Home News Linux Community Learn Linux Directory Jobs

Home Learn Linux Linux Tutorials Easy Samba Setup

Easy Samba Setup

If you are either a power home user or you are in a business environment, you know the importance of

machines being able to see one another. Recently I did an article about this very topic ("Sharing Files &

Folders Between Linux, Mac, and Windows") which skimmed this topic, showing how simple it is to allow

these different operating systems to see one another - with the help of Samba. But that article didn't dig

too deeply into Samba itself. That article was more of a "let's see how we can do this quickly and easily"

tutorial.

This time around I'll focus more on Samba and how it is installed and configured to allow for the sharing

of files and folders. For this article, we will look at the smb.conf configuration file and how it is set up and

how to create new shares and even share printers. You will be using a text editor and a few commands.

So get your fingers ready to type.

Installation

Installing Samba is really quite simple. Since we are going to be dealing with the command line, let's

install Samba in the same way. So open up your favorite terminal window and prepare to install.

All of the installation commands will be issued as either the root use or by using the sudo command

Whether you use su or sudo will depend upon which distribution you are using. If you are using Fedora (or

a Fedora-like distribution), you will su to the root user. If you are using Ubuntu (or a Ubuntu-like

distribution), you will use sudo.

Within the terminal window, issue the command sudo apt-get install samba smbfs. If you are using

Fedora that command would be yum install samba smbfs. Once Samba is installed, it is time to start

configuring.

Configuration

There is only one file you need concern yourself with - /etc/samba/smb.conf. Out of the box, this file might

be rather daunting. I always like to start from scratch, so I do the following (from command line):

1. sudo mv /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak

2. sudo rm /etc/samba/smb.conf

3. sudo touch /etc/samba/smb.conf

The above simply makes a backup of the smb.conf file, removes the original, and then creates a new,

empty smb.conf file.

Before we actually begin creating our smb.conf file, let's take a look at how this file is structured. The

smb.conf file is broken down in to sections, with each section beginning with [NAME] (Where NAME is the

name of the section). Typical sections are:

[global] - This is the section that contains configuration options used in all sections.

[share] - This section will define a share name.

[printers] - This section will define a shared printer.

Within each section will be directives that define various aspects of a configuration. Let's take a look at a

minimal (but useful) smb.conf file.

[global]

netb ios name = NETBIOS_NAME

workgroup = WORKGROUP

security = user

encrypt passwords = yes

smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

interfaces = 192.168.1.1/8

Upcoming Training Courses

LF342 Linux Network Management

20 Jan 23 Jan - Virtual

DETAILS

LF202 Introduction to Linux

27 Jan 30 Jan - Virtual

DETAILS

LF320 Linux Kernel Internals and Debugging

03 Feb 07 Feb - Virtual

DETAILS

View All Upcoming Courses

Tw eets about "@linuxfoundation OR @lf_training OR #linux"

Latest Tutorials

Everything You Need to Know to Install SteamOS On Your Very

Ow n Computer

Benchmarking the ODroid XU: A Fast-Clocked Quad A15 ARM

Machine

How to Access Tw itter from the Command Line on Linux

Troubleshooting in the Command Line: Tips for Linux Beginners

How to Start a Program Automatically in Linux Desktop

Sign Up For the Linux.com Newsletter

Tweet

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 00:00 Jack Wallen | Exclusive

search linux.com

Linux Foundation Training Events Video

[SHARE_NAME]

comment = COMMENT

path = /PATH/TO/SHARE

writeable = yes

create mask = 0770

force create mode = 0770

locking = yes

[printers]

comment = COMMENT

path = /var/spool/samba

guest ok = Yes

printab le = Yes

use client driver = Yes

browseable = No

NOTE: Everything in bold is system specific.

There are a few things we must touch on with the above configuration. Let's go line-by-line as needed

(many of the lines should be self-explanatory).

security = user: This line defines the method of authentication Samba will use. I have always found user

to be the most reliable. Samba has five different methods:

user: Each user will have an account on the machine hosting Samba.

server: This mode is not used anymore - it defines an external authentication server.

ADS: Active Directory mode.

Domain: This type is a centrally located account which is shared between domain controllers.

share: Clients will authenticate against a particular share on the Samba server.

interfaces = 192.168.1.1/8: This line will dictate the addresses that are allowed to connect to your shares.

This will be specified by your network topology.

create mask = 0770/force create mode = 0770: These lines dictate the permissions given to anything

created, by users, within the share. In this case the clients will get read/write access to all files except

those belonging to "other." Without these lines, clients will have trouble creating files/folders in the share.

locking = yes: This is critical when sharing folders as it will create a lock file for any open file. When a file

has an associated lock file other users can not open that file for writing. This prevents users from

overwriting changes at the same time, causing file corruption.

use client driver = Yes: This line dictates that Samba is not required to share out drivers for clients. If you

are on a larger network then you might want to share out drivers. Otherwise the drivers for the shared

printer will have to be installed on the client machines.

Once you have that file created, save it and then restart Samba (with a command like sudo

/etc/init.d/samba restart). Of course you're not done yet.

Adding Users

If you do not add users to your Samba installation, those users will not be able to authenticate, which will

keep them from browing/using the shares. In order to add a user you have to issue two commands:

sudo smbpasswd -L -a USERNAME

and

sudo smbpasswd -L -e USERNAME

Where USERNAME is the actual username on the system.

The first command will add the user and a password for the user (you will be prompted to enter the new

user password after you enter the command). The second command enables the user for Samba.

Now your users are ready to authenticate and use Samba. You can go back to the original article I

mentioned (at the beginning of this tutorial) to see how to connect to the server from both Mac and

Windows.

Printers

A note about printers. In some instances Samba will not add the /var/spool/samba directory that is used

for printer spooling. Check to see if this exists with the command ls /var/spool/. If you see samba there,

you are good to go. If not, issue the following commands:

sudo mkdir /var/spool/samba

sudo chmod 777 /var/spool/samba

That should do it. Make sure the printer you wish to share actually works on the local Linux machine and it

should be shared out and ready to go for your clients.

Latest Software News

The Case for a Compulsory Bug Bounty

Fedora 20 Released

GCC Compiler Receives ARM big.LITTLE Tuning Support

Distribution Release: Zentyal 3.3

Early Ubuntu 14.04 Tests Show Some Performance Changes

Final Thoughts

Samba is not as difficult to set up as most assume. In fact, once you get the hang of it you will find it

easier to share out files and folders with Samba than it is with any other operating system.

Jack Wallen

WHO WE ARE ?

The Linux Foundation is a non-profit

consortium dedicated to the grow th of

Linux.

More About the foundation...

Frequent Questions

Join / Linux Training / Board

EXPLORE

Answ ers

Blogs

Forums

Directory

STAY CURRENT

Netbooks

Cloud Computing

Enterprise

Embedded & Mobile

ABOUT LINUX.COM

How to Participate

Contact / About

Advertise

Privacy / Terms / Editorial Policy

Linux.com 2012 Linux.com. All rights reserved.

The Linux Foundation Symbol is a trademark of the Linux Foundation.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Post Comment

Comments

Name :

Email :

Comment :

Subscribe to Comments

13 Febwajaheth :

I cant use samba service in linux ? what is the problem

Report Reply

30 Sepusenix :

Good article, but the Final Thoughts - samba isa filesystem, not an operating

system.

Report Reply

03 DecBill :

Jack, You look so nice with your tatoos and your strong muscles. Have you been

working out? How do you have time to write all of these awesome geeky blogs

when you have such an awesome image to maintain? -Will

Report Reply