OPS335: File Servers

SAMBA SERVER RESOURCES

Online References:

• (Course Notes on Samba Server)
• Samba Server Setup (Simple setup guide for samba server]

OVERVIEW

According to the samba.org website:

"Samba is the standard Windows interoperability suite of programs for Linux and Unix. Samba is Free Software licensed under the GNU General Public License, the Samba project is a member of the Software Freedom Conservancy."

Although a Samba server can provide many features such as printer sharing and backups, this lab will focus solely on sharing files on an MS Windows server on a Linux server.

This lab will first install and setup, and enable a Samba server, test a Samba server connection on another Linux server, and finally test a Samba server to connect and share MS Windows files both text-based and graphically.

INVESTIGATION 1: INSTALLING & CONFIGURING A SAMBA SERVER

In this investigation, we will set up a Samba server on our VM2 machine. We will first install, configure and enable the samba server on our virtual machine, and then we will quickly test to see if the Samba server works.

Prerequistites
Due to the changes made in lab3, you will now need your vm1 running (as the DNS server) in order for any of your virtual machines to be able to use the internet.

Perform the following steps:

1. Make certain that both your VM1 and VM2 machines are running.
2. Switch to your VM2 machine.
3. Issue the following Linux command to install Samba server utlity:
   yum install samba samba-client
   
4. Create a backup of the file /etc/samba/smb.conf, and create a new smb.conf file 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
  
[home]
comment = "put your real name here without the quotes"
path = /home/<learnid>
public = no
writable = yes
printable = no
create mask = 0765

3. Append (add) the following parameter to the bottom of the global section that will limit access to the share so that only machines in your virtual network and those in the lab room will be able to access it:

hosts allow = 192.168.x

4. Append (add) the following parameter to the home section so that only your user account can access that share:

valid users = <your-seneca-id>

5. Use the smbpasswd command to create a samba account for yourself

6. Confirm the user you created has been added using the following command:
   pdbedit -L -v
7. Test and review your configuration with the command:
   testparm
8. You can now start your Samba server (smb.service) and ensure it will start at boot.
9. Modify the firewall on VM2 to allow samba traffic.
10. Test if you have a connection with the command:
    smbclient -U <learnid> -L vm2 (It will show you a list of all available shares.)

Record steps, commands, and your observations in INVESTIGATION 1 in your OPS335 lab log-book

INVESTIGATION 2: USING A SAMBA SERVER TO SHARE FILES FROM OTHER LINUX SERVERS

Although the main purpose of running a samba server is to share files on a Windows server, you can also install a Samba client on another Linux machine to share files as well. This lab will demonstrate how to setup a Samba client on your host machine, mount the samba share on a directory, and access files on the remote Linux machine (vm2).

Accessing and Sharing Files on Remote Linux Server (smbclient)

Perform the following steps:

1. In a full installation (on your host Linux machine) you should not need to install the samba-client application on your host, but if it is not present, then install that application.
2. You will also need to install the cifs-utils package to be able to mount the filesystem:
   yum install cifs-utils
3. From the host use the "smbclient" command in a terminal window:
   smbclient '\\vm2\home' -U <learnid>
4. After entering your password you should get a prompt similar to:
   smb: \>
5. Enter the ls command to see a list of the files in your home directory:
   smb: \> ls
   
   NOTE: you may receive the following error: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED listing
   
   
6. SE Linux should be in Enforcing and will need to be adjusted (on the samba server) for this to work by issuing the command:
   setsebool -P samba_enable_home_dirs 1
7. Once you have access to the directory use the get and put commands (similar to sftp) to move files.
8. When you are finished close the connection.

Mounting a Remote Linux Volume (mount -t cifs)

When performing the NFS lab, one of the initial purpose of using NFS was allowing network shares to mount remote volumes as opposed to using sftp (get and put commands). This section will demonstrate how to mount a remote Linux volume as a directory for the client Linux server.

Perform the following steps:

1. Issue the following command to create a mount point called vm2-home:
   mkdir /tmp/vm2-home
2. Issue the following command in order to mount your home directory:
   mount -t cifs //vm2/home /tmp/vm2-home -o username=<learnid>
3. Verify that the mount worked by issuing the following command:
   ls /tmp/vm2-home
4. What is the advantage of using this method as opposed to the smbclient command in the previous section? Record your answer in your lab log-book.

Record steps, commands, and your observations in INVESTIGATION 2 in your OPS335 lab log-book

INVESTIGATION 3: CONNECTING TO A SAMBA SERVER FROM A WINDOWS CLIENT

This investigation will configure your host machine to access files in a MS Windows server via command line and graphically.

Creating a Windows 2008 Server VM

To demonstrate how to access and share files from a remote MS Windows server using smbclient on your host machine, we will install a Windows 2008 server as a virtual machine.

Perform the following steps:

1. Make certain you are using your host machine.
2. Download a version of MS Windows ISO file to your host machine. If you have already downloaded an ISO file, then you can use that (i.e. transfer to your host machine).
   NOTE: You cannot use a CD/DVD since KVM does not install by CD/DVD.
   
   ALTERNATIVE METHOD: You could also refer to the following link to download any MS Windows OS: https://inside.senecacollege.ca/its/software/ ,
   select Software Downloads, login with your senecaid and password, select MSDN, and then select a Windows OS ISO to download.
   You are not required to obtain a product key since you will not need to extend the use of this Windows OS over 60 days.

Rearming the Windows Trial Version
If are your trial period for your Windows machine is nearly over, you can extend the trial period for another 30 days by running a command prompt as the administrator (right-click on cmd icon) and issuing the command: slmgr -rearm. Obviously, you are required to perform this operation prior to the termination of the initial trial period.

3. Create a new virtual machine (hard drive size: 20 GB, accept all other defaults) making certain to specify the location of your downloaded Windows OS iso file.
4. Install the Windows OS creating a default user and administrator.
5. Upon successful installation, open the command prompt, and note the IPADDR for that Windows Machine.
6. On your Linux host machine, use the same techniques that you learned in INVESTIGATION 2 to use smbclient and also to mount (mount -t cifs) the MS Windows files on your host machine. Were you successful?
7. If you were not successful, why do you think was the reason?
8. Call over your lab assistant or instructor if you are uable to access your MS Windows files on your Linux host machine.

Accessing MS Windows Files from a Graphical Application (nautilus)

If you have properly installed smbclient and mounted your MS Windows File Share on your Linux host machine, you should be able to use your default graphical file manager application (nautilus) to access files on your remote Windows server.

Perform the following tasks:

1. Use the Places menu from the desktop and open Browse Network.
2. From the menu in the side-bar of the files tool, choose Connect to Server.
3. Enter smb://vm2/home as the location, and enter your samba password in the prompt.
4. Where vm2 is the name of the server, and home is the name of the directory it is sharing.
5. 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'.

Accessing MS Windows Files via a Graphical Web Browser (konqueror)

If your web browser application support the SMB protocol, you can also access files on your remote Windows server by a web browser.

Perform the following tasks:

1. You can also use a web browser with support for the SMB protocol such as Konqueror. Note that firefox does not have such support.
2. If Konqueror is not installed then install it with the command:
   yum install kdebase
3. Start Konqueror, the web/file browser, and in the address bar enter the following:
   smb://vm2/home
4. Enter your username and password when prompted.
5. Double click on a file you have some text in.
6. Open it with gedit, make some changes, and save it.
7. When prompted, choose to upload the file.
8. Close Konqueror.
9. cat the file on your VM2 to ensure the changes were properly uploaded.

Record steps, commands, and your observations in INVESTIGATION 3 in your OPS335 lab log-book

COMPLETING THE LAB

Arrange proof that ...

EXPLORATION QUESTIONS

1. What does SMB and CIFS represent?
2. What is the purpose of the testparm command?
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?