the nail on the head, Chris. The TimeCapsule is old and times have kind of just moved on. It does work with Windows10/11. So while MS has deprecated SMB1, it appears that it still can use it. On the Apple side of things it uses afp, and the last that Ubuntu supported afp was in 18.04. The afp kernel module is still available, but all my attempts to install it resulted in errors.

As close as Linux came to working was Endless OS, which did see the share, but attempting to connect results in "Authentication error returned by server." I did come across a couple other ideas, that seem a bit complex and convoluted and I am not sure I feel like putting in the effort.

You mentioned adding 'client min protocol = NT1' to the smb.conf file. I did find an smb.conf file in the /etc directory and added that line to the file. It did not make any difference. Is there another location where I would find the smb.conf file?

[chris]

Did you find smb.conf in /etc/ on the client (linux) or the server (apple)?
smb.conf shouldn't be in /etc but in /etc/samba/ on the client (linux box)
The 'client min protocol = NT1' should be on the client
Perhaps 'server min protocol = NT1' in the smb.conf on the apple server

Yes! The Apple Time Capsule only supports SMB1 so above line is not needed.
According to : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/25 ... ortBy=best
Tesserax said this on Mar 21 last year. I must suppose i still holds.

[wove]

Sorry Chris, I get confused easily. I added the line 'server min protocol = NT1' to /Home/wove/.local/etc/. . . which is where Endless OS (an immutable OS) stores the user config files. When you log in Endless will replace the default system configuration normally stored in /etc with changes you make in ~/.local/etc.

It does not help my confusion either that the network setup by the Time Capsule is also called "local". Whatever OS is used by the TimeCapsule is in firmware and as far as I know there is no making changes outside of using the AirPort Utility used to set the device up. I guess it could be reflashed, but that is so far beyond my pay grade I can not even contemplate it.

[chris]

OK. I don't know Endless. If it's immutable, does that mean you can't change configuration files? Your Endless machine is the client for this, your Apple machine is the server.
Is there a directory /home/wove/.local/etc/samba with an smb.conf inside it? Or /home/wove/.local/etc with smb.conf?
Rereading your last I see! Add 'client min protocol = NT1' into that smb.conf. Remove 'server min protocol = NT1' line.
Best of luck!
Are you really wedded to Endless as your client OS? It might be easier with a regular distro. Latest Mint is a good starter (Or LMDE6). Personally, I like Slackware. Maybe crosscourt would have a suggestion. (S)he seems to try out a lot of distros.

[crosscourt]

Im a 70 year old he Chris and Mint would be a great choice but MX Linux, Debian or even another Ubuntu derivative would be good.

[chris]

I'm 74yo he <g>. Yes, I like MX, too, xfce is still great. Debian is why I suggested LMDE6 (Linux Mint Debian Edition), Cinnamon only, though .