asilic0nsakura/raspberrypi-nas

Purpose

This repository is a documentation-only walkthrough for building a low-cost home NAS on a Raspberry Pi using Raspberry Pi OS Lite, OpenMediaVault (OMV), external storage, and SMB/CIFS file sharing. Its primary entry point is README.md; instructional screenshots are stored under Images.

Entry Points and Documentation Assets

• README.md defines the complete operational sequence: hardware preparation, OS flashing, remote access, OMV installation, disk provisioning, permissions, and SMB access.

• Images contains the visual artifacts referenced by the guide for Raspberry Pi Imager, SSH, OMV administration, disk setup, and Windows network browsing.

Bootstrap and Host Provisioning

The NAS host is a Raspberry Pi 3/4 (minimum 2 GB RAM) booting from an SD card, with external storage attached and Ethernet preferred for network transport.

• The workstation uses Raspberry Pi Imager to flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite and preconfigure hostname, SSH, credentials, and optionally keys.

• After boot, the operator reaches the Pi through SSH, updates Debian packages, reboots, and should establish stable addressing through router-side static DHCP configuration.

• Grounding: README.md, Images

OMV Installation and Management Plane

OpenMediaVault is installed onto the existing Raspberry Pi OS host through a remotely downloaded installer from the OpenMediaVault Plugin Developers GitHub repository. The installer is run with -n, leaving network setup unchanged.

• OMV provides the administrative control plane through its browser UI.

• Nginx is the required local web-server runtime checked before accessing OMV at the Pi’s IP address.

• The default OMV administrator credentials must be changed; a separate OMV user password is configured for SMB authentication.

• Grounding: README.md, Images

Storage Provisioning Boundary

The storage boundary separates the OS SD card from the external NAS data drive.

• In the OMV UI, the selected external drive may be wiped, then formatted and mounted as a filesystem; existing disks can instead be mounted directly.

• A shared folder is created against that mounted filesystem and becomes the managed root for NAS data.

• OMV changes are staged and require explicit commit through its UI, creating an administrative apply/revert boundary.

• Grounding: README.md, Images

Identity, Permissions, and File Ownership

Access is controlled through OMV users/groups and shared-folder privileges.

• The intended SMB user/group receives read/write rights on the created shared folder.

• The guide distinguishes the Raspberry Pi’s system/SSH password from the user password used when clients authenticate to the SMB share.

• Existing disk contents should be copied or moved on the Pi under /srv/, rather than relocated through another machine, to preserve Linux/Windows-compatible ownership and share permissions.

• Grounding: README.md

Network File Service and Client Consumption

OMV’s SMB/CIFS service publishes the configured shared folder to LAN clients.

• The share is enabled both in SMB share configuration and SMB service settings.

• Windows clients enable Network Discovery, discover the Raspberry Pi in File Explorer, and authenticate with the OMV user credentials.

• The principal data flow is: Windows/LAN client → SMB/CIFS over Ethernet/LAN → OMV-managed shared folder → mounted external disk.

• Grounding: README.md, Images

External Dependencies and Operational Scope

Material dependencies include Raspberry Pi hardware, SD boot media, external USB/SATA/M.2-capable storage, a router/DHCP network, Raspberry Pi Imager, Raspberry Pi OS Lite, OpenMediaVault, Nginx, and SMB/CIFS clients. The guide notes possible downstream use of the share by media-server or backup workflows, but does not implement those services.