Mounting your NAS storage in Proxmox is an excellent way to expand your Proxmox VE server’s storage capacity for tasks such as storing ISO images, running virtual machines, and more. Here’s a useful guide on how to mount Synology Drive in Proxmox using NFS.
Configure your Synology NAS for Proxmox VE Server
There are several options for configuring a Synology NAS to store data from your Proxmox host. You can set up a shared folder using NFS, or use iSCSI for block storage.
So, which option should you choose? If you’re storing various types of files, NFS is the recommended approach. Many Proxmox administrators prefer NFS shares for storing items like ISO images, templates, CT templates, snippets, and Proxmox backups, making it an ideal use case. Additionally, NFS is relatively simple to configure.
You can easily create a folder on your Synology NAS and mount it using NFS as a Synology Drive in Proxmox. However, for running virtual machines, I personally prefer using iSCSI storage. iSCSI provides certain performance benefits, making it a better choice for virtual machine storage.
iSCSI vs NFS for Proxmox
- Use iSCSI if:
- You need high-performance and low-latency storage for vms like databases
- You want to have storage features like thin provisioning, snapshots, or replication.
- Your VM workload benefits from block-level storage access (databases, high-performance applications).
If you want to see how to mount Synology drive to Proxmox Server using iSCSI, check out my blog post here: Proxmox iSCSI target to Synology NAS.
- Use NFS if:
- You need simple, shared storage that multiple Proxmox nodes can access at the same time
- You have mixed workloads or a home lab environment where you just want something easy
- Your workload may have smaller files or you need easier management and backup
- You want snapshot capabilities
Configuring Synology Drive in Proxmox using NFS
Let’s start by configuring a Synology Drive in Proxmox using NFS. First, on the Synology side, enable the NFS service under the File Services menu by checking the corresponding box. Pay attention to the maximum NFS protocol setting, as this determines the highest NFS protocol version supported for connecting to the shared folder. I didn’t encounter any issues setting it to NFSv4.1, as it’s backward compatible with the protocol versions listed.
Configure the shared folder and NFS settings in Synology
You will want to create a new shared folder on your Synology NAS if you don’t already have a folder you want to use.
Here, I am simply skipping the enable additional security measure settings.
No settings have been selected in the configured advanced settings. You can adjust them as needed for your environment. However, I prefer to start with a more flexible approach to security to ensure everything functions properly, and then gradually tighten it as needed later.
Confirm your settings and create the new shared folder in Synology.
Next, right-click your shared folder and click Edit > Permissions. Here I am selecting read/write for admin and guest. Click save.
Next, click on the NFS Permissions tab and Create a new NFS rule. Here I am defining the host subnet that is allowed to connect over NFS, privilege (read/write), and then setting Squash to map all users to admin.
Also checking these settings for NFS storage:
- Allow connections from non-privileged ports (ports higher than 1024)
- Allow users to access mounted subfolders
After saving the new rule, below is the rule after creation.
Configure NFS storage in Proxmox Server
Now that we have the Synology NFS share configured, we can configure the settings on the Proxmox server. Log into Proxmox and navigate to Datacenter storage > Add > NFS.
In the Add: NFS dialog box, you configure an ID for your NFS storage, server, export, and content:
Content – select the types of files and content that will be allowed to be stored here. You can select disk image, ISO image, container template, VZDump backup file (backup job), container, snippets
ID – you can call this anything
Server – the IP or FQDN of your NFS server
Export – Make sure to put the full path to your NFS storage, including the volume path. If you just put the shared folder here, it will fail in my experience with permission denied.
Once you double check your settings configured, click Add.
We have successfully gone through the process to mount Synology drive in Proxmox using NFS.
Mounting and Managing Synology Drive in Proxmox
- Mount the Synology NFS share on your Proxmox host using the mount path.
- Verify that the Synology NFS share is successfully mounted and accessible.
- Configure the Proxmox server to use the mounted Synology drive for storage.
- Manage the Synology drive in Proxmox, including creating and managing virtual machines.
Troubleshooting and Best Practices
As with any network connection or storage configuration, issues with NFS may arise. The most common issue is related to permissions. If you encounter an access denied error, it’s likely that a configuration step has been overlooked, either in the permissions setup or the path.
For instance, in the example below, I omitted “volume1” from the path, which resulted in an access denied error. Additionally, pay close attention to the NFS rules if you’re facing access denied issues. Depending on your desired security level for the NFS connection, you might need to squash user permissions to a specific level using the settings shown above.
You can also check your logs in Proxmox for errors and to help troubleshoot connectivity or other problems with mounting your NFS storage.
There are also a few best practices to keep in mind when running NFS with Proxmox:
- Consider using a dedicated network for NFS traffic – this helps with performance and security
- Use NFS version 3 and 4 – these versions of the protocol have better security and performance, especially version 4 that reduces open ports even more
- Set the right permissions – Be sure to control access and limit root privileges from NFS clients which helps make sure things are secure and less vulnerable
Wrapping up
Mounting a Synology drive in Proxmox via NFS is an excellent method for expanding storage capacity in Proxmox, providing an ideal location for storing items such as ISO images, templates, and backups created by the Proxmox Backup Server. Configuring NFS on the Synology side is straightforward, and setting it up on the Proxmox VE server is equally simple. This makes adding this type of storage to your Proxmox environment quick and easy, with the process running smoothly without any issues.
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