Rhel File Storage

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 — File Sharing & Advanced Storage

Companion skill to rhel-server-admin (parent). Covers NFS, Samba/CIFS, Stratis, LVM-VDO, XFS administration, disk quotas, POSIX ACLs, and storage monitoring on RHEL 9.x (and compatible: AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9, Oracle Linux 9).

1. NFS (nfs-utils)

sudo dnf install nfs-utils
sudo systemctl enable --now nfs-server
cat /proc/fs/nfsd/versions       # expect: +4 +4.1 +4.2

/etc/exports

/srv/nfs/data    10.0.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash)
/srv/nfs/iso     10.0.1.50(ro,sync,no_subtree_check)
# NFSv4 pseudo-root
/srv/nfs4        10.0.1.0/24(rw,sync,fsid=0,crossmnt,no_subtree_check)
/srv/nfs4/data   10.0.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)

Key options: sync (safe) vs async (faster, risk on crash) | no_subtree_check (recommended) | root_squash (default) vs no_root_squash | all_squash,anonuid=1000,anongid=1000 (guest-like).

sudo exportfs -ra && sudo exportfs -v       # apply and verify
# NFSv4 bind mount
sudo mkdir -p /srv/nfs4/data && sudo mount --bind /srv/nfs/data /srv/nfs4/data
# Persist: /etc/fstab — /srv/nfs/data /srv/nfs4/data none bind 0 0

SELinux for NFS

sudo setsebool -P nfs_export_all_rw 1
sudo setsebool -P nfs_export_all_ro 1
sudo setsebool -P use_nfs_home_dirs 1       # if sharing home dirs
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t nfs_t "/srv/nfs(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /srv/nfs
getsebool -a | grep nfs                     # verify

Client (fstab and autofs)

sudo dnf install nfs-utils
# /etc/fstab
10.0.1.10:/data  /mnt/nfs/data  nfs4  defaults,_netdev,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576  0  0

# Autofs on-demand mounting
sudo dnf install autofs
# /etc/auto.master.d/nfs.autofs:  /mnt/nfs  /etc/auto.nfs  --timeout=300
# /etc/auto.nfs:                  data  -rw,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576  10.0.1.10:/data
sudo systemctl enable --now autofs

Firewalld and Performance

# NFSv4 only needs TCP 2049
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=nfs
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
# NFSv3 also needs: --add-service=rpc-bind --add-service=mountd

# Restrict to zone
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-source=10.0.1.0/24
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-service=nfs
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Tuning: /etc/nfs.conf [nfsd] threads = 16   (default 8; scale with cores)
# Stats: nfsstat -s (server) | nfsstat -c (client) | nfsiostat 5

2. Samba / CIFS

sudo dnf install samba samba-common samba-client
sudo systemctl enable --now smb nmb

smb.conf (/etc/samba/smb.conf)

[global]
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = RHEL File Server
   security = user
   map to guest = Never
   passdb backend = tdbsam
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
   max log size = 1000
   use sendfile = yes

[data]
   path = /srv/samba/data
   browseable = yes
   read
   valid users = @smbgroup
   create mask = 0664
   directory mask = 0775
   force group = smbgroup

[projects]
   path = /srv/samba/projects
   read
   valid users = @smbgroup
   vfs objects = acl_xattr
   map acl inherit = yes
   store dos attributes = yes
   inherit acls = yes

Users and Directory Setup

sudo useradd -M -s /sbin/nologin smbuser1
sudo smbpasswd -a smbuser1              # set Samba password
sudo pdbedit -L -v                       # list users
sudo mkdir -p /srv/samba/{data,public,projects}
sudo groupadd smbgroup
sudo chgrp -R smbgroup /srv/samba/data /srv/samba/projects
sudo chmod 2775 /srv/samba/data /srv/samba/projects  # setgid
testparm && sudo systemctl reload smb

SELinux for Samba

sudo semanage fcontext -a -t samba_share_t "/srv/samba(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /srv/samba
sudo setsebool -P samba_enable_home_dirs on
sudo setsebool -P samba_share_nfs on         # if re-exporting NFS mounts
getsebool -a | grep samba                     # verify
ls -lZ /srv/samba/                            # confirm samba_share_t

Firewalld, Client, and Windows

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

# Linux CIFS client
sudo dnf install cifs-utils
# /etc/fstab (credentials in /root/.smbcredentials, mode 600)
//10.0.1.10/data  /mnt/samba  cifs  credentials=/root/.smbcredentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,_netdev  0  0
# Windows: net use Z: \\10.0.1.10\data /user:smbuser1

Audit Logging

# Add to share or [global] in smb.conf
   vfs objects = full_audit
   full_audit:prefix = %u|%I|%S
   full_audit:success = connect disconnect mkdir rmdir open rename unlink write
   full_audit:failure = connect
   full_audit:facility = local5
   full_audit:priority = notice

echo 'local5.* /var/log/samba/audit.log' | sudo tee /etc/rsyslog.d/samba-audit.conf
sudo systemctl restart rsyslog smb

3. Stratis Storage Management

sudo dnf install stratisd stratis-cli
sudo systemctl enable --now stratisd

Pool and Filesystem Operations

sudo stratis pool create mypool /dev/sdb
sudo stratis pool create bigpool /dev/sdc /dev/sdd    # multi-device
sudo stratis pool add-data mypool /dev/sde             # expand pool

# Create thin-provisioned XFS filesystems
sudo stratis filesystem create mypool appdata
sudo stratis filesystem create mypool backups

# Mount
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/appdata
sudo mount /dev/stratis/mypool/appdata /mnt/appdata

# fstab (must wait for stratisd)
UUID=<stratis-uuid>  /mnt/appdata  xfs  defaults,x-systemd.requires=stratisd.service  0  0

# Status
stratis pool list && stratis filesystem list && stratis blockdev list

Snapshots

sudo stratis filesystem snapshot mypool appdata appdata-snap-$(date +%F)

# Mount snapshot (read-write COW clone)
sudo mount /dev/stratis/mypool/appdata-snap-2026-03-23 /mnt/snap

# Restore via rename
sudo umount /mnt/appdata
sudo stratis filesystem rename mypool appdata appdata-broken
sudo stratis filesystem rename mypool appdata-snap-2026-03-23 appdata
sudo mount /dev/stratis/mypool/appdata /mnt/appdata
sudo stratis filesystem destroy mypool appdata-broken   # cleanup

Tiered Storage (Cache)

sudo stratis pool init-cache mypool /dev/nvme0n1       # add SSD/NVMe cache
sudo stratis pool add-cache mypool /dev/nvme1n1        # add more cache devices
stratis blockdev list mypool                            # Tier column: Data vs Cache

Destruction (must unmount and destroy filesystems first)

sudo umount /mnt/appdata
sudo stratis filesystem destroy mypool appdata
sudo stratis pool destroy mypool

4. VDO / LVM-VDO (Deduplication & Compression)

In RHEL 9, VDO is integrated into LVM as lvmvdo. Standalone VDO is deprecated.

sudo dnf install lvm2 kmod-kvdo vdo

# Create VG and VDO logical volume
sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb && sudo vgcreate vdo-vg /dev/sdb
sudo lvcreate --type vdo --name vdo-lv --size 100G --virtualsize 300G vdo-vg

# Format and mount
sudo mkfs.xfs -K /dev/vdo-vg/vdo-lv     # -K skips discard (faster)
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/vdo && sudo mount /dev/vdo-vg/vdo-lv /mnt/vdo

# fstab
/dev/vdo-vg/vdo-lv  /mnt/vdo  xfs  defaults,x-systemd.requires=vdo.service,_netdev  0  0

Statistics and Tuning

sudo vdostats --human-readable
sudo lvs -o+vdo_compression,vdo_deduplication,vdo_compression_state
sudo lvs -o name,size,data_percent,vdo_saving_percent vdo-vg

# Enable/disable per LV
sudo lvchange --compression y /dev/vdo-vg/vdo-lv
sudo lvchange --deduplication y /dev/vdo-vg/vdo-lv

Growing VDO

sudo lvextend --size +50G /dev/vdo-vg/vpool0           # physical pool
sudo lvextend --virtualsize +100G /dev/vdo-vg/vdo-lv   # virtual size
sudo xfs_growfs /mnt/vdo                                # grow filesystem

5. XFS Administration

XFS is the default filesystem on RHEL 9. Supports online growth but NOT shrink.

xfs_info /mnt/data                           # block size, log, AG details
sudo xfs_growfs /mnt/data                    # online growth (after lvextend)

# Repair (must unmount first)
sudo umount /mnt/data
sudo xfs_repair /dev/data-vg/data-lv
sudo xfs_repair -L /dev/data-vg/data-lv     # force log zeroing (last resort)

# Fragmentation
sudo xfs_db -c frag -r /dev/data-vg/data-lv # check
sudo xfs_fsr -v /mnt/data                    # defragment (online)

# Freeze/thaw for consistent snapshots
sudo xfs_freeze -f /mnt/data                # freeze
# ... take LVM snapshot or backup ...
sudo xfs_freeze -u /mnt/data                # unfreeze

xfsdump / xfsrestore

sudo dnf install xfsdump
sudo xfsdump -l 0 -L "full-backup" -M "tape1" -f /backup/data-full.dump /mnt/data
sudo xfsdump -l 1 -L "incr-backup" -M "tape1" -f /backup/data-incr.dump /mnt/data
sudo xfsrestore -f /backup/data-full.dump /mnt/restore
sudo xfsrestore -i -f /backup/data-full.dump /mnt/restore   # interactive
xfsdump -I                                                    # dump inventory

6. Disk Quotas

XFS Quotas (Preferred on RHEL)

# Enable in /etc/fstab mount options
UUID=xxxx  /data  xfs  defaults,usrquota,grpquota,prjquota  0  0
sudo mount -o remount /data

# User and group quotas
sudo xfs_quota -x -c "limit bsoft=400m bhard=500m username" /data
sudo xfs_quota -x -c "limit -g bsoft=2g bhard=2500m devteam" /data

# Project quota (directory-level)
# 1. /etc/projects:  10:/data/projectA
# 2. /etc/projid:    projectA:10
sudo xfs_quota -x -c "project -s projectA" /data
sudo xfs_quota -x -c "limit -p bsoft=5g bhard=6g projectA" /data

# Reports
sudo xfs_quota -x -c "report -ugh" /data    # all quotas
sudo xfs_quota -x -c "report -p" /data       # project quotas
sudo xfs_quota -x -c "free" /data            # free space

ext4 Quotas

sudo dnf install quota
# /etc/fstab: UUID=xxxx /data ext4 defaults,usrquota,grpquota 0 2
sudo mount -o remount /data && sudo quotacheck -cugm /data && sudo quotaon /data
sudo setquota -u username 409600 512000 0 0 /data   # soft/hard blocks, inodes
sudo setquota -g devteam 2097152 2621440 0 0 /data
sudo repquota -a

7. POSIX ACLs

# XFS and ext4 have built-in ACL support on RHEL 9

# Set ACLs
sudo setfacl -m u:alice:rwx /srv/data/project
sudo setfacl -m g:auditors:r-x /srv/data/project
sudo setfacl -R -m g:devteam:rwx /srv/data/project  # recursive

# Default ACLs (inherited by new files/dirs)
sudo setfacl -d -m g:devteam:rwx /srv/data/project

# View / remove
getfacl /srv/data/project
sudo setfacl -x u:alice /srv/data/project            # remove entry
sudo setfacl -b /srv/data/project                    # remove all ACLs

# Backup and restore
getfacl -R /srv/data > /backup/data-acls.txt
setfacl --restore=/backup/data-acls.txt

ACLs with Samba

Use vfs objects = acl_xattr with map acl inherit = yes and store dos attributes = yes in smb.conf (see [projects] in Section 2).

sudo setfacl -R -m g:smbgroup:rwx /srv/samba/projects
sudo setfacl -R -d -m g:smbgroup:rwx /srv/samba/projects
ls -lZ /srv/samba/projects                            # verify samba_share_t

ACLs with NFS

POSIX ACLs work over NFS when server and client agree on UID/GID mapping. Set matching Domain in /etc/idmapd.conf on all hosts:

# [General]
# Domain = home.lab
sudo systemctl restart nfs-idmapd

8. Storage Monitoring

Stratis and VDO Health

stratis pool list && stratis filesystem list && stratis blockdev list
stratis daemon version
sudo vdostats --human-readable
sudo lvs -o name,size,data_percent,vdo_saving_percent

SMART Monitoring

sudo dnf install smartmontools
sudo systemctl enable --now smartd
sudo smartctl -H /dev/sda               # quick health
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda               # full SMART data
sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sda         # self-test (~2 min)
sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda      # view results
# /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf:
# DEVICESCAN -a -o on -S on -n standby,q -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03) -m admin@example.com

Disk Space and I/O

df -h && df -i                           # filesystem + inode usage
du -sh /srv/data/* | sort -rh | head -20 # largest dirs
sudo dnf install ncdu && sudo ncdu /srv  # interactive browser
sudo dnf install sysstat
iostat -xz 5                             # per-device I/O (%util >80% = bottleneck)
sudo iotop -ao                           # per-process I/O

Alert Scripts

#!/bin/bash
# /usr/local/bin/disk-alert.sh — cron: */15 * * * * root /usr/local/bin/disk-alert.sh
THRESHOLD=85; MAILTO="admin@example.com"; HOST=$(hostname -f)
df -H --output=pcent,target | tail -n+2 | while read pct mount; do
  usage=${pct%\%}
  [ "$usage" -ge "$THRESHOLD" ] && echo "${mount} is ${pct} full on ${HOST}" \
    | mail -s "Disk Alert: ${HOST} ${mount} ${pct}" "$MAILTO"
done

#!/bin/bash
# /usr/local/bin/stratis-health.sh — cron: */30 * * * * root /usr/local/bin/stratis-health.sh
MAILTO="admin@example.com"; HOST=$(hostname -f)
stratis pool list 2>/dev/null | tail -n+2 | while read name total used state alerts; do
  [ "$state" != "Ok" ] && echo "Stratis pool ${name} state: ${state}" \
    | mail -s "Stratis ALERT: ${HOST} pool ${name}" "$MAILTO"
done

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/disk-alert.sh /usr/local/bin/stratis-health.sh
echo "*/15 * * * * root /usr/local/bin/disk-alert.sh" | sudo tee /etc/cron.d/disk-alert
echo "*/30 * * * * root /usr/local/bin/stratis-health.sh" | sudo tee /etc/cron.d/stratis-health

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