Host: Mount Samba share on Host

Opening the tool

From ProxMenux's main menu, open Storage & Share Manager → Mount Samba Share on Host. You will see this sub-menu with four options:

How the script runs

The flow has two phases. Phase 1: discover server, validate credentials, pick share, then pick mount method(s) via a checklist. Phase 2: only the methods you marked are executed. Credentials are needed up-front because smbclient needs them to list shares. Until the final confirmation, neither /etc/pve/storage.cfg nor /etc/fstab are touched.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  PHASE 1 — Discover, validate, choose       │
│  (nothing touched yet)                      │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   ▼
      Server discovery (nmap 139/445 + nmblookup)
                   │
                   ▼
      Authentication (User or Guest)
                   │
                   ▼
      Share selection (smbclient -L)
                   │
                   ▼
      ╔═════════════════════════════════════╗
      ║   MOUNT METHOD PICKER  (checklist)  ║
      ║   [ ] As Proxmox storage  (pvesm)   ║
      ║   [ ] As host fstab mount only      ║
      ║   (mark one or both — re-prompts    ║
      ║    if you press OK without marks)   ║
      ╚════════════════╤════════════════════╝
                       │
        ┌──────────────┴──────────────┐
        ▼                             ▼
   pvesm branch                  fstab branch
   ├─ storage ID                 ├─ mount path
   ├─ content types              ├─ mount options
                                 └─ (User) write
                                     /etc/samba/credentials/...cred
                                     (mode 0600)
   ▼                             ▼
   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │  PHASE 2 — Apply (only marked methods)  │
   └──────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                      ▼
   pvesm add cifs <id> ...    +  mkdir -p <path>
   (auto-mount at            mount -t cifs ...
    /mnt/pve/<id> with        (uid=0,gid=0,
    default options)           file_mode=0777,
                               dir_mode=0777)
                             append /etc/fstab
                             systemctl daemon-reload
                      ▼
              Summary printed

Mount method picker (two options, mark one or both)

After selecting the share and validating credentials, ProxMenux shows a checklist with the two mount methods. You can mark either, or both. If you press OK without marking anything, the dialog re-appears until you choose at least one option or press Cancel to exit the flow.

Method A — As Proxmox storage (pvesm)

If As Proxmox storage is marked, ProxMenux runs the original pvesm flow:

1. Storage ID — default cifs-<server-ip-with-dashes>. Only letters, digits, - and _.
2. Content types — CIFS exposes 6 options (same as NFS minus rootdir, which Proxmox does not allow on CIFS because the locking semantics cannot hold a live LXC rootfs):

Method B — Host fstab mount only

If As host fstab mount only is marked, ProxMenux asks for a host mount path and persistent options, writes a root-only credentials file (User mode), then mounts and writes the entry to /etc/fstab:

1. Host mount path — default /mnt/<share-name>. Must be an absolute path. If something is already mounted there, or a fstab entry exists, ProxMenux offers to replace it.
2. Mount options — pick Read/Write (default with rw,uid=0,gid=0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,iocharset=utf8,nofail,_netdev), Read-only (read-only variant with file_mode=0555,dir_mode=0555), or Custom (type your own option string). Open uid/gid/file_mode are always recommended for LXC bind-mount writes.

Once you confirm, the script:

• mkdir -p the mount path.
• mount -t cifs -o <opts>,credentials=<file> (or guest) //<srv>/<share> <path>.
• Writes a one-line entry to /etc/fstab: //<srv>/<share> <path> cifs <opts> 0 0.
• Runs systemctl daemon-reload so systemd picks up the new fstab entry.

Manual equivalent

Method A (pvesm) maps to:

apt-get install -y cifs-utils smbclient    # one-time: SMB client tools

# with user authentication
pvesm add cifs mycifs \
  --server 10.0.0.50 \
  --share proxmox \
  --username backup_user \
  --password 's3cret' \
  --content backup,iso

# guest access (no credentials)
pvesm add cifs mycifs-guest \
  --server 10.0.0.50 \
  --share public \
  --content iso,vztmpl

pvesm status mycifs                         # verify it's active
ls -la /mnt/pve/mycifs                       # Proxmox auto-mounts here

Method B (fstab, user auth) — credentials file + mount:

# 1. credentials file (root-only)
mkdir -p /etc/samba/credentials && chmod 0700 /etc/samba/credentials
cat > /etc/samba/credentials/nas01_share.cred <<'EOF'
username=admin
password=s3cret
EOF
chmod 0600 /etc/samba/credentials/nas01_share.cred

# 2. mount with open uid/gid/file_mode (for unpriv LXC bind-mounts)
mkdir -p /mnt/data
mount -t cifs //10.0.0.50/share /mnt/data \
  -o "rw,uid=0,gid=0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,iocharset=utf8,nofail,_netdev,credentials=/etc/samba/credentials/nas01_share.cred"

# 3. persist
echo "//10.0.0.50/share /mnt/data cifs rw,uid=0,gid=0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,iocharset=utf8,nofail,_netdev,credentials=/etc/samba/credentials/nas01_share.cred 0 0" \
  >> /etc/fstab
systemctl daemon-reload

# 4. bind into an unpriv LXC (no changes inside the CT)
pct set <ctid> -mp0 /mnt/data,mp=/mnt/data,shared=1,backup=0
pct reboot <ctid>

Method B (fstab, guest auth) — no credentials file:

mkdir -p /mnt/public
mount -t cifs //10.0.0.50/public /mnt/public \
  -o "rw,uid=0,gid=0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,iocharset=utf8,nofail,_netdev,guest"

echo "//10.0.0.50/public /mnt/public cifs rw,uid=0,gid=0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,iocharset=utf8,nofail,_netdev,guest 0 0" \
  >> /etc/fstab
systemctl daemon-reload

View configured CIFS storages

Lists every CIFS entry in Proxmox (pvesm status | awk '$2 == "cifs"') with server, share, content types, username (or Guest), mount path and live status. Password is never printed. Note: this view only shows pvesm-registered storages — fstab-only mounts are not listed. Check those with findmnt -t cifs or grep cifs /etc/fstab.

Remove CIFS storage

Runs pvesm remove <storage-id> after a confirmation that shows the server / share / content. Only the Proxmox-side registration is removed — the remote Samba server is not touched. Proxmox also deletes the paired credentials file. To remove a fstab-only mount, edit /etc/fstab by hand, run umount <path>, and remove the file from /etc/samba/credentials/.

Test Samba connectivity

Runs a diagnostic pass over every CIFS storage registered in Proxmox: checks that smbclient is available, pings each server, probes ports 445 and 139, tries a guest listing, and reports Proxmox's own view (pvesm status). "Requires authentication" on guest-list means your server only exposes shares to authenticated users — normal for most NAS setups.

Troubleshooting

Related

• NFS share as Proxmox storage — sibling page with the same flow pattern (Method A pvesm + Method B fstab) and side-by-side trade-offs.
• LXC Mount Manager — bind-mount the fstab-only path /mnt/<path> into one or more containers.
• Samba client in LXC — alternative: mount Samba directly from inside a privileged container (skips the host).