Can't we all just get along

[luciano991]

Hello,

Linux newbie here.

Long time Windows user and professional IT support person.

I have an iMac running Leopard and a PC running XP Pro. I have no problem sharing files from the PC to the Mac on my LAN.

I have setup an older PC box with Debian. I want to use the Debian box as a file server. I have installed Samba and I have followed some directions I have found on the web for modifying the smb.conf file.

I can see my Debian Host from my iMac and from my XP box. And I can see the iMac and the XP box from my Debian Host. And I can browse shared resources on the XP box from my Debian Host as well as I have already mentioned from my iMac. I can browse to the iMac from the Debian host but i don't see any shared resources. I can browse to the iMac from the Windows machine but don't see any shared resources. I guess I should create some shared resources on the iMac. But I can connect.

So can you help me connect to the Debian box from the iMac and the XP box so I can use my Debian box as a backup and file server.

I selected File Server, Print Server, Desktop Environment, and Basic System during Debian setup.

Looking forward to your wisdom.

All the best,

Luciano

[genesus]

Debian works really well as a file server once you get it setup, so don't get discouraged. First, post your smb.conf, so we can see if there are any glaring abnormalities. Also, make sure that you restart the samba daemon every time you update your config file, with:

/etc/init.d/samba stop
/etc/init.d/samba start

Or you can reload the config without stopping and starting the service:

/etc/init.d/samba reload


Here is a copy of the smb.conf at the debian file server I've set up for my company, it works well with all of the xp boxes at our office, and also works as a print/fax server for our HP 3030 all-in-one

[global]
   workgroup = cics

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
   server string = %h server (Samba %v)

# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable its WINS Server
;   wins support = yes

# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
;   wins server = w.x.y.z

# This will prevent nmbd to search for NetBIOS names through DNS.
   dns proxy = no

# What naming service and in what order should we use to resolve host names
# to IP addresses
;   name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast

#### Networking ####

# The specific set of interfaces / networks to bind to
# This can be either the interface name or an IP address/netmask;
# interface names are normally preferred
;   interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 eth0

# Only bind to the named interfaces and/or networks; you must use the
# 'interfaces' option above to use this.
# It is recommended that you enable this feature if your Samba machine is
# not protected by a firewall or is a firewall itself.  However, this
# option cannot handle dynamic or non-broadcast interfaces correctly.
;   bind interfaces only = true



#### Debugging/Accounting ####

# This tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m

# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
   max log size = 1000

# If you want Samba to only log through syslog then set the following
# parameter to 'yes'.
;   syslog only = no

# We want Samba to log a minimum amount of information to syslog. Everything
# should go to /var/log/samba/log.{smbd,nmbd} instead. If you want to log
# through syslog you should set the following parameter to something higher.
   syslog = 0

# Do something sensible when Samba crashes: mail the admin a backtrace
   panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d


####### Authentication #######

# "security = user" is always a good idea. This will require a Unix account
# in this server for every user accessing the server. See
# /usr/share/doc/samba-doc/htmldocs/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/ServerType.html
# in the samba-doc package for details.
;   security = user

# You may wish to use password encryption.  See the section on
# 'encrypt passwords' in the smb.conf(5) manpage before enabling.
   encrypt passwords = true

# If you are using encrypted passwords, Samba will need to know what
# password database type you are using.  
   passdb backend = tdbsam

   obey pam restrictions = yes

;   guest account = nobody
   invalid users = root

# This boolean parameter controls whether Samba attempts to sync the Unix
# password with the SMB password when the encrypted SMB password in the
# passdb is changed.
;   unix password sync = no

# For Unix password sync to work on a Debian GNU/Linux system, the following
# parameters must be set (thanks to Ian Kahan <<kahan@informatik.tu-muenchen.de> for
# sending the correct chat script for the passwd program in Debian Sarge).
   passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
   passwd chat = *Enter\snew\sUNIX\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\sUNIX\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .

# This boolean controls whether PAM will be used for password changes
# when requested by an SMB client instead of the program listed in
# 'passwd program'. The default is 'no'.
;   pam password change = no

+########## Domains ###########

# Is this machine able to authenticate users. Both PDC and BDC
# must have this setting enabled. If you are the BDC you must
# change the 'domain master' setting to no
#
;   domain logons = yes
#
# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the location of the user's profile directory
# from the client point of view)
# The following required a [profiles] share to be setup on the
# samba server (see below)
;   logon path = \\%N\profiles\%U
# Another common choice is storing the profile in the user's home directory
;   logon path = \\%N\%U\profile

# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the location of a user's home directory (from the client
# point of view)
;   logon drive = H:
;   logon home = \\%N\%U

# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the script to run during logon. The script must be stored
# in the [netlogon] share
# NOTE: Must be store in 'DOS' file format convention
;   logon script = logon.cmd

# This allows Unix users to be created on the domain controller via the SAMR
# RPC pipe.  The example command creates a user account with a disabled Unix
# password; please adapt to your needs
; add user script = /usr/sbin/adduser --quiet --disabled-password --gecos "" %u

########## Printing ##########

# If you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
;   load printers = yes

# lpr(ng) printing. You may wish to override the location of the
# printcap file
;   printing = bsd
;   printcap name = /etc/printcap

# CUPS printing.  See also the cupsaddsmb(8) manpage in the
# cupsys-client package.
;   printing = cups
;   printcap name = cups

# When using [print$], root is implicitly a 'printer admin', but you can
# also give this right to other users to add drivers and set printer
# properties
;   printer admin = @ntadmin


############ Misc ############

# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
# of the machine that is connecting
;   include = /home/samba/etc/smb.conf.%m

# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
# See smb.conf(5) and /usr/share/doc/samba-doc/htmldocs/speed.html
# for details
# You may want to add the following on a Linux system:
#         SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
   socket options = TCP_NODELAY

# The following parameter is useful only if you have the linpopup package
# installed. The samba maintainer and the linpopup maintainer are
# working to ease installation and configuration of linpopup and samba.
;   message command = /bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/linpopup "%f" "%m" %s; rm %s' &

# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. If this
# machine will be configured as a BDC (a secondary logon server), you
# must set this to 'no'; otherwise, the default behavior is recommended.
;   domain master = auto

# Some defaults for winbind (make sure you're not using the ranges
# for something else.)
;   idmap uid = 10000-20000
;   idmap gid = 10000-20000
;   template shell = /bin/bash

#======================= Share Definitions =======================

[homes]
   comment = Home Directories
   browseable = yes

# By default, the home directories are exported read-only. Change next
# parameter to 'yes' if you want to be able to write to them.
   writable = yes

# File creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create files with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
   create mask = 0700

# Directory creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create dirs. with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
   directory mask = 0700

# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
# (you need to configure Samba to act as a domain controller too.)
;[netlogon]
;   comment = Network Logon Service
;   path = /home/samba/netlogon
;   guest ok = yes
;   writable = no
;   share modes = no

# Un-comment the following and create the profiles directory to store
# users profiles (see the "logon path" option above)
# (you need to configure Samba to act as a domain controller too.)
# The path below should be writable by all users so that their
# profile directory may be created the first time they log on
;[profiles]
;   comment = Users profiles
;   path = /home/samba/profiles
;   guest ok = yes
;   browseable = yes
;   create mask = 0600
;   directory mask = 0700

[printers]
   comment = All Printers
   browseable = no
   path = /tmp
   printable = yes
   public = no
   writable = no
   create mode = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
   comment = Printer Drivers
   path = /var/lib/samba/printers
   browseable = yes
   read only = yes
   guest ok = no
# Uncomment to allow remote administration of Windows print drivers.
# Replace 'ntadmin' with the name of the group your admin users are
# members of.
;   write list = root, @ntadmin

# A sample share for sharing your CD-ROM with others.
;[cdrom]
;   comment = Samba server's CD-ROM
;   writable = no
;   locking = no
;   path = /cdrom
;   public = yes

# The next two parameters show how to auto-mount a CD-ROM when the
#	cdrom share is accesed. For this to work /etc/fstab must contain
#	an entry like this:
#
#       /dev/scd0   /cdrom  iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user   0 0
#
# The CD-ROM gets unmounted automatically after the connection to the
#
# If you don't want to use auto-mounting/unmounting make sure the CD
#	is mounted on /cdrom
#
;   preexec = /bin/mount /cdrom
;   postexec = /bin/umount /cdrom

[allusers]
  comment = All Users
  path = /home/shares/allusers
  valid users = @users
  force group = users 
  create mask = 0660
  directory mask = 0771
  writable = yes

[luciano991]

Thank you very much for the reply and for the encouragement as well. I was also intrigued by the possibility of sharing my Pixma MP780 All-in-One as well.

I am attaching my smb.conf file as you requested. I reviewed yours and made some changes in mine but to no avail. I also followed your instructions for restarting the samba server.

I'll be keeping the faith.

Thanks again.

Luciano

PS I had to change the name of smb.conf to smb.txt as it would not upload otherwise.

[luciano991]

Hello,

Well maybe not so dumb for a newbie. I got to wondering why I could see everything from the Linux box but couldn't log on to it. I theorized that perhaps Samba was not aware of the user names and passwords I had set up as users on the Linux system.So I found documentation, added the universal user name and password I had set up for file sharing and now all is well.

smbpasswd -a username and set the password at the prompts.

I would still like to know more about printer sharing. Should I add this line as suggested by the documentation I found?

Printcap name = lpstat
Load printers = yes
Printing = cups

For universal sharing on the LAN should I add a section like this:

[Public]
# A public directory, usable by all. Note that it has
# write access to the directory public.

[public]
path = /usr/somewhere/else/public
public = yes
only guest = yes
writable = yes
printable = no

Or should I just leave well enough alone?

Again, Can you give me soup to nuts on getting the printer working?

Greatly appreciated.

Mark

[genesus]

The section that you just posted looks like it should work, but for some reason should work and do work are things that need to be played around with in Samba. Also make sure that you set up sharing in cups setup, i.e. point your browser to localhost:631. This way you can use the printer over the internet as well and not just the local network. It's nice to send all of my prints from my home computer to the office computer by just clicking file/print, or M-x print-buffer for me

You will have to play with the options a little bit, but once setup it should work flawlessly, once setup.

Please note, when windows shares a printer, the computer connecting when adding a printer will automatically download and install the print driver from the print server, the computer from which the printer is shared. For some reason my HP 3030 did not work this way, but each client computer had to download the HP driver from HP and install. I just map the network printer for the windows clients from the add printer wizard in the control panel and keep a copy of the driver on the server. When the wizard asks for driver location, give the the location on the debian server.

I'll check back later on to see if there are any more hitches, or if I can help a little more with printer setup. Hell if you already got samba working you should definitely add print sharing to it.

Gotta get back to work now.

Remember, if your printer is working under cups it can be shared with samba

[luciano991]

Thanks so much for the help. I'll keep you posted.

Luciano