I Use Arch, BTW

Yes, the time has finally come. I finally gave Arch Linux a shot. Took me a while and a few failed installs, but I got there in the end. Guess I couldn’t avoid it forever 😅

Why Arch Linux?

I was looking for a simple but powerful setup for a NAS, and Arch Linux with Samba just made sense. It does exactly what I need, no extra fluff. Honestly, I got inspired by this very comment I came across, and it really clicked.

Installing Arch Linux

First Things First: SSH Over TTY

Let’s face it, working in TTY is a PITA 🐧. Using your fancy iTerm via SSH sounds much better, right? Follow the Arch Wiki guide to set it up.

Internet Connection

No ethernet at the moment? Let’s connect to Wi-Fi instead via nmcli (NetworkManager CLI):

nmcli d
nmcli r wifi on
nmcli d wifi list
nmcli d wifi connect <SSID> password <password>

Disk Partitioning

Here’s my partition table (no swap partition for me):

Partitioning with fdisk:

fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Follow these steps:

• g to create a GPT partition table.
• n to create partitions.
• +512M for the EFI partition.
• t to set partition types (1 for EFI, 83 for Linux).
• p to print the partition table.
• w to write changes.

Disk Formatting

Format the partitions:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p2
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/nvme0n1p1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda

Mounting Disks

Mount the partitions:

mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot

Installing the Base System

Install essential packages:

pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware git grub efibootmgr inotify-tools timeshift vim networkmanager pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse pipewire-jack wireplumber reflector zsh zsh-completions zsh-autosuggestions openssh man sudo

Generating fstab

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Chroot and Configuration

arch-chroot /mnt
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc
nano /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
echo "arch-nas" > /etc/hostname

Set root and user passwords:

passwd
useradd -mG wheel paul
passwd paul
EDITOR=vim visudo

Uncomment this line in visudo:

# Users in group wheel can run anything on any machine as any user
%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Installing GRUB

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Final Steps

systemctl enable NetworkManager
exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

Post-Install

Setting a Static IP

nmcli con mod "Wired connection 1" ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.100/24
nmcli con mod "Wired connection 1" ipv4.gateway 192.168.1.1
nmcli con mod "Wired connection 1" ipv4.dns "8.8.8.8 1.1.1.1"
nmcli con mod "Wired connection 1" ipv4.method manual
nmcli con up "Wired connection 1"

Setting Up NAS with Samba

Install Samba:

pacman -S samba
cp /etc/samba/smb.conf.default /etc/samba/smb.conf

Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf:

[Storage]
   path = /mnt/storage
   writable = yes
   guest ok = no
   valid users = youruser

Add a Samba user:

useradd -m youruser
passwd youruser
smbpasswd -a youruser

Mounting NAS on another Node

• Mount in /etc/fstab. Update the IP address and credentials accordingly:

//192.168.0.112/shared /media/nas cifs credentials=/etc/samba/credentials,iocharset=utf8,uid=1000,gid=1000,file_mode=0770,dir_mode=0770,nofail 0 0

• Create a credentials file:

echo "username=youruser" | sudo tee /etc/samba/credentials
echo "password=yourpassword" | sudo tee -a /etc/samba/credentials

Troubleshooting

• Lost Internet After Reboot?

  sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
  sudo systemctl start NetworkManager
  

• SSH Key Mismatch?

  The SSH client’s stored key for the server doesn’t match the server’s current key.

  ssh-keygen -R [server_address]
  

• Proxmox UEFI Boot Mode

  Remember to enable UEFI when creating a VM.

• mkfs Failed Due to LVM

  If you have a disk that is already used by LVM, you need to remove the LVM first before you can format the disk:

  pvs
  vgdisplay            # Note the VG name
  vgremove <vgname>    # Remove volume group
  pvremove /dev/sdb    # Remove the PV metadata
  

• Need to Shutdown from Login Prompt in TTY

  Use the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Del to shut down from the login prompt in TTY. See more details here.

Conclusion

Installing Arch Linux isn’t as terrifying as it seems, especially with AI to guide you. While I’ll stick to my Mac for work, Arch Linux is now my go-to for personal NAS adventures. Whaterver, I’m finally saying it:

I use Arch, BTW. 😉

References

• Arch Wiki
• Helpful Gist