HOWTO: Setup Samba peer-to-peer with Windows

[Faolan]

I don't want my samba password to be the same as my ubuntu login because if I tell the pass to network users they will know the login to my laptop.

Create a new SAMBA user, that should do the trick:

smbpasswd -a username
smbpasswd -e username

The first line creates the user and the second enables it, if you're using a database user list you may need to create a new Linux user then use this command:

pdbedit -a username

To confirm a user account use this:

pdbedit -w -L | awk -F: '/username/ {print $1}'

[Faolan]

hello!

if we setup ubuntu samba server for xp clients, is there any way we can force xp users to save files to their samba share instead of saving files locally on the client machines?

the main purpose is to have a central organised data storage so that any user can have access to his / her files sitting at any of the 100 client machines.

Probably the best option here would be have a setup similar to a Windows Server farm. Essentially you would map the drives using:

net use z: \\Netbios name\share name

In the users start up script in Windows, then point the users My Docs folder to that share.

Presumably you will want on the server individual space for each user so you're probably going to have share a folder like this

[usershare]
comment = User My Docs folder
path = /home/users/%U/MyDocs
browsable = no
public = no
read only = no
valid users = %S

To be honest you're probably going to have down the LDAP/Active Directory Route which would make managing a 100 users easier.

This is not something I've done, but I've been looking into.

[fourthofjuly]

thanks Faolan, your help is appreciated...

as i understand, this will create a z: drive under all xp machines where the users should be asked to save their files; this will store the files to the user's home folder on the server and not on the client...

for antivirus, i liked clamav, but it is a manual scanner...

if installed to the server, can it be automated to scan files immediately when they are saved? also if a virus is detected, what action will clamav take?

[dmizer]

for antivirus, i liked clamav, but it is a manual scanner...

if installed to the server, can it be automated to scan files immediately when they are saved? also if a virus is detected, what action will clamav take?

You can automate clamscan with crontab. It will not automatically scan every file when it's created, but you can configure cron start periodic scans.

[Faolan]

thanks Faolan, your help is appreciated...

as i understand, this will create a z: drive under all xp machines where the users should be asked to save their files; this will store the files to the user's home folder on the server and not on the client...

You will also need to set the users home profile to point to that directory. This can be done doing the following in XP:

Start - Run - control userpasswords2
Go to the advanced tab, choose advanced then users/username
In Username got to profile
Put in the Profile Path the Path to their folders on the Linux box.

This will give them a roaming profile. However if you want to make all their my documents roaming you need to do:

Right click on My Documents and choose properties
Choose Move and point it to the shared drive.

The is more efficient in an AD domain where you can set a group policy for all members. This means you don't have to do it for every member and when you create new members it cuts down on mistakes.

Finally you will have to map the drive using in start up scripts:

net share driverletter://server/directory

So that My Docs is available, so you'll need to set up a valid user list and/or AD in SAMBA to prevent your passwords being seen in the script.

[Iceman_B]

Nice Tutorial! It got me(a linux n00b) as far as having a working share on my Ubuntu box!
I would like some asssitance in making a clear picture out of the following:

I have an 8.10 box running, no screen hooked up, so I'm admining it remotely via putty(winxp pro).

The ubuntu box is called "rin-chan", the only user on it is "ravi".
My Windows laptop has a few users, the main being "Ravi" with a password.

I want to make share available for all my house mates in the network, whom are all using either WinXP home or pro.

http://paste.ubuntu.com/121868/ for my config.

How exactly do you configure the usernames and groups within samba? I want the share to be persistent after an initial mount and not have to deal with different user accounts on the windows machines. I also want nobody from within windows being able to modify any rights, everyone should get complete rights on all the files and subdirs within that share.
All users on windows have different usernames.

What's a smart way to accomodate all of this? What usernames in samba and/or linux correspond with those in windows?

Once that is running, I'd like to know how I make the entire share 10.0 GB in size, how would I go about to fix that?

Thanks!

[fourthofjuly]

thank you dmizer...

i guess for hourly scan, i will add following after crontab -e

0 * * * * /usr/bin/clamav

will this scan each & every file right from root? or should i append / above? again that should require root privileges...

pl help...

[fourthofjuly]

thank you again Faolan...

i will test the second (more effecient) method, which should help...

[erictherev]

What I have is a samba share setup with a Kubuntu 8.10 file server and ******* machines that can connect to it. Most of the files are shared with all users, with the exceptions of the home directories for 2 of the users (nomad and lupa), which only the owners of those directories can access. Additionally, there is one other directory (not listed in the code below) that both of those users, and only those users, can access. As far as filesharing goes, this setup works great.

What I want is for the HP LaserJet 6P connected to the Kubuntu system to be openly shared on the network. Currently it shows up on the ******* systems, but under the icon it says, "Access denied, unable to connect".

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[global]
; General server settings
netbios name = HONOGHR
workgroup = GALACTIC_EMPIRE
socket options = SO_KEEPALIVE TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY SO_SNDBUF=8192 SO_RCVBUF=8192 

security = share
name resolve order = hosts wins bcast

wins support = yes

printing = CUPS
printcap name = CUPS

syslog = 1
syslog only = yes
map to guest = Bad User

; NOTE: If you need access to the user home directories uncomment the
; lines below and adjust the settings to your hearts content.
;[homes]
;valid users = %S
;create mode = 0600
;directory mode = 0755
;browseable = no
;read only = no
;veto files = /*.{*}/.*/mail/bin/

; NOTE: Only needed if you run samba as a primary domain controller.
; Not needed as this config doesn't cover that matter.
;[netlogon]
;path = /var/lib/samba/netlogon
;admin users = Administrator
;valid users = %U
;read only = no

; NOTE: Again - only needed if you're running a primary domain controller.
;[Profiles]
;path = /var/lib/samba/profiles
;valid users = %U
;create mode = 0600
;directory mode = 0700
;writeable = yes
;browseable = no

; NOTE: Inside this place you may build a printer driver repository for
; Windows - I'll cover this topic in another HOWTO.
[print$]
path = /var/lib/samba/printers
browseable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = yes
write list = root
create mask = 0664
directory mask = 0775

[printers]
path = /tmp
printable = yes
guest ok = yes
browseable = no

; Uncomment if you need to share your CD-/DVD-ROM Drive
;[DVD-ROM Drive]
;path = /media/cdrom
;browseable = yes
;read only = yes
;guest ok = yes

[Comics]
path = /home/shared/Comics/
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

[Gaming]
path = /home/shared/Gaming/
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

[ISOs]
path = /home/shared/ISOs/
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

[LEGO]
path = /home/shared/LEGO/
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

[Music]
path = /home/shared/music/
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

[Setup]
path = /home/shared/Setup/
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

[Torrents]
path = /home/shared/torrents/
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

[lupa's_documents]
path = /home/lupa/Documents
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = no

[nomad's_documents]
path = /home/nomad/Documents
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = no

As always, any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[dmizer]

What I want is for the HP LaserJet 6P connected to the Kubuntu system to be openly shared on the network. Currently it shows up on the ******* systems, but under the icon it says, "Access denied, unable to connect".

Don't use samba to share your printers. I've never been successful with this. Use the cups interface to configure and share your printers to your windows machines:

http://localhost:631