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3MF Library

Library on a NAS

If your models live on a NAS, the container can mount the share itself over NFS. It’s mounted read-only: the site can’t change anything on the NAS.

1. Export the folder on the NAS

Section titled “1. Export the folder on the NAS”

Share the folder over NFS, read-only, to the address of the machine that runs Docker. For example:

  • Synology DSM: Control Panel → Shared Folder → (folder) → Edit → NFS Permissions → Create: hostname or IP of the Docker host, privilege Read-only, squash No mapping, security sys.
  • TrueNAS: Shares → Unix (NFS) Shares → Add: the dataset path, Read Only, and the Docker host under Hosts.
  • Unraid: Shares → (share) → NFS Security Settings: Export: Yes, Security: Private, rule <docker-host-ip>(ro).

The files must be readable for the user the container runs as (PUID, default 1000), or for everyone.

2. Turn on the NFS add-on

Section titled “2. Turn on the NFS add-on”

Add to .env:

Terminal window
COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.yml:compose.nfs.yml
NFS_SERVER=192.168.1.10           # the NAS
NFS_EXPORT=/volume1/3d-models     # the exported path (Synology: /volume1/<shared folder>)
# NFS_VERSION=4.1                 # default; use 3 for an older NAS

COMPOSE_FILE makes Docker Compose use both files, so docker compose up -d keeps working as before. LIBRARY_DIR is ignored then.

Terminal window
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs --tail 20

The log shows a line like Scan finished … 235 files in 57 folders when the share is readable.

Good to know

Section titled “Good to know”
  • Changes are picked up by polling. File system notifications don’t travel over NFS, so the site checks every SCAN_INTERVAL (3 minutes). A new file is only read once its size and time stopped changing for SETTLE_DELAY (10 seconds), so files that a sync tool writes in parts are read when they’re complete.
  • A NAS that’s away doesn’t empty the site. If the share can’t be read, the site keeps showing the last index and says so in the footer. Nothing is removed until a complete scan sees that a file is really gone.
  • Hiccups are retried. The share is mounted “soft”: a NAS that doesn’t answer gives an error instead of hanging the container. Files that couldn’t be read that way are tried again within the hour.
  • Synology housekeeping folders (@eaDir, #recycle, #snapshot) are skipped by default, as are macOS ._* files and anything that starts with a dot. See IGNORE in Configuration.

Other ways to mount

Section titled “Other ways to mount”

Already have the share mounted on the host (NFS in /etc/fstab, SMB/CIFS, a sync client like Syncthing or rclone)? Then skip the add-on and point LIBRARY_DIR at the mount point.