Samba Help

[Anchorman]

I'm pretty much brand new to the Linux scene. I know very little, but I want to start dabbling with it some. There are actually several things that I want to accomplish, but I'll take them one step at a time. The first thing I want to do is make my Linux machine a file server for a Microsoft network. I have the KNOPPIX CD, and I'm using that temporarily as a learning tool, and may later install it to the hard drive, if I can make it dual boot. In my research, I find that I need to set up Samba to accomplish what I'm looking into. browsing around, I have found a Samba Status in the Control Center, but I can't find anywhere in the entire operating system where I can configure Samba. I even went to Samba.org and downloaded the Samba program, but I can't figure out how to install it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[mmaki]

This is from the FAQ here and it is a good basic Samba start. A search of the Internet for Samba Newbie should get many good results. I have not tested Knoppix as a Samba server so I can not confirm it works. I did get a couple of errors when I started Samba but I did not test if I could connect.

Good Luck!

Q: I want to copy files to a windows box over the network

A: Both directions are possible. Either start SAMBA or mount the remote share.

To access files on Linux from Windows:
"sudo /etc/init.d/samba start", add users with "smbpasswd -a knoppix". After this, the home directory of user knoppix will be shared as readonly. If you need other shares, edit /etc/samba/smb.conf and restart samba (replace "start" with "restart").

To access a Windows share from Linux:
"mkdir tmp/share; sudo mount -t smbfs -o username=Administrator //otherbox/share /tmp/share" (maybe start samba too to get rid of the warnings, especialy when using "nmblookup")

When I first started using Samba I started using this:

http://www.sclug.org//members/docs.cgi?date=07-22-2000

[Anchorman]

Great. Thanks a lot for the help. That seemed to work, and I didn't run into any errors. I was able to see the files on my Win 2000 machine without a problem.

How do I set up shares on my Knoppix server, then see them from my Windows machine?

Thanks,
Jesse

Jesse,

This will create a simple share on your KNOPPIX box.
Edit the file /etc/samba/smb.conf and add the following code to the bottom of the file:

[tmp]
comment = Test share
path = /tmp
writeable = yes

This will create a writeable share onthe KNOPPIX box named tmp and the shared folder is the /tmp directory.

Create a samba user on KNOPPIX box by entering the command
smbpasswd -a knoppix

You will be prompted for a password. This is the password that will be entered when you want to map the share from the Windows box. Of course you can create any username and password.

If Samba is not started, start it with /etc/init.d/samba start or restart it with /etc/init.d/samba restart. If you make changes to smb.conf you need to restart samba.

Also, run the program "testparm". It scans your smb.conf file for errors and will report them back to you.

From your Windows box map the share \\knoppix\tmp and use the user name and password you created above. You should get a writeable share.

Take a look at the comments in the smb.conf file. They will give you ideas on how the file works.

This should get you started. Good luck!

Mike

[Darkehorse]

Thanks for the tips about Samba.

Question:
I mapped a share to my NT file server. However, it was read only. This file server is NTFS. Is there a risk in writing to this share via Samba? If not, how do I change the status of the server share so I can write to it?

Thanks,
Darke

I started editing the cmb.conf file, and when I tried to save it, I was told "Unable to write file". I don't know if the /etc/.. is part of the CD or not. Maybe I need to start by installing this to my hard drive? Or is there some other way around this?

Thanks,
Jesse

[mmaki]

Sorry I can't help here. Maybe someone can answer if smb.conf is made writeable somewhere after the CD is running???

[RockMumbles]

Hello, I not 100% positive on this one, but I believe that the /etc directory is stored in RAM so you should be able to edit it, but you will have to have root permissions to write to your /etc/smb.conf file, (1) use <CTRL> <ALT> <f2> to open the root console and then you could edit your smb.conf file from there.
or (2) If you are using KDE and want to use a graphical editor ie. kedit kate etc look in the menu for a superuser editor or start up the super user file manager, navigate to /etc and right click on the smb.conf file and select edit.

Note: if you're running from CD and your smb.conf file is stored in RAM you will lose it after a reboot, so make sure to do a KNOPPIX configuration save to floppy and maybe for insurance copy the smb.conf file to floppy as well just in case.

HTH

rock

[Andrew Foster]

Hi there,

To write to files in /etc while running Knoppix from a CD, using smb.conf as an example:

- It's easiest to be root first.

sudo passwd root
(enter your root password)
su
(enter your root password)

- Delete the symlink named /etc/samba/smb.conf (this points to the CDROM at /KNOPPIX/etc/samba/smb.conf)

rm /etc/samba/smb.conf

- Make a new (real) copy of smb.conf, which gets stored in memory instead of the CD

sudo cp /KNOPPIX/etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/

- Edit it and do stuff!

vi /etc/samba/smb.conf

Cheers,

- Andrew
andrew (at) solutionsfirst.com.au

[arkaine23]

So can I just write a script that removes a bunch of config files, then creates new sysmlinks that point to actual config files that I keep on a floppy, and restarts any daemons that need restarting? And then I just run the script as root everytime I boot from the CD?