Samba - The sick latino dance with NT. Fatal last words...

[DouglasSchuc]

Im pretty experienced with Windows and MicroCrap products - but with Linux... Im a newbie (please bear with me and explain in painful detail).

This is my second Fedora Core 3 installation on this laptop (I changed, briefly to Enterprise AS 4). The first time I installed FC3, Samba would not see my printer(s) or shares on my Windows 2000Pro Machine. I updated with 'up2date' and I once that was done, I could see the printer share...... Then I changed to AS4, and everything went ca-poots.

I now have FC3 back on, and have updated with up2date, but SAMBA Server is still not working. It will not see my Win2K box through GNOME (no shares, no printers) and visa-versa (my windows workgroup is 'norfolk'). One of my Linux buddies suggested deinstalling the Redhat version of SAMBA and using the samba.org installation. I can't seem to locate an RPM for this, as I do not know how to compile the binaries myself (yes, Im that lame :-) ). Can someone PLEASE HELP ME GET SAMBA TO WERK? !!!!!!!! I need this laptop and my files back on it!!! AND I NEED TO PRINT!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!....

I've installed SWAT, but don't know crap about it or how it works. I cant locate documentation that holds my hand throughout the configuration process of SWAT. I know nothing!!!! I need help!!!! :eek:

[DouglasSchuc]

Addition: If I manually set a mounted share, it works!! But I just cant do it through the GUI of GNOME! This is what I need! I dont have the time and patience to type (and remember) everything for the CLI. THANKS!!!!

The commands I used were:

su -
mkdir /mnt/share
chown your_linux_username /mnt/share
mount -t cifs //remote_compname/share_name /mnt/share -o user=your_windows_username
(thanks JMF!!!)

[deminished]

Addition: If I manually set a mounted share, it works!! But I just cant do it through the GUI of GNOME! This is what I need! I dont have the time and patience to type (and remember) everything for the CLI. THANKS!!!!

The commands I used were:

su -
mkdir /mnt/share
chown your_linux_username /mnt/share
mount -t cifs //remote_compname/share_name /mnt/share -o user=your_windows_username
(thanks JMF!!!)
Try these sites. They helped answer alot of my questions and I was able to sort some of the same issues you have. http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/linux-hn/samba.htm
http://www.samba.org

Hope they help.

[xathrasmurphy]

The first time I installed FC3, Samba would not see my printer(s) or shares on my Windows 2000Pro Machine.
<snip>
I now have FC3 back on, and have updated with up2date, but SAMBA Server is still not working. It will not see my Win2K box through GNOME (no shares, no printers) and visa-versa (my windows workgroup is 'norfolk').

You do not require Samba to access shares on a Windows machine. Samba allows Windows machines to access shared recources on a Linux machine.

Xathras Murphy

[bryancole]

Windows networking is a complex beast. Are you running a Windows Domain? ADS or NT?

For a Windows 2003 ADS domain, share browsing in nautilus/gnome works provided you haved joined the domain (using ADS ... RPC doesn't get you all the priviliges you need). For this, you need ADS authentication configured in Samba (smb.conf) and also you need your domain controller setup in kerberos (i.e. you need a Windows Realm configured in krb5.conf). I.e. You *do* need to configure smb.conf for windows network browsing, even if you're not running the samba server daemons.

For Samba configuration, you can use the Fedora utility "system-config-samba" (Applications|System Settings|Server Settings|Samba in the menus) to set up smb.conf. Set up ADS authentication and the kerberos realm (n.b. this only sets the kerberos realm name in smb.conf ... it doesn't configure the realm in kerberos client krb5.conf).

For kerberos client configuration, the easiest way to to configure it using "authconfig-gtk" (Application|SystemSettings|Authentication in the menus) under the Kerberos authentication options. You need to enable kerberos authentication to do this. After you set up the kerberos realm, you can then disable kerberos authentication (unless you're going to actually use kerberos authentication for FC3 logins, of course).

Once these are configured, you're ready to join the domain. You *must* have administrator rights on the domain controller for this to work. You run "net join <domainPlaceholder> - U <AdminUserPlaceholder>" and provide the admin password. Hmmm.... Maybe system-cconfig-samba can do this for you; I'm not sure.

Once you've successfully joined your ADS domain, browsing etc. should work in nautilus (well, it does for me). Sometimes, browsing stops working due to your kerberos ticket expiring. You can renew your ticket using the "krb5" GUI utility (install the gnome-kerberos package).

Without full ADS domain membership, connections to Windows shares *does* work (try typing in a URL like smb://<WindowsServer>/<ShareName>) with password authentication, but browsing is unreliable and/or broken, depending on the details of the security settings of the server or domain.

[DouglasSchuc]

Hey thanks for all your quick replys!!!!


What I need... basic...

1. I need to print from my FC3 box to my win2k box (no domain, but a workgroup called 'norfolk').
2. I need to be able to access files on the win2k box (I've got that covered)
3, I need to share files on my FC3 box with my win2k box (this is harder than it sounds. The Win2K box is unable to see the FC3 box and visa-versa).

4. What can I do to correct this.

I have SAMBA configured for my workgroup (does caps matter?) and a user name setup for the server (set to the same username and password that the win2k machine uses). What else do I need?

[james_in_denver]

First things first.

The Win2K box is unable to see the FC3 box and visa-versa).
can you "ping" from the Linux box to the Windows box and vice-versa?

And no, you don't have to build Samba from source, the Fedora Core version works just fine.

Though there is some not very difficult configuration to do. (unless you are using domain logins, generating and synchronizing the passwords is still a pain in the ...... as I remember it).

But if ya can't ping back and forth, then it doesn't matter what you do to samba, it won't work.

[xathrasmurphy]

Hey thanks for all your quick replys!!!!

What I need... basic...

I have SAMBA configured for my workgroup (does caps matter?) and a user name setup for the server (set to the same username and password that the win2k machine uses). What else do I need?

First check point: have you created a smbuser as well as a local user? You need both. At a terminal, as root

#smbpasswd -a username# (Don't type the # :-))

There will be a prompt for a password.

Xathras Murphy

[SlowJet]

To view SMB Windows shares on FC3 without network Neighborhood or mnt points.

For each Windows XP Sp2 user defined on the Windows client system (Mulitple User switching, the user does not need to be logged on or running, just defined with the shares (Usually SharedDocs).

Define a corresponding FC3 user account on the Linux box (These can be your regular user or a VNCSERVER account.

For each FC3 user,
(Let's assume you have 2 Windows client machines and those 2 have the same user define but 1 machine also has a large share called backup-storage.)

Open Computer on FC3.
Menu – File, Connect to Server
A connect to server box pops up.
Service type - In the drop down menu select “Windows share”
Server – enter windows client computer name i.g. MyPC-001
Continue under Optional information
Share – name of share i.g. SharedDocs
Folder – not used
User Name – fc3username/winusername pair
Name to use for Connection – fc3username/winusernamepair
Connect button
Authentication window pops up
Enter password of the winuseraccount
optional password remember boxes -I do not know what these do yet so I did not click them.

The SMB share icon is put on the desktop and under my Computer as the username, or username(2) for the second share called backups-storage.
i.These can't be renamed.
ii.Running testparm /etc/samba/smb.conf in a su – term
before and after show that the /etc/samba/smb.conf file has not changed.
iii. This type of mount does not have the constant network activity of the CIFS mounts, nor do you need to file down to media for the icons.
iv. The missing parts – The network neighborhood still cannot be browsed.
v. The authentication is manual.

SJ

[ltam]

What I need... basic...

3, I need to share files on my FC3 box with my win2k box (this is harder than it sounds. The Win2K box is unable to see the FC3 box and visa-versa).


I've gone down the same path for a long time and it's really painful. I now use Webmin to configure my Samba server. Here are the high level general steps.

1. Create a fileshare. Give it a share name and select the folder you want to share.
2. Create a linux user, with standared Redhat user admin tool, that you want to allow onto the linux box. It has to be the same user id as the windows box user.
3. Use Webmin to convert that linux user to a samba user.
3. In Webmin , edit samba user password. This does not need to be the same as the linux user. It's better if it is the same as the windows user so that when connecting, you wouldn't be asked to enter the password. Uncheck the 'no password' radial button.
4. Add the new user to the file share by selecting the fileshare that you just created and select security and access control. Add the user as a valid user.
5. Restart Samba servers.

Voila!!!

If you need more details, let me know. I can edit this to add more details. :)

Good luck.

p.s. If you ever want to share a printer from a linux box with other windows or linux boxes, here is a howto that I created.
http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=44897