System Administration
178
Getting Started Guide
Setting Up a Samba Server
Samba is a Linux software package that provides support for the SMB protocol
used by Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and numerous other systems. Samba
allows Windows clients to access the file and print capabilities of the Linux sys-
tem in a manner similar to how those clients would access a Windows NT server.
By using the Samba package included with OpenLinux, you can easily make a
replacement for a Windows NT file and print server, allowing Windows clients
on your network to access the OpenLinux server as if it were a Windows NT
server.
NOTE: The Samba client software on OpenLinux can also be
used to access files and printers on Windows 95/98 and Win-
dows NT systems.
To configure Samba:
1.
Install the samba and smbfs rpms.
This installs the SMB protocol and adds the /etc/samba.d directory to your
system. (If you already have a /etc/samba.d directory, the packages are
likely already installed, and you can skip this step.)
2.
Change to the /etc/samba.d directory.
3.
Copy the smb.conf.sample file to the smb.conf file:
cp smb.conf.sample smb.conf
4.
Edit the workgroup name near the top of the /etc/samba.d/smb.conf
file so that it corresponds to the workgroup name of the Windows
PCs that need to access the OpenLinux system.
5.
Create a Samba password file using this command (the mksmb-
passwd command is part of the samba software package):
cat /etc/passwd | mksmbpasswd > /etc/samba.d/smbpasswd
This creates a Samba password file with all of the usernames on your
Linux system.
6.
Reset the samba password for one of the Linux users who needs to
connect to OpenLinux by running this command and entering a new
password when prompted:
smbpasswd username
7.
Add users to the list of those who can access the OpenLinux system
using Samba with this command: