Install the File Sharing feature | Your first file-server instance | Backup via Artica NAS | Windows agent | Windows agents | Windows agent: manual installation
We developed this model to provide a simple shared data and storage system, primarily to offer basic storage capacity for legal logs through a simple NAS function.
The initial idea was to see if solutions already existed that could simply provide a file-sharing service.
It became clear that even the solutions claiming to be 'simplified' had become complex, just to achieve the simple task of sharing a directory on the network.
In trying to meet the needs of complex networks and advanced security features, in some cases, we couldn't even manage to share a directory
This feature started on Debian 12 with Artica v4.50 Service Pack 8
Artica File Server turns an Artica appliance into a Windows-compatible network file server (SMB/CIFS) — and then does something no traditional NAS does:
it lets you run as many independent file servers as you want on the same machine.
Each one has its own IP address, its own name on the network, its own user database, its own shares and its own logs.
None of them can see or disturb the others. Two departments, two customers, two security levels — one box.
And because your data is worth more than the disks it sits on, Artica File Server ships with what usually costs three extra products: enterprise document search that respects your permissions, mail archiving, and encrypted backups that prove they can be restored.
| Traditional NAS | Artica File Server | |
|---|---|---|
| File servers per machine | One | As many as you need, fully isolated |
| Authentication | One domain, or none | A different identity source per instance, simultaneously |
| Segregating two populations | Buy a second appliance | Create a second instance |
| Document search | Filename search, or a separate product | Full-text, OCR and meaning-based search, included |
| Search and permissions | Rights frozen at indexing time | Re-verified live, on every single result |
| Mail archiving | Separate product | Included |
| Backup | Scheduled copies | Encrypted, deduplicated, integrity-verified snapshots |
| Automation | Partial, GUI-first | Complete REST API — the console itself is just a client |
The purpose of this feature is to let you create multiple file-server instances on a single physical server.
Each instance has its own resources and can be configured with different behaviors.
Isolation is not simply a matter of different share names or permissions. Each instance runs in its own network namespace, with:
Two instances can therefore both publish a share called DATA, with two completely different sets of users, on two different addresses — and be seen by workstations as two distinct servers. Restarting one has no effect on the other. Give a noisy department its own CPU and I/O budget, and it can no longer slow down anybody else.
Creating a file-server instance is associated with a specific network interface.
When Artica runs on a virtual machine, you can add as many network interfaces as you need.
On a physical machine with only one or two NICs, you can still use the virtual switch feature to create virtually unlimited virtual network interfaces.
Whether on a VM or on bare metal, Artica allows you to create as many file-server instances as you want.
When you create an instance, you choose where its users come from. This choice is made per instance, which means a single appliance serves several authentication worlds at the same time:
| Members database | Role of the instance | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Local | Standalone server | A workgroup share, a log deposit, a guest area. No directory needed. |
| OpenLDAP | Standalone server backed by the appliance directory | Users already declared in the Artica internal directory. |
| Active Directory | Domain member | The instance joins your existing AD domain; users log in with their domain accounts. |
| AD Domain Controller | Active Directory Domain Controller | The instance is the domain controller, for sites with no Windows Server. |
Instances start, stop and restart in one click, and can be set to come back automatically at boot. Status, uptime, memory usage and storage consumption are on screen at all times.
Beyond the usual read-only / read-write and per-user or per-group access rules, every share can enable:
The console manages file-sharing accounts and passwords, and maps Windows groups onto system groups so that existing directory groups can be used directly in share permissions. A dedicated Folder security view lets you review the access rules applied to a directory tree.
Artica File Server does not stop at storing your files — it reads them, and turns your shares into a searchable knowledge base with a clean search page for users.
Search results always respect file permissions. Access rights are not merely recorded when the file is indexed: every candidate result is re-checked against the live file system before it is shown. If a user's rights were revoked five minutes ago, the document disappears from their results immediately — and it is never counted in the totals or the facets either.
IMAP and Gmail accounts (with OAuth consent) are synchronized into the user's own home directory, then indexed. Overflowing mailboxes move onto your storage, stay under your control, and become instantly searchable — instead of living on a mail server you rent, or in a local file on a laptop that will eventually be lost.
An integrated backup engine produces encrypted, deduplicated snapshots of your data, with:
A Windows agent, deployed by MSI or Group Policy and enrolled with a one-time code, connects each workstation to the appliance over a certificate-authenticated channel:
Everything the Web Console does is exposed through a REST API. Instance creation, shares, users, activity, metrics, search and backup can all be automated from your own scripts and provisioning tools.
Most NAS products are built around a single server identity: one machine name, one user database, one set of shares.
Segregating two departments, two customers or two security levels means buying a second appliance — or accepting that everything shares the same authentication perimeter.
Artica gives each instance its own network identity and its own users on the same hardware.
Consolidation stops being a compromise on isolation — and your rack, your power bill and your hypervisor licences all notice.
A NAS usually joins one domain, or none.
On a single Artica appliance you run a workgroup instance for a guest area, an Active-Directory-joined instance for the corporate network, and an instance acting as domain controller for a small remote site — simultaneously.
Mergers, acquisitions and migrations stop being hardware problems.
This is where integrated search on many storage products quietly becomes a liability: the index is built once, and results are filtered against permissions as they were at indexing time. Rights change, the index does not — and the search box starts revealing a document's existence, its name and an excerpt of its content to someone who could never open the file itself.
Artica treats the live file system as the only authority. Every result is verified before display, and result counts are computed after that verification, so even the number of matches discloses nothing. Search you can switch on for everyone, without a risk assessment.
Full-text extraction, OCR, semantic search, mail archiving and indexing of third-party SMB servers are normally five separate products, with their own licences, servers, connectors — and their own permission models to reconcile with yours.
Here they are features of the file server itself, administered from the same console and governed by the same permissions as the files.
Scheduled copies are common; verifiable backups are not.
Encryption, deduplication, retention preview and an explicit integrity check turn "we have backups" into something you can actually demonstrate — to an auditor, to an insurer, or to yourself at 3 a.m.
Each instance is supervised by a watchdog that restarts a failed component within seconds — and does so component by component:
if the network-discovery helper dies, it is restarted without dropping a single open SMB session.
Instances marked as automatic come back on their own after a reboot, and an instance you stopped on purpose stays stopped.
It behaves the way an appliance should: you configure it, and it keeps running.
The same appliance can also run the Artica reverse proxy, web filtering, DNS, mail and security services, under one console, one licence model and one update process.
The file server is not another isolated box in the rack: it is one function of an infrastructure you already administer, with one skill set and one support contact.
Because the console itself is only a client of the REST API, nothing is reserved for the graphical interface.
Mass provisioning, integration with a CMDB or a self-service portal is a matter of calling the same endpoints — no screen-scraping, no unsupported back door.