Build a powerful File Server with Univention Corporate Server 4.2.2

The new version of Univention Corporate Server 4.2.2 has been released few days ago. This powerful Linux Server distribution brings a lot of improvements on board. UCS is a free, open source Linux distribution for Server that comes with various features such as:

  • File Server with Active Directory support
  • Domain Controller and Windows Domain Connector
  • DNS Server
  • DHCP Server
  • Virtual Machines host support
  • Web interface management system
  • Many more

Univention Corporate Server 4.2.2 for Enterprise

Personally we have implemented UCS for both home and enterprise use. We are a mineral exploration company which has several servers in different locations. We install Univention Corporate Server on our physical server for the last few years. UCS works great which supports our workload. Mostly we use it for Domain Controller, File Server, DNS and DHCP Server. Also we host several virtual machines inside the UCS Server.

If you are looking for a Server Operating System that is Enterprise ready, Univention Corporate Server is the answer. Learn more about their native and expanded technologies via third party applications here.

Steps to Build a Powerful File Server using UCS 4.2.2

UCS is great for file server and the following guide will take you through the installation and file server setup. First, you may want to take a look on How to install Univention Corporate Server 4.2.2. Once installed, go to the web management interface and follow these steps.

Configure Samba (Active Directory)

In this step we will install and configure UCS Active Directory feature which is great for Domain Controller, File Server for Windows clients. We can then join any existing Windows computer to the new UCS Domain. To do this, go to Software | App Center. Click Active Directory-Compatible Domain Controller icon.

Click Install

Confirm Installation

Installation in progress

Create a new Samba User

Log in to the UCS web console and go to Users | Users section. Click Add to start create a new user.

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Now we need to add this new user to Domain User Group. Go to Users | Groups and find Domain Users. Click it and add the new user to this group

Create a New Share

Now we need to create a new Share. This share can be accessed by Domain Users only, no guest access to this folder. But you can freely modify the scenario if you want. For example, you can also create a public share which can be accessed by anyone.

Go to Domain | Shares and click Add to create a new Share

Now you can see the new shared folder is listed in the Shares section

At this point, our File Server should be working. Now we can try to connect to our server from a client computer.

Ubuntu Client

Open Files | Other Location and type the following address

smb://10.34.0.229/share01

Click Connect. Don’t forget to change the IP address with your UCS IP address and share name.

Once connected, you will see something like this

univention corporate server 4.2.2

Windows

From a Windows client, simply open Explorer and type the server IP address such as:

\\10.34.0.229\

You will see list of shared folder here and you will need to enter the user and password we created earlier.

Thanks for reading this tutorial and see you in the next one. Cheers.

Admin

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