OPS335 Samba Lab

Samba - A Windows SMB/CIFS fileserver for UNIX

Configuring a Samba Server on Linux

• On your host F17 system install Samba

 yum install samba samba-client

• Create a backup of the file /etc/samba/smb.conf, and create a new one that includes only the following:

[global]
workgroup = <yourlearnid>.org 
server string = "put your real name here without the quotes"
encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
hosts allow = 142.204.141. <first three octets of network address followed by period e.g. "192.168.6.">
; note: the above line will allow access from the Seneca domain in lab T2107 
   
[home]
comment = "put your real name here without the quotes"
path = /home/<learnid>
valid users = <learnid>
; remember <learnid> is your learnid account name
public = no
writable = yes
printable = no
create mask = 0765

• Create a Samba password for user <learnid> with the command

smbpasswd -a <learnid>

• Confirm the user you created has been added using the following command

pdbedit -L -v

• You can change a user's password by using the command

smbpasswd <learnid/username>

• Test your configuration with the command

testparm

• You can now start your Samba server

systemctl start smb.service

• Ensure your server starts at boot.
• You will need to determine which ports you need to open to allow connections to your server.
• Test if you have a connection with the command

smbclient -U <learnid> -L f17

• If the previous command worked, try the connection from one of your VM's. You can view all available shares with the following command:

smbclient -U <learnid> -L f17

Connecting to a Linux SMB Server from a Linux Client

There are many ways that a Linux client can connect to an SMB server.

Using smbclient

• Install samba-client on your vm01
• From vm01 use the "smbclient" command in a terminal window.

smbclient '\\f17\home' -U <learnid>

• After entering your password you should get a prompt similar to

smb: \>

• Enter the ls command to see a list of the files in your home directory - you may receive the following error.

smb: \> ls
NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED listing \*

• SE Linux should be in Enforcing and will need to be adjusted for this to work.

 setsebool -P samba_enable_home_dirs 1

• Use the get and put commands (similar to ftp) to move files
• When you are finished close the connection.

Using 'mount -t cifs'

• The next way is to use the mount command.
• Use the mount command on vm01 to mount your home directory

mkdir /tmp/f17-home
mount -t cifs //f17/home /tmp/f17-home -o username=<learnid>
ls /tmp/f17-home

Using Nautilus to browse Samba shares

• Start a graphical interface on vm01.
• Use the "Activities" menu from the desktop on open 'files'.
• From the menu at the top of the files tool, choose 'Go' and 'Location'.
• Enter 'smb://f17/home
  • Where f17 is the name of the server, and home is the name of the directory it is sharing.
• Enter your password at the prompt.

Using a browser

• You can also use a web browser with support for the SMB protocol such as Konqueror.
• If Konqueror is not installed then install it with the command:

yum install kdebase

• Start Konqueror, the web/file browser, and in the address bar enter the follwing

smb://f17/home

• Double click on a file you have some text in.
  • Open it with gedit, make some changes, and save it.
  • When prompted, choose to upload the file.
• Close Konqueror.
• cat the file on your host machine.

Connecting to a Linux SMB Server from a Windows Client (Windows 7)

• Power up a Windows 7 system in the lab and login using your LEARN username and password.
• Open up Explorer and Right click on Computer > Map network drive.. > Select a Drive Letter and '\\<ip-address-of-f17-host>\home' > you will then be asked for your username and password.
• You should now be able to browser, drag and drop your files to and from the Windows machine.

Completing the Lab

Answer the following questions

1. Explain how you connected to your SMB server on Linux from a Windows PC. List exactly what you had to do on the Windows PC to test your Linux server.
2. What is the purpose of the testparm command?
3. What is the purpose of the smbclient command?
4. What does SMB stand for? CIFS?
5. What does the text inside square brackets in the smb.conf file mean? (e.g., "[homes]").
6. Explain the meaning of the line "create mask = 0765" in the smb.conf file?
7. What does the smbpasswd command do?
8. What was the exact mount command that you used in the last step of the lab?