CMSC 691X – Summer 2002

Project By

Pravin D’Souza
What is Samba??
• Samba is an Open Source Suite, that provides
seamless file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients.
• Samba is freely available.
• With Samba, you can share a Linux filesystem
with Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT and vice versa.
• You can also share printers connected to either
Linux or a system with Windows 95, 98, 2000 or NT.
• Samba enables a Linux or Unix server to function
as a file server for client PCs running Windows
software.
What is SMB?
• SMB stands for – Server Message Block.
•It is a protocol by which a lot of PC-related
machines share files and printers and other
information such as lists of available files and
printers.
• Operating systems that support this natively
include Windows NT, OS/2, and Linux.

What is CIFS?
• CIFS – Common Internet File System is a
protocol that is basically an updated SMB.
Components of SMB
• smbd daemon: This provides the file and print services
to SMB clients such as Windows NT or other Linux or
Unix clients.
• smb.conf: This is the configuration file for smbd.
• nmbd daemon: This daemon provides NetBIOS
nameserving and browsing support.
• smbclient: This is an smb client program that implement
a simple FTP-like client on a Linux or Unix box.
• smbmount: This mounting program enables mounting
of server directories on a Linux or Unix box.
Continued…
• testparm: This utility is used to test the smb.conf
configuration file.
• smbstatus: This programs lists the current Samba
connections.
• SWAT: Swat allows a Samba administrator to configure
the smb.conf file via a Web browser.
•smbpasswd: This allows the user to change the password
used for their SMB sessions.
Installation and Setup
• The Samba Server package can be downloaded from the
Samba website.
• The file needs to be untared and then configured using a
./configure command in the source directory.
• Then the smb.conf file should be created. The smb.conf file
has three separate sections:
[global] : This section controls parameters for the entire
SMB server. It also provides default values for the other
sections.
Examples: workgroup = MYGROUP
server string = Samba Server
Continued…
hosts allow = 192.168.1 127.
printcap name = /etc/printcap
load printers = yes
guest account = pcguest
encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

[homes]: This section allows network clients to connect to

a user’s home directory without having an explicit entry in
the smb.conf file.
Examples:
[homes]
browseable = no
writeable = yes
Continued…
[printers]: This section is used to specify which
printers are available.
Examples:
[printers]
print ok = yes
printer name = lp_mine
path = /home/everyone

The testparm program helps in testing the smb.conf

file once it is configured.
Testing with a Linux Client:
# smbclient ‘//192.168.100.1/homes’ –U myuid

Testing with a Windows Client:

• A Linux computer shows up in Windows network
neighborhood.
• The name attached to ‘workgroup’ in the [global]
section shows up in the network neighborhood.
Sharing files and print services:
Example of directory or file share:
[jacksdir]
comment = Jack’s remote source code directory
path = usr/local/src
valid users = tackett
browseable = yes
public = no
writeable = yes

Example of printer sharing:

[vals_lp]
print ok =yes
printer name = lp_mine
path = /home/everyone
valid users = valerie, @devel
browseable = yes