NAS

[thelonegunman]

I am looking at ditching the media server in preference for a large capacity network storage device. I am fairly clued up on the in and outs of the device in terms of what it does and how but have some questions about windows network security in relation to NAS.

At present I have a media server, churning away since 2000 running 2000 Server and it basically holds media and is a 24/7 system which is accessed via MSTSC for administration, backup and downloading torrents.

11 years ago it was not uncommon to have to wait days for downloads to complete so a server was the best option for me as I needed the general computing aspect for downloading. Faster downloads negates the requirement for this as I can now use a desktop or laptop which can be on during the day for downloading and seeding without interrupting downloads.

As far as I can see a NAS would allow the network users access to all the files and would take over the central role of the server.

The question I have is regarding security of network shares, can I setup the NAS with its own network shares including user accounts as used by the windows network?

I must have 2 admin accounts capable of full access and 8 other accounts capable of full access to some public folders and read only from others.

Also do NAS devices show up on a network like any system with shares would?

Thanks

[GroundZero3]

Do you have a particular NAS you are looking at to answer the questions you are asking? All NAS have their own way of doing things, some support Active Directory others dont, depends on the software on the NAS.

[thelonegunman]

I don't no which one to go for. I will be buying it here in GB so it will be something like one of these:

Network Attached Storage | Ebuyer.com

I would choose it based on the software actually, I can put my own brand of drives in so I would just be after a good device to start with.

[GroundZero3]

If you have a particular model in question I would start with the tech specs of each of them. Pretty much most if not all will work with Windows without any issues.

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

The question I have is regarding security of network shares, can I setup the NAS with its own network shares including user accounts as used by the windows network?

1) I must have 2 admin accounts capable of full access and 8 other accounts capable of full access to some public folders and read only from others.

2) Also do NAS devices show up on a network like any system with shares would?

Hi,

With regards to "1)", you could 'get away with' having the user credentials (accounts and passwords) on the network/computers match up with the ones that are on the NAS box..which would [normally] mean that it should then automagically go through, as the challenge from the NAS (or, rather, the OS of the NAS) would get the user's current logged in details by default, and only prompt for credentials if there wasn't a match.

Also, if the two admin accounts are going to use the same areas and have admin rights over the same data, and the 'general' users have access to the same area/s as all the other 'general' users, then you *could* simply run two accounts and use a script to assign a drive letter and use specified credentials..the 'general' users would just have one shared login and the 'admin' users would share the second.

Part of "2)" is answered above, and you could use a script along the lines of:

net use Z: \\NAS\Share\ /user general

for the 'general' users, and for the 'admin' users:

net use Y: \\NAS\Share\ /user admin

Obviously, only those who should be the 'admin' users should get the link/script for the Y: drive shown above....note that it is for the same location, so they can access the "Share" folder on the Z: drive if they want to ensure they don't change anything...