I can't use SMB share to connect to my dataset(using VM)

TrueNAS General
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Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum and new to using TrueNas in general. I’m trying use SMB share to connect dataset in TrueNas. For context, I’m using VMWare to host TrueNas and the NAT as a network adapter on VMWare. I followed the guide from TrueNas and made sure to follow the instructions but im still not able to connect to my dataset. If anyone has any suggestions, then that will be very appreciated!

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Did you set up a bridge interface?

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So it would be correct to say that you’re running TrueNAS inside a VM with VMWare as host?
What is the exact error message you get?

Also, please add more information about your setup, the version of TrueNAS would be a great start.

Edit: By the way, NAT implies the need to set up port-forwarding, since clients that try to connect will only see the outside IP and won’t know how to reach the specific service on the specific VM behind it. Maybe NAT isn’t the ideal type for this specific need, either that or you need to verify that you set up port-forwarding in VMWare, however you do that.

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When i did the bridge interface, the next time i started the VM there was not URL to connect to the NAS. it was just (0.0.0.0). I tried to configure some static routes and interfaces but i wasn’t able to connect to my NAS. I might have just been wrong in configuring it tho.

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I’ll Screenshot my PC specs and VMWare specs. The TrueNas version is
TrueNAS-13.0-U6.2.
PC Specs:
CPU: i5 13500
RAM: 32 DDR4 3200MHZ
GPU: Radeon 6750XT
VMWare:
RAM: 8GB
Processors: 4
Attached storage: 2
Network Adapter: NAT

I’ll try doing Bridged connection again and will let you know if it works.
Thank for replying!

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When you swap to bridged networking, use VMWare’s shell access to verify that TrueNAS has a sane networking setup. Ideally, it will be set to use a static IP.

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Ok So when i change my VMWare Network Adapter to bridge, I start up my TrueNas VM and use the TrueNas shell to verify it’s network setup? Also, how would i verify that it has a good setup? Is there a command?

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I have zero hours of experience with VMWare so you’re going to have to do some research on your own. Since Broadcom’s strategy became clear in terms of VMWare, I have no more interest in learning how their software works.

So… what I say is based on my experience with my Proxmox server running, among other things, a Debian based VM connected using a bridged network.

Bridged networking means you essentially have a virtual switch and like a normal physical switch it lets things connected to it communicate. So a good start ought to be to make sure you have a bridge with access to one of the physical NICs in the server system and that this NIC is connected to your physical network. Without that your VMs will get nowhere.

You then set your VM to use that bridge.

If you set it up correctly, your VM will behave like any other device on your physical network. To get it to communicate it needs a valid IP configuration and the easiest way to achieve that is using automatic configuration with DHCP where it asks your DHCP server (typically your router) for an IP, gateway, DNS and so on.

But since the IP assigned over DHCP can change over time it’s typically not advised when used with something you want to be able to reach on a specific IP all the time.

You handle that by either:

  1. Reserving the IP assigned on your DHCP server/Router so that it “never” changes
  2. Manually setting a valid static IP, gateway, subnet and DNS.

You set this up in the VM itself.

In practice, if you have working shell access to TrueNAS you should be able to stop your VM and do your network configuration changes in VMWare. Then start the VM. Not sure how TrueNAS will handle the possibly changed NICs it sees, but expect it to not have a working network environment. The TrueNAS boot menu has a option to configure your network, use that according to the guidelines given above.

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I figured out a solution this problem!!! Thanks for your help Neofusion. I reserved an IP address on my router and switched my VM Network adapter to Bridged. Once I started up the VM again i was met with the URL(0.0.0.0). I had to set up an interface. I put in my IP address that i have reserved and said “No” to IPV4. Once i did that, it presented me with the new URL from the IP address i reserved in my router.

I took a little bit for me to connect with my NAS but it eventually worked. No type of portfowarding is required.

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