Install & Configure Samba Server on Linux (RHEL7 /

CentOS7)

August 14, 2016

This Tutorial describes you the Step by Step procedure to install and configure the SAMBA
server and client on Linux (RHEL7/CentOS7).

Topics involved:

What is Samba?
Uses of Samba?

Samba requirements

How to install the Samba server packages?

How to configure Samba server?

How to start the samba service?

How to add a user to samba?

How to verify the samba share access?

What is Samba?

Samba provides a stable and highly compatible file and print sharing service that allows a
Linux node to act as a client, a member server, or even a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) or a
member of an Active Directory (AD) service on Microsoft-based networks. Samba interacts
with Microsoft's CIFS built on the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol.

Uses of Samba?

1. As a File Server like NFS to share the files but across OS (linux to windows).

2. As a WINS [Windows Internet Name Server] or NBNS server

3. As a PDC [SAM - Security Access Module]

4. As a Print Server using CUPS

Samba details

Package : samba*

Port no : 137,138,139

Script : /etc/init.d/smb

Service name : smb

Daemon : smbd

Configuration file : /etc/samba/smb.conf

Use the following instructions to install and configure the SAMBA Server and Client on Linux
(Centos7/RHEL7).

Lab Setup:

RHEL7 or CentOS7 installed server - 2 Nos.

Network enabled

Firewall and selinux are disabled

Hostnames : linux1 (server) and linux2 (client)

Prerequisites:

1. Make sure both server Linux1(192.168.2.61) and client(192.168.2.62) are reachable.

2. Make an entry of each host in /etc/hosts for name resolution or Configure it in DNS to resolve
the IP, if you use server name instead of IP address. Read also how to configure DNS Server on
RHEL7 But we use IP Address for in this article.

Server end configuration

Login into the server Linux1 (192.168.2.61) and do the following steps to install and configure
Samba Server.

Install the Samba server packages

Install the appropriate Samba packages "samba*" using yum to avoid dependencies issue. if
yum is not configured, please refer the link Yum Configuration on Linux.

[root@linux1 ~]# yum -y install samba*

Configure the Samba server

Samba server main configuration file name is smb.conf which is located in /etc/samba/. It has
many directives which can be used for each purpose.

Assume that, we are going to configure the samba server to share the /mnt directory. Lets edit
the main configuration file.

[root@linux1 ~]# vi /etc/samba/smb.conf

Just go to the last line and append the below entries into the file.

[mnt]

comment = Samba test share

path = /mnt
Note : By default samba doesn't allow to write any data. If you want the share to be write-able
mode, add the below directive as "yes" and change the file permission (chmod 777 /mnt) to
write-able. If file permission is not set to write, samba will allow to write the data, but linux file
permission wont allow to write, so you will face an issue as permission denied.

writeable = yes

Finally it should looks like below

[mnt]

comment = Samba test share

path = /mnt

writeable = yes

Verify the configuration file

Always after changing the configuration file, use the command "testparm" to check the
changes for any syntax errors.

[root@linux1 ~]# testparm

Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf

rlimit_max: increasing rlimit_max (1024) to minimum Windows limit (16384)

Processing section "[homes]"

Processing section "[mnt]"

Loaded services file OK.

Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE

Press enter to see a dump of your service definitions

# Global parameters

[global]

        workgroup = MYGROUP

        server string = Samba Server Version %v

        security = USER

        log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m

        max log size = 50

        idmap config * : backend = tdb

[homes]

        comment = Home Directories

        read only = No

        browseable = No

[mnt]

        comment = Samba test share

        path = /mnt

        read only = No
If you dont have any syntax errors, you will get the output as "Loaded services file OK." If you get
error as unknown parameter, please use the correct word.

Enable and Start the Samba service

[root@linux1 ~]# systemctl start smb

[root@linux1 ~]# systemctl enable smb

Ensure the samba port listening or not.

[root@linux1 ~]# netstat -lt | grep netbios

Add a valid linux user to samba

Samba need a additional password to provide the access as well as that user should be a
valid linux user, which means user should be exist in the server. if not, create a new user using
useradd command and add the user to the samba as below. It will prompt to enter the
additional new password specially for samba.

[root@linux1 ~]# smbpasswd -a user1

New SMB password:

Retype new SMB password:

Added user user1.

Verify the access locally and remotely

Always first check the access locally and finally check from client end. It will be easy to
troubleshoot where the problem exists when the problem occurs to access the samba shares
locally or over the network.

Verify the access from samba server end

Use the below samba client utility (smbclient) in which specify the samba server address (-L
192.168.2.61) and user (-U user1). It will prompt to enter the password of the user added to the
samba.

[root@linux1 ~]# smbclient -L 192.168.2.61 -U user1

Enter user1's password:

Domain=[MYGROUP] OS=[Windows 6.1] Server=[Samba 4.2.10]

        Sharename       Type      Comment

        ---------       ----      -------

        mnt             Disk      Samba test share

        IPC$            IPC       IPC Service (Samba Server Version 4.2.10)

        user1           Disk      Home Directories

Domain=[MYGROUP] OS=[Windows 6.1] Server=[Samba 4.2.10]

        Server               Comment

        ---------            -------

        Workgroup            Master

        ---------            -------

        WORKGROUP            LEARNITGUIDE

If we get the output as above, then we can access the samba server successfully.

Verify the access from samba client

Execute the same command from the client to ensure the same is working from network also.
We should get the same output as we got locally.

[root@linux2 ~]# smbclient -L 192.168.2.61 -U user1

That's all the installation and configuration of Samba server on Linux (RHEL7 / CentOS7).

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