Samba For Dummies®

Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Computers 101

Windows 101

UNIX 101

Linux

Bottom line

Conventions Used in This Book

Typing commands

Special keystrokes

Opening Windows and menus

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting Ready to Dance

Part II: Configuring Samba

Part III: Advanced Samba Techniques

Part IV: Troubleshooting Samba

Part V: Maintaining Your Samba Server

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Part VII: Appendixes

On the CD

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go From Here

Part I: Getting Ready to Dance

Chapter 1: Introducing Samba

What Is Samba?

Where did Samba come from?

Samba is free, open-source software

Samba runs on Linux . . . or UNIX . . . or FreeBSD . . .

Is Free Software any Good?

Some free software that works great

Who supports free software?

What Can Samba Do?

Samba can share a printer

Samba can share files

Samba can share Zip drives and other backup devices

How Do I Use Samba?

You already know the main tool: a Web browser

You might consider a tool for Windows

Linux has a special tool

You can use a command line, too

On What Sort of Server Do I Install Samba?

Where Is Samba?

On this book's CD

On your server's CD

On the Internet

Chapter 2: Installing the Samba Server

Figuring Out Whether Samba Is Already Installed

Installing Samba with Linux

With Red Hat

With Mandrake

With Caldera OpenLinux

With SuSE

With Slackware

Where Else Can You Get Samba?

On your Linux CD

On the Web

Using Linux Installation and Decompression Utilities

Using GNU tar

Using gzip

Working with tar

Installing Binaries

With Red Hat Package Manager (RPM)

With tar

Installing the Source Code

Choosing compile-time options

Compiling Samba

Part II: Configuring Samba

Chapter 3: Testing and Configuring the Installation

Um, What Did I Just Install?

The core components: smbd and nmbd

The test tools: testparm, smbstatus, smbclient, nmblookup, and smbpasswd

The advanced utilities: smbmount, smbclient, and smbtar

Testing the Samba Installation

Checking smb.conf with testparm

Starting Samba

Testing with smbstatus

Testing the connection with smbclient

Checking the network with nmblookup

Stopping Samba

Making Samba Run Automatically

Running Samba continually from boot time

Running Samba when needed with inetd

Chapter 4: Configuring the Windows Clients

Configuring Windows 95/98 Clients

Adding TCP/IP

Configuring TCP/IP

Enabling the SMB client

Identifying the Windows 95/98 Client

Connecting to Samba's shared drives and printers

Configuring Windows NT Clients

Configuring the Network control panel

Adding TCP/IP

Configuring TCP/IP

Connecting to shares and printers

Configuring Windows 2000 Clients

Installing the required Microsoft networking components

Configuring general TCP/IP settings

Configuring advanced TCP/IP settings

Configuring network identification settings

Connecting to shares

Connecting to printers

Deciding Whether to Use Encrypted or Nonencrypted Passwords

Chapter 5: Administering Samba with Web-based Tools

Steering Samba with SWAT

Installing and configuring SWAT

Using SWAT

A SWAT example: Adding a share

A Maximum-Strength Web Tool: Webmin

Installing and configuring Webmin

Starting Webmin

The Samba Share Manager page

A Webmin example: Adding a share

Chapter 6: Using Other Samba Administration Tools

Smbedit, a Windows-Based Tool

Installing and configuring Smbedit

Using Smbedit

Adding a share in Smbedit

Other useful parts of Smbedit

Linuxconf

Using Linuxconf

A Linuxconf example: Adding a share

The Command Line

Getting to a command line

Vi

Pico

Emacs

Chapter 7: Adding Users, Groups, and Printers at the Operating System Level

About Users and Groups

Adding Users and Groups with GUI Tools

Adding users and groups with Linuxconf

Adding users with Caldera OpenLinux tools

Adding Users and Groups at the Command Line

Useradd

Deleting a user with userdel

Groupadd

About Printers

Adding Printers Using GUI Tools

Adding a local printer with printtool

Adding a remote printer with printtool

Using printtool to test and properly configure your printer

Adding printers with Caldera OpenLinux tools

Adding Printers at the Command Line

Editing the printcap file

A safari through the /etc/printcap file

Chapter 8: Sharing Resources

Making Directories Available in Linux

Making directories in Linux available for a single user

Making directories in Linux available for a group of users

Making directories in Linux available for everyone

Sharing Directories

A home directory for each user

Some special user shares

Guest directories

A shared directory for several users

Sharing Media Devices

Configuring devices in Linux

Sharing a CD drive

Sharing a Zip drive

Adding a special device with SWAT

Sharing Printers with Samba

Sharing all your printers

Modifying the printers with SWAT

Sharing a specific printer

Sharing a restricted, specific printer

A few other printer parameters

Testing your Samba printer with smbclient

Making Windows 95/98 automatically load a printer driver

Chapter 9: Samba and Passwords

Adjusting Windows Clients for Unencrypted Passwords

Windows 95/98

Windows NT

Windows 2000

Making Samba Use Encrypted Passwords

Creating the password file

Configuring Samba to use encrypted passwords

Populating the password file

Testing encrypted passwords

Adding Encryption with the update encrypted Parameter

Creating the smbpasswd file

Modifying the smb.conf file to gather passwords

Changing your network to encrypted passwords

Making Samba Work with Password Servers

Synchronizing Samba and Linux Passwords

One Other Samba Password Parameter

Part III: Advanced Samba Techniques

Chapter 10: Increasing Samba Performance

Measuring Performance

Measuring your server's performance

Measuring Samba's performance

Changing Your Server's Hardware

Do you have enough RAM?

How are your hard drives?

Are your network cards (NICs) up to snuff?

Tweaking Samba Parameters

Oplocks

Level2 oplocks

Sync commands

Socket options

Chapter 11: Working with Complex Networks

Working with the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)

Making Samba use a WINS server

Configuring Samba as a WINS server

Configuring Samba as a WINS proxy

Configuring Samba to use DNS to resolve WINS queries

Setting up Subnets and Browsing

Setting subnet parameters for Samba

Understanding browser elections

Working with other subnets

Chapter 12: Working with Domains

What's the Difference between Domains and Workgroups?

Using Samba as a Domain Controller for Windows 95/98 Clients

Setting up the Samba server as a Windows 95/98 domain controller

Setting up the Windows 95/98 client

Setting up permanent drive mappings and roaming profiles

Having Samba Join a Windows NT Domain

Letting the primary domain controller know

about the Samba server

Setting up the Samba server

Using Samba as a Windows NT Primary Domain Controller

Getting the version of Samba that acts as an NT primary domain controller

Setting up the Samba server as a Windows NT domain controller

Setting up the Windows NT client

Windows 2000 Domains

Part IV: Troubleshooting Samba

Chapter 13: Troubleshooting Samba with Linux and Windows

Troubleshooting with Linux Utilities

Checking your network connections with ifconfig

Contacting a remote computer with ping

Checking who's connected with netstat

Resetting a user's password with passwd

Checking across routers with traceroute

Testing your printer with lptest

Checking Linux Rights

Checking Some Linux Files

The /etc/hosts file

The /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny files

The /etc/passwd file

The /etc/services file

The /etc/inetd.conf file

Reviewing Linux Logs

Troubleshooting with Windows Utilities

Saving your shoes with telnet

Ping -- it's here, but it might challenge you

Checking the IP address with ipconfig

Checking the routers with tracert

Checking NetBIOS resources with nbtstat

Using netstat to check network statistics

Using the Network Control Panel in Windows 95/98

The Configuration tab

The Identification tab

Working with the Network Control Panel in Windows NT

The Identification tab

The Services tab

The Protocols tab

The Adapters tab

The Bindings tab

Finding Network Information in Windows 2000

Checking the computer name and workgroup

Exploring Windows 2000's Network control panel components

Chapter 14: Using Samba to Troubleshoot

Testing Samba at the Linux Level

Is Samba running? Checking with the ps command

How does Samba start?

Testing Samba with its own Diagnostic Utilities

Testparm

Smbstatus

Smbclient

Nmblookup

Testprns

Reviewing Samba Logs

Samba parameters used for logging

Using log files

Setting the debug level permanently

Temporarily changing the debug level

Part V: Maintaining Your Samba Server

Chapter 15: Backing Up the Server

Choosing a Device

Floppy-disk drives

Zip drives

CDR/CDRW

Internal hard-disk drives

Tape drives

Choosing a Method

Using software you already have on your Linux workstation

Using other software

Configuring Your Backup System

How often?

Full or partial backups?

Do you need compression?

Backup media storage

Using pen and paper

Testing your backup

Restoring Your System with a Backup

The order can be important

You only need to recover a few files

Your system boots, but you need to recover

one or more partitions

Your system won't boot

Chapter 16: Securing Your Samba Server

Passwords -- The Keys to Your Server

Keeping passwords safe

Updating and synchronizing passwords

Checking Your Users, Groups, and Permissions

Checking permissions with ls -l

Changing permissions with chmod

Changing owners with chown

Changing groups with chgrp

Checking for files with suid and sgid permissions

Checking Your Configuration Files

The password files

The group files

The valid services

Checking processes started in the /etc/rc.d directories

Login files

Logging Commands and sulog

Security Tools

Giving partial root access with sudo

Checking for good passwords

Improving network security

Checking your system's security

Checking for intruders

Physical Security

Protecting your server

Protecting the server's power

Disabling booting from the floppy

Disabling rebooting with Ctrl+Alt+Delete

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 17: Almost Ten Common Errors

Editing the Wrong smb.conf File

Using the Wrong Password Encryption Scheme

Accessing the Wrong Network

Accessing the Wrong Workgroup

Using the Wrong Network Protocol for Clients

Assigning the Wrong Rights

Samba Isn't Running

Using the Wrong User Names

Associating Users with the Wrong Group

Chapter 18: Slightly More Than Ten Troubleshooting Steps

Check Hub Lights

Check the Windows NIC with ipconfig

Check the Linux NIC with ifconfig

Test the Network with ping

Make Sure Samba Is Running

Identify the Correct smb.conf File with testparm

Check Samba's Status

Check the Server with smbclient

Check the Network Neighborhood with nmblookup

Check Connectivity from Different Clients

Connect as Different Users

At the Samba server

At the Windows client

If a specific user can't connect

For Further Help

Check the man pages

Check the documentation files

Check the Samba Web pages

Chapter 19: Ten Good Practices

Keep Up to Date

Plan For Growth

Plan Your Server Changes

Keep a Backup smb.conf File

Keep a Paper Logbook of Your Server

Join Your Local Linux Users Group

Educate Your Users

Back Up Your Samba Server

Have a Redundant Server

Check Your Security

Chapter 20: More Than Ten Samba Options You Might Need Down the Road

Using Samba Variables

Handling Failed User Logons with map to guest

Setting User and Password Options

Password level

Username level

Add user script

Delete user script

Setting File and Directory Options

Create mask

Force create mode

Directory mask

Force directory mode

Max disk size

Dont descend

Map system

Map hidden

Map archive

Finding Network Resources with name resolve order

Filename Handling

Strip dot

Case sensitive

Preserve case

Short preserve case

Mangle case

Mangling char

Hide dot files

Veto files

Delete veto files

Hide files

Mangled names

Mangled map

Handling WinPopup Messages with the message command Parameter

Using Samba in a NIS Environment

Homedir map

NIS homedir

Part VII: Appendixes

Appendix A: Installing Network Hardware

Network Interface Cards

ISA or PCI?

Card speed

Installing cards

Configuring NICs for Linux servers

Configuring NICs on Windows clients

Network Cabling

Crossover cables

A word of caution

Hubs

Hub speed

Hub LEDs

Connecting two hubs

Switched hubs

Advanced Network Hardware

Repeaters

Bridges

Routers

Brouters

Appendix B: Upgrading Samba

Planning Ahead and Telling Your Users

Backing up Your Configuration

Stopping Samba

System V servers

BSD servers

Upgrading with a Packaged Version

Unzip the Samba package

Installing the package

Upgrading by Compiling Samba

Getting the source code

Specifying compile options

Compiling Samba

Reverting back

Migrating Samba to a New Server

Verifying that the Upgrade Worked

Running testparm to locate smb.conf

Moving the backed-up configuration files to the right places

Starting Samba and testing it

Appendix C: Internet Resources

Samba Sites

Samba mailing lists

Samba newsgroup

Sun Solaris Sites

Solaris Central

Sunfreeware

Solaris newsgroups

GNU/Linux Sites

Linux.com

Red Hat

Caldera

Linuxtoday

Tunelinux

Linux Gazette

Linux Journal

LinuxLinks

GNU/Linux newsgroups

FreeBSD Sites

FreeBSD Rocks

FreeBSDzine

DaemonNews

FreeBSD mailing lists

FreeBSD newsgroups

NetBSD Sites

DaemonNews

NetBSD mailing lists

NetBSD newsgroup

Open-Source Sites

GNU

Slashdot

Freshmeat

General UNIX Links

Caida network tools

DNS Resources directory

Appendix D: GNU General Public License

Appendix E: Writing Scripts

A Basic Script

Making it executable

Putting your script on the right path or calling it directly

Passing an Argument to a Script

Variables

Conditions

Comments

Uses for Scripts

Backups

System maintenance

Appendix F: About the CD

What's On It?

Samba 2.0.6

Webmin

Linuxconf

Smbedit

System Requirements

Software

Hardware

How to Use the CD

For your Linux server

For your Windows client

Problems?

Index

Book Registration Information