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Using Atlas storage from a Mac

A Mac can use Atlas storage in three ways. Managing a Mac's own disks is a different topic (MACOS.md).

WayUse it forStatus
NFS to the NFS gatewayShared files, scripts, build treesSupported path
SMB to the SMB gatewayFinder access, mixed Mac/Windows teamsSupported path
atlasctlInventory, volumes, snapshots over the REST APIReleased for Apple Silicon and Intel
atlas-native-mount (FUSE)Direct native filesystem mountNot available on macOS (see below)

The commands below use the client tools that ship with macOS. They follow Apple's documented options and the gateways' documented behaviour, but they have not been run against a live gateway from a Mac: no native NFS or SMB gateway is deployed on the lab, and the gateways' ports (2049, 445) should not be exposed to the internet for a test. Treat this page as the intended procedure and report anything that differs.

NFS​

The gateway serves NFSv4.1/4.2 and optionally v3 (Ganesha). macOS mounts NFSv4 and v3.

sudo mkdir -p /Volumes/team-share            # or any directory you own
sudo mount -t nfs -o vers=4,resvport <service-ip>:/team-share /Volumes/team-share
# NFSv3, if the gateway enables it:
sudo mount -t nfs -o vers=3,mountproto=tcp,resvport <service-ip>:/team-share /Volumes/team-share
umount /Volumes/team-share

Finder: Go > Connect to Server, nfs://<service-ip>/team-share. resvport uses a privileged source port, which is the macOS default and what many servers expect. The export's clients list decides who may mount; file ownership follows numeric uids, so a Mac user whose uid (usually 501) differs from the owner will see mode-bit denials. Locks follow the gateway's rules in NATIVE_NFS.md.

SMB​

The gateway runs Samba with Unix accounts (create the user and password through the Helm values).

mkdir -p ~/atlas-team
mount_smbfs //alice@<service-ip>/team ~/atlas-team      # prompts for the password
umount ~/atlas-team

Finder: Go > Connect to Server, smb://<service-ip>/team. Do not put the password on the command line, it ends up in shell history. Save it in Keychain from the Finder prompt instead. Notes:

  • Finder writes .DS_Store and ._* files. The gateway does not enable Apple's SMB extensions (vfs_fruit), so they appear as ordinary files. Time Machine and Spotlight on the share are not supported.
  • SMB 3.1.1 is negotiated; macOS signs by default, which costs some throughput.

atlasctl​

Release archives for aarch64-apple-darwin and x86_64-apple-darwin carry atlasctl. Point it at a gateway with --base-url (see the README) to list pools and volumes, create snapshots and read alerts.

Native FUSE mount on macOS: not now​

atlas-native-mount is Linux-only, and making it run on macOS needs a FUSE implementation that is not present on a stock Mac (macFUSE ships a kernel extension that needs approval in Security settings; FUSE-T works over a local NFS server). A first reading of the code shows the work:

  • fuser is only a dependency on Linux, and the mount binary is gated on target_os = "linux" (crates/atlas-native-fuse/Cargo.toml, src/lib.rs, src/bin/atlas-native-mount.rs);
  • unmounting shells out to fusermount3 -u (src/supervise.rs), which macOS lacks (umount or diskutil unmount would replace it);
  • src/fuse.rs relies on kernel capabilities that macFUSE reports differently (POSIX/flock locks, ACLs, export support) and on O_DIRECT and XATTR_* semantics that differ on macOS.

The pjdfstest suites and the git clone check that qualify the Linux mount would have to pass on macOS before it could ship. That has not been attempted: neither macFUSE nor FUSE-T is installed here, and installing a kernel extension is a system change outside what an automated session should do. Decision: no-go until someone with a Mac and a FUSE package runs that spike. NFS and SMB above are the supported way.