OPS335 Samba Lab

Samba - A Windows SMB/CIFS fileserver for UNIX

Warning
Make sure that your VMs are fully updated before you begin this lab.

Configuring a Samba Server on Linux

• On your VM 2 install Samba

 yum install samba

• 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.  You will have to change this depending on which lab you are in. 
   
[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>

• If you need to, you can change a user's password by using the command

smbpasswd <username>

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

pdbedit -L -v

• Test and review 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 (hint: there are a total of six port and protocol combinations needed).
• Test if you have a connection with the command

smbclient -U <learnid> -L vm2

• It will show you a list of all available shares.

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

• In a full installation you should not need to install samba-client on your vm1, but if it is not present then do so.
• From vm1 use the "smbclient" command in a terminal window.

smbclient '\\vm2\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 (on the samba server) for this to work.

 setsebool -P samba_enable_home_dirs 1

• Once you have access to the directory 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 vm1 to mount your home directory

mkdir /tmp/vm2-home
mount -t cifs //vm2/home /tmp/vm2-home -o username=<learnid>
ls /tmp/vm2-home

Using Nautilus to browse Samba shares

• Start a graphical interface on vm1.
• Use the "Activities" menu from the desktop on open 'files'.
• From the menu in the side-bar of the files tool, choose 'Connect to Server'.
• Enter 'smb://vm2/home' as the location, and enter your samba password in the prompt.
  • Where vm2 is the name of the server, and home is the name of the directory it is sharing.
• After you have checked that you can access your files, unmount the share by right-clicking its icon in the side-bar and clicking 'Unmount'.

Using a browser

• You can also use a web browser with support for the SMB protocol such as Konqueror.
  • Note that firefox does not have such support.
• 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 following

smb://vm2/home

• Enter your username and password when prompted.
• 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 VM2 to ensure the changes were properly uploaded.

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.
• Add the prerouting and forwarding rules to your Centos host's iptables necessary to redirect samba traffic from outside your network to your VM 2.
• Open up Explorer and Right click on Computer > Map network drive.. > Select a Drive Letter and '\\<ip-address-of-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

While completing this lab you have gained experience using a service designed to allow interaction from a variety of client tools on multiple OS platforms. You have also experienced service related tools that allow you to view configuration parameters and errors in real-time.

Exploration questions:

1. What is the purpose of the testparm command?
2. What does SMB stand for? CIFS?
3. What does the text inside square brackets in the smb.conf file mean? (e.g., "[home]").
4. Explain the meaning of the line "create mask = 0765" in the smb.conf file?
5. What does the smbpasswd command do?
6. What did the setsebool command do?