- Atul Chtnis and Nikhil Datta Those above-average sys admins
have traditionally sneaked Linux into company networks with a file and print server. And
the software behind this, that allows Linux and most other Unix variants participate
seamlessly and even outperform Windows-based machines on small networks, is called Samba.
Samba (from the Server Message Block protocol or SMB) is a suite of
programs that implement the SMB protocol on Linux. The SMB protocol is the foundation of
Windows networking, or as Microsoft now calls it, the Common Internet File System
(CIFS).
The latest version of Samba, 2.0.2, includes many new features to increase compatibility
with NT domains and improve performance. We’ll take a quick look at how to set up
your newly installed Linux server as a File and Print server that can be used by Win 9x
users on LAN.
There are two kinds of server configurations you need to
consider—the server is/isn’t on a network controlled by a Win NT server
acting as primary domain server (PDS). The difference between the two is that a Win NT PDS
needs to be in control of network access, that is, it does the user login validation, not
the Linux server.
If your LAN doesn’t have a Win NT server, you need not worry.
Here are the steps to set up your Linux server as a file and print server on your non-NT
LAN. All of them must be done as the superuser (root).
- Make a backup of the file /etc smb.conf
cd/etc
cp smb.conf smb.conf.backup
- Make a few required directories.
mkdir /home/netlogon
mkdir /home/profiles
mkdir /home/common
mkdir /home/netlogon
mkdir /home/profiles
mkdir /home/common
- Edit the file /etc/smb.conf.
joe /etc/smb.conf
joe /etc/smb.conf
- Set your workgroup or domain.
Change the setting "workgroup" from "MYGROUP" to whatever name
you’ve assigned to your workgroup or domain. For example, we set it to PCQLABS.
Change the setting "workgroup" from "MYGROUP" to whatever name
you’ve assigned to your workgroup or domain. For example, we set it to
PCQLABS.
- Set your server description.
Change the setting "server string" from "Samba Server" to whatever
description you want to be broadcast as your server’s description. We set it to
"PCQ Labs Linux Server".
Change the setting "server string" from "Samba Server" to whatever
description you want to be broadcast as your server’s description. We set it to
"PCQ Labs Linux Server".
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