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SAMBA: A few questions...

N

Nighthawk69

Golden Member
I have a few questions about setting up SAMBA so that I can have a Linux fileserver on my home network. First, I would probably be using RedHat (latest version) and the clients are on Win98 (2 of em) and Win2k (mine, which uses NTFS). Here is what I'd like to know: 🙂

1. Will SAMBA work with an NTFS file system? Can I write (make folder, move files to it, etc) and read from it OK through Win2k and my other LAN puters?
2. I know VERY little about Linux, so I would like to make things as easy as possible... Do I simply install RedHat (make sure SAMBA is installed), then what about this SWAT program I am hearing about...? Is this included with Linux and will it truely allow me to completely configure SAMBA from a web browser on one of my LAN machines?
3. Where does Linux store my shared files on the fileserver? An empty area that I specify in SWAT? Can users see anything by the files on the fileserver area, or can they see everything in the Linux installation?

Anything else I need to know would be appreciated!

Happy Holidays!
 
Linux has experimental NTFS write support, but can read well, but I always have problems w/ redhat and windows partitions.
I think you think there is a ntfs partition in linux that you clients on the lan read and write to. this is no tthe case. use the default ext3 file system for your partitions. samba will handle the rest.

install linux, make sure samba, samba server, samba client, and samba-swat are installed

in the smb.conf file you will define the shares that you allow others to see or not see, and where they are stored.

Swat is pretty good, but it overwrites the smb.conf file when you use it
The default /etc/samba/smb.conf file from redhat is very well documented with examples and comments. you don't want to lose those so i'd suggest copying them first. to use swat open a browser on the server and goto localhost:901, or sometimes 127.0.0.1:901

let us know how it goes!

good luck!
 
OK, that sounds pretty simple.

So, say I wanted to do all configuring through SWAT... would I simply install the listed items with RedHat 7.1, then I would already be able to access the SWAT stuff through a web browser without doing anything else? Just boot the computer and login?

Now, not exactly related, but what about SSH use on this fileserver so that when it is booted I can log back in? Is SSH already setup for me after installing RedHat?

Thanks!! I appreciate any help!
 


<< OK, that sounds pretty simple.

So, say I wanted to do all configuring through SWAT... would I simply install the listed items with RedHat 7.1, then I would already be able to access the SWAT stuff through a web browser without doing anything else? Just boot the computer and login?

Now, not exactly related, but what about SSH use on this fileserver so that when it is booted I can log back in? Is SSH already setup for me after installing RedHat?

Thanks!! I appreciate any help! >>




1) use 7.2
2)boot what computer and login? server or client?
3) what about ssh? what are you doing with it? to talk w/ the linux box you have to have the sshd service running (ssh daemon)
 
The fact that u r using NTFS doesn't matter because u r going to access that srive through the network. When u access a drive from a network
u use NFS not the local filesystem.
 
1) OK.

2) Sorry, I was referring to when I have to reboot the RedHat computer, I would need to login, correct? Well, this fileserver would not have a monitor on it, so I need someway to login to it after it is all setup initially... I figured SSH was what should be used.

3) See above #2, I was going to use SSH to login to the Linux computer when it had to be rebooted. As for the daemon, I assume I need to make sure that gets installed, but will it start automatically when I boot, or does something need to be set in order for this to happen?

Also, with SAMBA will the web component already be working after it is install and booted for the first time, or will some things have to be setup first to make SWAT work?

Thanks!
 
SSH is the way to go.

are you installing it w/ a monitor I hope?

from the command line as root type "ntsysv 35" no qoutes
this is a list of all processes started on the box, scroll through and activate sshd, samba (might be listed as smbd and nmbd)
hint-- you can hit F1 to tell you more about each choice

you should be able to run ssh w/o changing anything for more advanced optionds you'll need to change the config file.

I'm in win2k right now doing some stuff but run redhat 95% of the time, when I reboot I'll send you my smb.conf file
 
Sounds good 🙂

Once I actually get my 802.11b network setup, I will need to go back through and find this thread again, but I want to get all my questions out of the way first 🙂 the initial ones anyway 😀

And yes, I will be using a monitor to make the installation.

Regards,
 
u can try too VNC, it's already with linux(at least Mandrake and i"m not sure about RedHat but u can download).



Good Luck 😉
 
Ya, I use VNC with my current Win2k router box, but that is soon to be the Linux fileserver (hopefully 🙂 ). I would prefer to just use SSH though.

Regards,
 
for SWAT, you'll have to go into /etc/xinet.d/ and edit the swat file, assuming you installed it with the system. There'll be a line in there saying disable = yes, change to no and run /etc/init.d/xinet reload.

VNC works great... you'll need a telnet or something to get the server running first, but other than that, you can leave it running for years. I'd download the source from the vnc site (can't remember what it is, do a search for AT&T and vnc on google, it's a .uk site) and complile.

You'll have to install X to get vnc working properly (or at least twm, which is dependant on X if i remember right.) so make sure you're booting into run level 3 after install so you don't lose the overhead of running X on the console.


Don't worry about rebooting so much after install. After the first day of config, I haven't (intentionally, no UPS) rebooted my machine once. Just restart a daemon
 
FUBAR: Sounds good, but I will probably just use SSH for admin directly on the box, aside from SWAT, so I don't have to install a GUI.

Regards,
 
swat was a big headache for me when I wanted to setup SAMBA. I ended up scrapping the damn thing and just wiped the smb.conf file clean and starting from scratch, put in the very basic configs and tweaked until I got it all working right.


one thing - I'm not sure how SWAT works with encyption.. you have to enable encrypted passwords on the SMB server to be able to login from the Win2k box. (either that or disable encrypted passwords with a windows reg hack). this is explained in the ENCRYPTION.TXT file in the samba docs.

basically you create a smb passwd file from the system's passwd file, then you run a command to set the samba passwords for the users. if u have never messed with linux I'd give yourself a day or two of messing around until you get samba up and running. you might try it with the gui and everything until you get it working, then backup the smb.conf file and wipe the drive and start over with no gui and copy the config file over, unless you are comfortable and familiar with unix commands and console text editors


 
That sounds good... I will try SWAT first and if things don't workout I will start over without it and do things manually. I have a 98SE box that I can do the basic configs from, then I can work on the passwords stuff for my 2k box.

I know some linux commands as I fooled around with it for a couple weeks a while back, so I will start out without the GUI. Hopefully I can get everything installed and ready to go, then put it back into its permanent place and work out everything else through SSH and (hopefully) SWAT from another computer.

Thanks!!
 
good luck, let us know how it goes

when you install redhat (if thats what you're using) do a custom install so you can select samba and swat (not sure if swat is in the main gui package selector, you may have to choose "select individual packages" and find swat in there to install it. also if you do a custom you can pick other stuff you might want to play with someday, like ftp, apache, dns, etc
 
things work differently between win 98 and 2k , are ou going to have samba act as a PDC? things get trickier then.
try a simple smb.conf at first then play with adding features.

let us kow how it goes!!
 
I'll definitely let you guys know how it goes, and I'm sure I'll have questions as well!

This will simply be a fileserver, not sure what a PDC is... 🙂

Merry Christmas!
 
pdc = primary domain controller, this is if you are running a domain network, if you are simply sharing files then a peer to peer workgroup setup with samba is pretty simple 🙂
 
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