Basic Samba Setup

Samba is a linux program that allows you to share files and media between linux / mac / windows computers. Below is a brief how to guide to set up 2 shares, one globally accessable and the other restricted to certain users

First we must install all necessary software

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common python-glade2 system-config-samba

Now create the 2 folders to serve the 2 new shares that we will set up next

sudo mkdir /opt/secure sudo mkdir /opt/share

Now we need to configure the samba server.

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

When the text editer opens remove all the text and replace it with the following, saving it when done

[global] workgroup = WORKGROUP realm = WORKGROUP server string = SERVER %v netbios name = SERVER encrypt passwords = yes security = USER map to guest = bad user dns proxy = no #======== Share Definitions ========== [upload] path = /opt/share browsable =yes writable = yes guest ok = yes read only = no [secured] path = /opt/secure valid users = john guest ok = no writable = yes browsable = yes

This assumes you have a user john, change it to suit any users you have/will be giving access to. Everyone will be able to access the upload folder but only john will be able to access the secured folder. Now we need to set a password for john (Samba keeps its own password database)

sudo smbpasswd -a john

If you ever need to edit johns password use the following

sudo smbpasswd john

Or to remove the user john from samba

sudo smbpasswd -x john

Now restart samba and once it has restarted go to the other machines on your network and view the network share(s)

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart sudo /etc/init.d/samba4 restart