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Connecting SMB / CIFS

This guide walks you through connecting an SMB/CIFS network share as a storage destination in Pluton.

Prerequisites​

Before connecting SMB/CIFS, you need:

  1. An SMB/CIFS share accessible from the machine running your Pluton device agent
  2. A username and password with read/write access to the share
  3. The hostname or IP address of the SMB server
  4. The name of the shared folder you want to use

Getting Your SMB Credentials​

Windows​

If the share is hosted on a Windows machine:

  1. Open File Explorer and right-click the folder you want to share
  2. Select Properties → Sharing tab → Advanced Sharing
  3. Check Share this folder and note the Share name
  4. Click Permissions to ensure the user account has Full Control or Change permission
  5. Your credentials are your Windows username and password

To find the hostname:

  1. Open Settings → System → About
  2. Note the Device name — this is your hostname

Linux (Samba)​

If the share is hosted on a Linux machine running Samba:

  1. Ensure Samba is installed and running (sudo systemctl status smbd)
  2. Shares are configured in /etc/samba/smb.conf
  3. Create a Samba user if needed: sudo smbpasswd -a username
  4. Note the share name from the [share_name] block in the config
  5. Your server hostname or IP address is needed to connect

NAS Devices​

Most NAS devices (Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, etc.) have SMB/CIFS sharing enabled by default:

  1. Log into your NAS admin panel
  2. Navigate to the file sharing or shared folders section
  3. Enable SMB/CIFS if not already active
  4. Note the share name, and create or use an existing user with access

Connecting to Pluton​

Step 1: Add Storage​

  1. In Pluton, navigate to Storages
  2. Click Add Storage button
  3. Select SMB / CIFS from the provider list

Step 2: Configure Connection​

Fill in the required fields:

  • Host: The hostname or IP address of your SMB server (e.g., 192.168.1.100 or nas.local)
  • Username: Your SMB user account (e.g., backupuser)
  • Password: The password for the SMB user account
  • Port: The SMB port — default is 445, which is correct for most setups
  • Domain: The authentication domain — default is WORKGROUP, which works for most home and small office networks. For Active Directory environments, enter your domain name (e.g., MYDOMAIN)
Guest Access

SMB does not support anonymous access. If the share allows guest access, use guest as the username and leave the password empty.

Step 3: Advanced Options (Optional)​

Additional settings available:

  • Service Principal Name (SPN): Used for Kerberos authentication in clustered environments (e.g., cifs/remotehost:1020). Leave blank for standard setups.
  • Idle Timeout: How long to keep idle connections open — default is 1m0s. Increase if you experience frequent reconnections.
  • Hide Special Shares: Enabled by default. Hides administrative shares like print$, IPC$, and ADMIN$ that are not useful for backups.
  • Case Insensitive: Enabled by default. Set to true if the server is case-insensitive (always true on Windows shares).
  • Encoding: Backend-specific character encoding. Leave at default unless you have files with unusual characters.
  • Description: An optional description for this storage.

Step 4: Test and Save​

  1. Click Test Connection to verify your credentials and network access
  2. If successful, click Save
  3. Your SMB/CIFS storage is now ready to use in backup plans
Path Format

When selecting paths for backup plans, the first path segment is the share name. For example, if your share is called backups, your path would start with backups/.

Common Issues​

Connection Refused: Verify the SMB server is running and reachable from your Pluton device. Check that port 445 (or your custom port) is not blocked by a firewall.

Authentication Failed: Double-check your username, password, and domain. For Windows shares, try using the format DOMAIN\username in the domain and username fields separately. For guest access, use guest as the username with an empty password.

Share Not Found: Ensure the share name is correct and that the user account has permission to access it. On Windows, verify the folder is shared via Advanced Sharing settings.

Slow Performance: SMB performance depends on network speed. For remote/WAN connections, consider using a VPN or switching to a cloud storage provider. Increasing the Idle Timeout may reduce reconnection overhead.

Permission Denied on Files: The SMB user must have both share-level and file-system-level (NTFS on Windows) permissions. Check both layers if you can connect but can't read/write files.

Best Practices​

  • Create a dedicated user account for Pluton backups with only the necessary permissions
  • Use a strong password for the SMB user account
  • Restrict share permissions to the specific folders needed for backups
  • Keep the default port 445 unless your network requires a custom port
  • For Active Directory environments, specify the correct domain for proper NTLM authentication
  • Test connectivity before creating backup plans to catch configuration issues early
  • Place the SMB server on the same local network as the Pluton device for best performance