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Samba Questions


ianw1974
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I've read the FAQ on samba setup, which is OK. Just got a couple of questions.

 

I'm likely to be using the laptop for my home network and office network. Samba faq mentions I need to configure all sorts of things such as usernames and passwords (obviously for accessing the Windows shares).

 

Is there a more simplified method of enabling samba so I can just see the Windows boxes and associated shares and access, and supply the usernames and passwords as and when I need them?

 

Basically, I just want to enable samba so I can see the Windows boxes and go from there, as I use different usernames/passwords between my home and office networks. Or am I thinking too much like a Windows user! :P

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If you have the Windows shares set up to be shared and accessed by guest you should be ok. The issue with samba users and samba passwords is on the linux end. Samba does not use the regular linux user names and passwords, so you have to add them with smbpasswd -a username as root.

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OK. Thanks for that. Does that mean I can skip adding usernames and passwords when setting up samba for the Windows shares? Or do I still need to supply something?

 

Thanks in advance!

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I now have samba working, but I'm finding that when I type smb:/ in Konquerer it doesn't always list the Windows workgroup that I have.

 

I have to type smb:/workgroupname/ before I can actually browse it.

 

This has happened since I changed my workground from MDKGROUP to another workgroup name.

 

Does the smb take a while to update after you've rebooted the computer? Is there any way of speeding up this process so that it happens more quickly.

 

I used the wizard to install samba, but is there a GUI configuration tool that can be used, rather than going through the wizard each time?

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hrrmm

 

well try typing in smb:/192.168.0.1 (in otherwords smb:/the.ipadress.of.the.pc) u want to access

 

or after u change your workgroup name u may have to reset the smaba its self, so it can re-load your smb.conf file and read the new changes. (thats just a guess)

 

type "service smb restart" in console, u may have to bee root to do this

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Hi, thanks for that flightcrank.

 

I edited the file to set it, as it listed MDKGROUP instead of the one I had initially set. I restarted the service, and checked and nothing appeared. I put this down to that it had to wait a certain amount of time to automatically refresh itself.

 

I did find though that I could force it by typing smb://workgroupname/ and I could then see the computers, but obviously I just needed to be more patient for the browse list to update.

 

Feeling much more comfortable now I know a little more about what I'm doing :P

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I thought I will also join this discussion. I am also stuck up setting up my samba. My IP address: 129.15.209.213, and the samba port 901. I am using mandrake 10.0, with 2.6 kernel, and have installed samba server just now.

 

1) when I type http://localhost:901, I could see, samba home page, with missing images.

says can't open include/header.html, as well as in the bottom, can't open include/welcome.html.

 

2) When I typed http://129.15.209.213:901, it says "The document contains no Data".

 

3) My objective is to set this home computer on Linux (mandrake), and then access my files from my school where I can operate on Windows only. Also I am not sure whether I can add this home computer to the groups I see on the Network.

 

4) Also the firewall is off, and I chose to allow all users in the samba configure tool.

 

5) And Will I be able to transfer files from my school to this computer at home if I fix this problem, because the whole network (school) is behind the firewall.

 

Thanks for all who take time to read this.

 

GoSooner.

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I thought I will also join this discussion. I am also stuck up setting up my samba. My IP address: 129.15.209.213, and the samba port 901. I am using mandrake 10.0, with 2.6 kernel, and have installed samba server just now.

 

1) when I type http://localhost:901, I could see, samba home page, with missing images.

says can't open include/header.html, as well as in the bottom, can't open include/welcome.html.

 

2) When I typed http://129.15.209.213:901, it says "The document contains no Data".

 

3) My objective is to set this home computer on Linux (mandrake), and then access my files from my school where I can operate on Windows only. Also I am not sure whether I can add this home computer to the groups I see on the Network.

 

4) Also the firewall is off, and I chose to allow all users in the samba configure tool.

 

5) And Will I be able to transfer files from my school to this computer at home if I fix this problem, because the whole network (school) is behind the firewall.

 

Thanks for all who take time to read this.

 

GoSooner.

 

 

1. port 901 is used by swat, a samba configuration tool, ports 137, 138, 139, 445 are the ports used by samba so the other pc (supposed to be MS box or it may be linux also) can access to samba shared files

 

2. You can open port 901 if you have SWAT installed, that's maybe why it just return an error

 

3. how do you connect your home BOX from your school? if using dial-up from your school pc going to your home pc, your IP add should be in the same network.. if thru internet, please use ssh, or ftp, but do some security measures, remember that samba is supposed to share files with MSbox in your LAN

 

4. well, its ok to have no firewall as long as you are not exposed to the outside world, I mean, the WWW... if those ports are wide open , it can be exploited

 

5. if your school's firewall did not intend to block those ports that you will be using for outgoing connection, ftp, ssh.. samba wont work if you connect via internet going to your home, assuming it has an internet connection already.. so you may try to have an ssh server in your home or ftp, but i preferred ssh than ftp... just find an sftp client for windows that support GUI, ftp client, there are lots of it that you can find... again samba wont work if your connection is via internet. unless if your homeś PC is directly connected to your schoolś netwrk.

Edited by aioshin
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Thanks aioshin for the quick reply.

 

sorry, I am a newbie, yes I have the swat installed in my system, because I am a newbie, I acted smart by saying samba port as 901.

 

I suppose my computer is connected to my school network directly since I live on campus and I am in the LAN, but dont know which group I am in. I will find it out soon.

 

So what I understood from your reply is that Samba is meant to connect Linux based computer to a windows based computer provided both are in the same network.

 

But then why is it called Samba server? I thought anyone from any corner of the world can access my computer if I make this as a server. My intention is although primarily to share the files from home to school and vice versa, but also partially out of my curiousity and simple goal of making it as a server and be able to connect to it from any computer.

 

So I guess I had to use the ssh or wsftp which I am using already.

 

Thanks for your elaborate reply,

GoSooner.

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But then why is it called Samba server? I thought anyone from any corner of the world can access my computer if I make this as a server. My intention is although primarily to share the files from home to school and vice versa, but also partially out of my curiousity and simple goal of making it as a server and be able to connect to it from any computer.

 

So I guess I had to use the ssh or wsftp which I am using already.

 

Thanks for your elaborate reply,

GoSooner.

 

It is a samba server coz it can act like a server, I mean, you are right that you should be able to connect to it from any pc that belong to that network where your samba server belongs..while you dont need to have samba server installed if your goal is to access file to your MS BOX from you linux box, you can just use the konqueror and type smb://ip-of-the-host-pc , if its win98, the shared folder will appear automatically with-out prmpting any username and password, while in windows 2000 or XP, it will prompt a username and password, username that has the rights to access those share folder..

--its a server since windows pc acts as a client, so you can allow multiple simultaneous access into your pc (samba server) from different MSwindows host.. you can specify different folder with different users right in your samba, for security reason, so the same with win2k that you can allow a particular user to acces that certain folder, while other dont have access on it..

--

Edited by aioshin
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Okay, Now I got it. Again thanks for being elaborative. Now I had to stop trying samba to work. I thought there should be some way that I can work it out. After your reply, I understood what it is and why is it called as server. So I guess all servers like apache, samba, etc, all work the same.

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There are servers and there are servers as well as clients and clients. Samba allows file sharing with protocols that Windows networks use, networks of computers within a single Workgroup or Domain.

 

What you need to get clear about from your school is how their network is set up and how you can access from on or off campus. This is irrespective of whether you are using Windows, Linux, or Mac or anything else. Just because you can plug into an ethernet jack does not answer all the questions.

 

From your first post it does seem that you want to be able to have your school computer hook into your home computer. I feel pretty sure that your school doesn't want people to attach to and download files from their whole network, so they will have various networks and workgroups and domains with access restricted.

 

If your school computer and home computer can be part of the same workgroup or domain then Samba is your thing. Again check with your school network folks

 

Hope this isn't too confusing.

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Hi Polemicz

Yep, there are many workgroups and all are restricted for students with accounts only. some workgroups dont even allow student accounts/passwds. I was mistaken, I thought since the internet connection is T1/LAN and we are oncampus, I thought all are inside a single network. Thanks.

:thanks:

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