AiMesh Node issue with Samba mounted USB Drives

[Ronald Schwerer]

This may have been covered in some older beta AiMesh threads. I noticed that a USB drive mounted on a Node does get shared, but I see two issues.
1. The admin password from the Mesh router does not get propagated to access the mount - I had to use the original default (admin/admin) to access the drive on my PC.
2. In the drive's root, only directories are visible. Ordinary files are not. All files in the sub-directories are visible and accessible.

 

[ColinTaylor]

2. In the drive's root, only directories are visible. Ordinary files are not. All files in the sub-directories are visible and accessible.

I don't know anything about the AiMesh firmware, but this sounds like the normal behaviour of a Samba share with guest login turned off.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

I don't know anything about the AiMesh firmware, but this sounds like the normal behaviour of a Samba share with guest login turned off.

Thanks for the insight. My Linux sys admin skills are very rusty, but I'm guessing that the Samba config stuff isn't being propagated from the master Router web gui.
The fact that the factory default login still applies to Samba access (whereas the current Router login gets applied for ssh/telnet) is evidence that Samba settings don't make it to the nodes. Also, I have Guest access set-up on my main Router. Since I was forced to provide login credentials just to see the node drive, plus your observation, indicates that Guest access hasn't propagated to nodes.
I guess I could ssh login to the node and modify Samba access, but I don't think that would survive a re-boot.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Just an additional note: The way Asus has implemented their Samba shares is non-standard, so don't assume it works like a "normal" Samba setup because it doesn't.

 

[bbunge]

Try to set up the sharing on the drive plugged into the master. Eject it then plug into node. I have noticed some files written to the root of the drive that should contain some security info.

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Try to set up the sharing on the drive plugged into the master. Eject it then plug into node. I have noticed some files written to the root of the drive that should contain some security info.

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

That might have some affect. But that won't fix the password problem. I checked those hidden files and it they itemize shared directories on the media.

 

[bbunge]

Looks like Asus did not think through syncing the Samba settings for AiMesh. You might be able to do a work around: Factory reset the node, connect to it via cable, do a basic router config and set up your Samba shares with user/passwords, go to Admin and switch to AiMesh Node then back to your main router and get the node connected.
Sorry I can't test this out as I only have one router with AiMesh ability.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Looks like Asus did not think through syncing the Samba settings for AiMesh. You might be able to do a work around: Factory reset the node, connect to it via cable, do a basic router config and set up your Samba shares with user/passwords, go to Admin and switch to AiMesh Node then back to your main router and get the node connected.
Sorry I can't test this out as I only have one router with AiMesh ability.

I don't need it that bad and I'm not going to disrupt my network experimenting. When I first noticed the problem after setting-up the node, I moved my drives over to the Mesh router and made that my server. At least I can plug-in a drive on the node for occasional sharing with the restrictions of default admin password, no unmount control ( except via ssh), and no files in the root dir. I can live with that.
Thanks for the feedback, I only posted to make others aware of the issue.

 

[fifty50]

hi, found this thread. i'm having an issue configuring a network drive when connected to an aimesh node. thoughts?

ronald, tried pm'ing you instead of bringing this thread back to life, but seems you're blocked from receiving any.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

hi, found this thread. i'm having an issue configuring a network drive when connected to an aimesh node. thoughts?

ronald, tried pm'ing you instead of bringing this thread back to life, but seems you're blocked from receiving any.

No thoughts - nothing changed from my original Q. Samba / share on node isn't directly supported. On windows explorer/Network, I can see the node. Opening it I see the directories and files except those in root.

<old rant deleted>

 

[fifty50]

i can see it, but can't connect to it with my user/password, it the default user/pw. I enabled guest login, but when I connect as guest, i'm unable to view anything on the drive. trying to refrain from connecting it to the main router due to space/location.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

i can see it, but can't connect to it with my user/password, it the default user/pw. I enabled guest login, but when I connect as guest, i'm unable to view anything on the drive. trying to refrain from connecting it to the main router due to space/location.

Did you try admin/admin?

 

[fifty50]

i did, and every other default type of password for a router. also created a new user/pw on the samba page, but still nothing.

when you go to the samba page, do you even see your drive/folder connected? i see nothing on the main node samba page.

 

[fifty50]

enabled ssh, ssh'd to the node and i can see the drive in the 'mnt' folder.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

when you go to the samba page, do you even see your drive/folder connected? i see nothing on the main node samba page.

No, from the parent router there's nothing to show or or control Samba on the nodes. Since the "share" shows up in windows, I'm surprised you can't mount it using the factory default password.
Just in case some of the setting get propagated, here's how my main router is set for USB App:
Media Server: Enable UPnP Media Service On
Samba: Enable Share On; Allow Guest login On (I know, not secure but nobody but family are on the LAN)

 

[Sam Lee]

I have the same issue, have you figure out how to access the drive mounted on the Node? TIA.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

I have the same issue, have you figure out how to access the drive mounted on the Node? TIA.

No change from earlier posts. I'm on latest ASUS f/w. I can still access a USB drive on my node using Win 10. I used File Explorer and opened Network. I see my node's network name. Opening it I used admin/admin (and told Windows to remember credentials). I can not see or write (paste) files in the root, but sub-directories work fine.

 

[Sam Lee]

Did anyone solve this issue with usb drive connect to the node aimesh? I've tried to create a shared folder while it's a main node then converted, ssh to the drive but not able to manually create samba folder because the sudo package is not installed. Couldn't find any way to access the drive from Windows. Any suggestion?

 

[Sam Lee]

No change from earlier posts. I'm on latest ASUS f/w. I can still access a USB drive on my node using Win 10. I used File Explorer and opened Network. I see my node's network name. Opening it I used admin/admin (and told Windows to remember credentials). I can not see or write (paste) files in the root, but sub-directories work fine.

I can see the folder from Windows but it won't let me access them. How did you make a sub-directory to allow read & write?

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

I can see the folder from Windows but it won't let me access them. How did you make a sub-directory to allow read & write?

I already had the sub-directories created. It was a drive I moved from my PC. Maybe you can unmount it and connect to a PC. Mine was NTFS format.