Acronis Files Connect solves these problems. At its core, Acronis Files Connect is an AFP server that runs on your Windows server and enables Macs to connect to file shares and NAS via Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) instead of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. An AFP solution to SMB problems. Acronis Files Connect enables users to connect to SMB shares (NAS and file servers) via native AFP; it serves as an AFP server between the Mac computer and a Windows server environment. For Mac users, no protocol will substitute for AFP.
We’re often asked if AFP is still required as Macs support SMB out of the box
And if your company is one of the estimated 80% of enterprise organisations which have Mac and mobile users who need to access files and documents in a mixed Mac-Windows environment, or if you’re looking to retire your ageing Mac servers you should know that Windows and Macs communicate with one another differently.
Cross Platform Management
Typically when Mac users try to access Windows file and print servers via SMB (Server Messaging Block) they typically experience performance, data integrity, search slowness and many other issues, and your business is impacted in many ways.
With over a decade of experience of integrating and supporting companies in creative industries or enterprise organisations that have creative departments we know from experience that the happiest, most productive users connect to their servers by AFP (Apple File Protocol).
Windows 10 Connect To Afp
As a long established and authorised Acronis Partner we recommend Acronis Files Connect (formerly ExtremeZ-IP) for a truly seamless Mac/Windows integration experience.
Windows Connect To Afp
Check out the 4 main benefits of Acronic Files Connect below or call our team of cross-platform integration experts on 0800 007 3040
Explore our cross platform management services now here.
Mac OS X has always supported two network protocols:
- AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) is Apple’s native file sharing protocol for Mac.
- SMB (Server Messaging Block) is the native file sharing protocol for Windows and is typically used for NAS storage.
With each OS X update, Mac SMB compatibility has evolved. But even with the SMB3 protocol support introduced in OS X 10.10 Yosemite, Mac users continue to report frustrating problems, especially with key applications such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud/Suite.
Acronis Access Connect can overcome common and critical Mac SMB problems with improved AFP support, including:
- Long delays mounting shares, browsing folders, and opening files
- Slow file searches and lack of file content search capabilities
- File corruption
- Disappearing files
- Crashing applications
- Permissions problems
- Non-functional Windows shortcuts
- Disconnected sessions
- Locked files and file naming issues
IT managers in thousands of companies have found that by connecting to file shares with the native AFP protocol, their Mac users can stop suffering from these SMB problems, improving productivity while reducing frustration and help desk calls. This ultimately results in the lowering of costs and higher profitability.
And since Acronis Access Connect is a server-side solution, all Macs are automatically supported, whether they’re running older or new versions of OS X.
When Mac users connect over SMB to a Windows or NAS file share, they lose the fast Spotlight filename and content searches they’re used to when searching locally or against an OS X Server. Acronis Access Connect solves that by linking Spotlight searches to a server-side index. For files on Windows servers, it links seamlessly with the native Windows Search service. Since the Windows Search service can’t index NAS shares, Acronis Access Connect now includes a new indexing option: Acronis Content Indexing, which can index filenames, content, or both on any file share, including supported NAS devices, making searches hundreds of times faster.
Either way, Macs connected to file shares over AFP can then search filenames or content across very large collections of files to quickly find the files they need.
New! With the new mobile device support in Acronis Access Connect 10 users can even search Windows-based file shares from their phones or tablets.
Acronis Access Connect is designed from the ground up to integrate Macs with any size Windows environment, from workgroup servers to clustered VMs and NAS.
It’s fully integrated with Active Directory and NTFS permissions – Mac users can log in with their standard credentials and get the expected permissions to their files.
And with the Acronis Access Connect Network Reshare feature (enterprise subscription license required), Macs can use AFP to access files on other Windows servers and NAS devices, through a single server.
Acronis Access Connect easily integrates with key Windows infrastructure elements expected by IT, including:
- Kerberos / Single Sign On
- DFS / Network Reshare
- Home directories
- Clustering
- Quotas
- File name policies
- Advanced logging
Connect To Afp Share From Windows
It also supports the features and rich experience Mac users expect:
- Fast Spotlight Searching
- Time Machine backups
- Unix / ACL permissions
- Print queue support
- Domain password change (through the AFP connection dialog)
Acronis Access Connect expands beyond Macs to provide fast, seamless file access for mobile devices, including those for iOS, Android, and Windows phones and tablets. The Access mobile clients provide rich file browsing, full content searching, file previewing and editing, as well as automatic synchronization for working offline.
Where can I get it?
Download source, Fedora Core 8 RPMs and Ubuntu/Debian packages at the Sourceforge download page.
For details on the development project, check out the Sourceforge development page.
What is it?
afpfs-ng is a client for the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) which will let you mount and access shared volumes from Mac OS X (or netatalk) to Linux, BSD and Mac OS X systems.
There is a FUSE-based client which lets you mount a remote filesystem. It is for Linux and FreeBSD.
There is also a simple, command-line AFP client; think about it as an FTP client for AFP.
How does the FUSE system work?
Here, you'll see me mount a remote volume:
$ mount_afp afp://adevries:passwd@10.211.55.3/adevries /tmp/xa20
Mounting adevries on /tmp/xa20
Login message: This is a login message.
Actually mounting.
Mounting succeeded.
$ ls -l /tmp/xa20
total 0
drwx------ 3 adevries adevries 58 Nov 6 18:24 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 adevries adevries 24 Nov 9 19:28 destdir
drwx------ 3 adevries adevries 58 Nov 6 18:24 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 2 adevries adevries 24 Dec 18 17:19 foo
drwx------ 17 adevries adevries 534 Nov 6 18:24 Library
drwxr-xr-x 27 adevries adevries 874 Feb 9 17:23 linux-2.6.18
-rw-rw-r-- 1 adevries adevries 41863580 Jan 30 18:51 linux-2.6.18.tar.bz2
drwx------ 3 adevries adevries 58 Nov 6 18:24 Movies
drwx------ 3 adevries adevries 58 Nov 6 18:24 Music
drwx------ 3 adevries adevries 58 Nov 6 18:24 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 4 adevries adevries 92 Nov 6 18:24 Public
drwxr-xr-x 5 adevries adevries 126 Nov 6 18:24 Sites
drwxr-xr-x 14 adevries adevries 432 Dec 15 05:55 testdir
I can also see connection information:
How do I automatically mount my filesystems with FUSE?
- create a file called '/etc/fuse.conf' with one line:
- make sure that any user doing a mount is a member of the group 'fuse' so it can read and write to /dev/fuse
- create an entry in /etc/fstab entry in the following format:
afpfs#afp://username:mypass@10.211.55.2/alexdevries /tmp/xa20 fuse user=adevries,group=fuse 0 0
Here, alexdevries and mypass are the login information on the server 10.211.55.2. The volume name is also alexdevries. /tmp/xa20 is the name of the mountpoint. The user= field is the local user, group needs to be the same the group owner of /dev/fuse.
Yes, you will need to put your password in clear text. There is currently no facility to handle open directory. Patches welcome.
What can I do with the command line tool?
How good is it?
afpfs-ng is officially labelled as beta, but there are few obvious file-level bugs. There are problems within the FUSE libraries which cause afpfs-ng to hang or stall.
You should report bugs by either subscribing to the project mailing list (available on the afpfs-ng project webpage), or to alexthepuffin@gmail.com
General comments are appreciated also.
What's next?
Major features that are coming up are:
- extensions for graphical clients (gnome-vfs2, konqueror) so that one can browse AFP shares and show resource fork data
- support for older Mac OS 8 and 9 servers (AFP 2.x)
Who wrote this?
afpfs-ng was started by Alex deVries with contributions from Michael Ulbrich, Derrik Pates and others.