Finding OMV6 server under Windows 11

berritorre · May 19th 2023

Hi Everyone!

I had a running OMV installation for years. Then one day an update destroyed the GUI and despite various attempts I could not make it work again. So I basically gave up on that. Luckily all I needed were the shares via Samba and that worked. But the installation became old, I couldn't create any new users, etc. So I decided to setup the server completely new.

Took me a long time until last week I finally took the time, killed the old server (probably something like OMV 3 or something, I can't remember). Now I installed OMV6 and it is up and running, I can access it via the web interface (yeah!), but now I am running into another problem:

The server just doesn't show up in Windows 11 under Network. I created a share, but nothing.

First I thought it might be a Windows thing, but now I think it might actually be some issue on OMV side.

When I try to access via the local IP address, I get this:

Which translates to "The remote device or resource does not accept the connection." So it seems like OMV doesn't allow the connection.

I would expect for the Server to show up in the network devices of the explorer, but it doesn't. And when I try to access via the local IP (\\192.168.0.250) it gives me this error message.

Any ideas? Did I do something wrong during the setup process? Because the server connects, but not in Windows 11 Explorer, just via the browser.

My computer and the OMV server are both in the same workgroup.

chente · May 19th 2023

Quote from berritorre

probably something like OMV 3 or something, I can't remember

Probably a lot has changed since OMV3. Maybe you should take a look at this... https://wiki.omv-extras.org/doku.php?id=omv6:new_user_guide

berritorre · May 19th 2023

Thank you for having a look at this.

To be honest, when I clicked through the interface, the interface has changed a lot, but the functions still seem to be pretty much the same, at least that was my impression when I went through and configured everything.

In anyway, I am reading through the linked "New User Guide" again to see if there is anything that I didn't do or did wrong. But Setup went smooth, the server is accessible via Browser / WebGUI, just doesn't show up in the network. So far everything seems to be fine, but I am still reading through the different chapters.

chente · May 19th 2023

Maybe it just fails to access by hostname. Have you tried accessing by IP?

berritorre · May 19th 2023

Quote from berritorre

And when I try to access via the local IP (\\192.168.0.250) it gives me this error message.

Yup, tried with hostname, tried with IP because someone said that Windows doesn't like hostnames that are starting with a lowercase.

However, I found the problem.

The problem is: I am a f*ing idiot.

I configured SMB, but didn't "enable" it.

Sorry for being stupid.

Found out by going to "Diagnostics" and there it was: "SMB: Not enabled."

Went through basically all screens of the GUI 5x to see if I missed something, any configuration and didn't see the missing tick for enabling SMB.

chente · May 19th 2023

Quote from berritorre

I configured SMB, but didn't "enable" it.

ok don't worry. I'm glad you found it.

donh · May 20th 2023

Feature request. Don't show settings if service is disabled. Or gray them out so you can see the setting.

crashtest · May 20th 2023

Quote from berritorre

I configured SMB, but didn't "enable" it.

Yeah,, that's kind of an essential step.

Thanks for coming back to this thread and admitting it.
Most wouldn't, which has a tendency to mislead other forum readers who may have a similar but unrelated problem.

KM0201 · May 20th 2023

Quote from donh

Feature request. Don't show settings if service is disabled. Or gray them out so you can see the setting.

That's not a horrible idea if it's possible.

chente · May 20th 2023

Quote from donh

Feature request. Don't show settings if service is disabled. Or gray them out so you can see the setting.

That's a good idea. The same thing as the OP has happened to me more than once in test vms. A while looking until I realized what was happening.

votdev I quote you because if you see the resolved thread you may ignore it.

crashtest · May 20th 2023

Quote from KM0201

That's not a horrible idea if it's possible.

Quote from chente

That's a good idea.

Let me step in on the other side of this one:

I have a backup server, that replicates the primary server, that is completely configured and ready to go. After configuring SMB shares, I turn the SMB service off. With the SMB service turned off, the backup's shares (which are identical to the primary) simply disappear from the network. Why? I don't want users (my wife or guests) confusing the backup's network shares, with the primary, and potentially saving files there. (Which would be overwritten as of the next replication event.)

If / when the primary server fails, I simply log into the backup server, turn on SMB, and all shares reappear under the backup's name.

In the bottom line, if I was a business admin, I would set up a local backup server this way.

chente · May 20th 2023

okay. So the solution could be a warning in Services>SMB/CIFS>Shares

"SAMBA IS DISABLED"

KM0201 · May 20th 2023

Quote from crashtest

Let me step in on the other side of this one:

I have a backup server, that replicates the primary server, that is completely configured and ready to go. After configuring SMB shares, I turn the SMB service off. With the SMB service turned off, the backup's shares (which are identical to the primary) simply disappear from the network. Why? I don't want users (my wife or guests) confusing the backup's network shares, with the primary, and potentially saving files there. (Which would be overwritten as of the next replication event.)

If / when the primary server fails, I simply log into the backup server, turn on SMB, and all shares reappear under the backup's name.

In the bottom line, if I was a business admin, I would set up a local backup server this way.

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I'd argue that scenario would be more towards an intermediate/advanced user.. who would probably not ask the question posted in this thread...

crashtest · May 20th 2023

Quote from KM0201

I'd argue that scenario would be more towards an intermediate/advanced user.. who would probably not ask the question posted in this thread...

OK, let's argue..!!.. (Just kidding...)

We serve a wide variety of users, from beginners up to advanced users, and that includes the admins of the small business community and non-profits.

While this is just my opinion, I don't think this occasion rises to the level of a new feature request. What happened in this thread was an oversight on the part of one user. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

chente · May 20th 2023

Quote from crashtest

What happened in this thread was an oversight on the part of one user.

Very sure. Although I must say that it also happens to me sometimes

and if donh has proposed it and KM0201 agrees it has probably happened to them too although they probably won't want to admit it.

crashtest , confess..., tell the truth..., has this ever happened to you???

crashtest · May 20th 2023

Quote from chente

crashtest , confess..., tell the truth..., has this ever happened to you???

Father chente: (This is my first Linux confession...)

When I was rushing a new VM build, when configuring SMB, it might have happened once as I recall. But I try to follow a logical progression and be methodical to avoid missteps.

As an alternate example, I won't try to create a shared folder before I format a data drive. In SMB's case, I do global settings first and enable SMB, before creating individual shares
___________________________________________

PS: I'm saying 3 "Linus Torvald's" and will be avoiding the use of rm * -rf

KM0201 · May 20th 2023

Actually, to be perfectly honest... This has never happened to me (or if it has, I don't remember it). I've helped people LOTS of times who made this mistake, so it just seemed like a pretty good idea.

crashtest · May 21st 2023

Quote from KM0201

I've helped people LOTS of times who made this mistake, so it just seemed like a pretty good idea.

This is explicitly covered in the new user doc.

fetch.php?w=800&tok=e9f1bd&media=omv6ug_-_56.jpg

Beyond that, the SMB Service is (or can be) displayed in the dashboard:

There's only some much that can be done.

At one time, as I remember, the System page had Green (ON) and Grey (OFF) Service indicators. I don't know. Maybe write it up as a feature request. Volker might go for it.
But, as noted earlier; it would be good to be able to configure Samba global parameters and shares then, later, be able to turn the SMB service off while keeping the configuration.

KM0201 · May 21st 2023

Quote from crashtest

This is explicitly covered in the new user doc.

Beyond that, the SMB Service is (or can be) displayed in the dashboard:

There's only some much that can be done.

At one time, as I remember, the System page had Green (ON) and Grey (OFF) Service indicators. I don't know. Maybe write it up as a feature request. Volker might go for it.
But, as noted earlier; it would be good to be able to configure Samba global parameters and shares then, later, be able to turn the SMB service off while keeping the configuration.

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LOL, who reads documentation?

If you disable the service, I would think the global settings you've had there, would still be there when/if you decided to reenable it.

I also don't disagree w/ you on the fact there's several places tha twould show SMB is not actualy running (if that's the problem).. but just saying I've helped a lot of people that have had this exact issue.

crashtest · May 21st 2023

Quote from KM0201

LOL, who reads documentation?

Yeah,,, I know... This forum gets a lot of repeat business all these lines. Along with getting Linux newbies started, that's why I spent some time on writing some doc's.

That's also why I send new users to the doc's when they say things like "my Shares don't work". 9 times out of 10 they've missed something and I prefer to write about the required setup steps "once". (If possible.)

Finding OMV6 server under Windows 11

chente May 19th 2023

chente May 19th 2023

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