Samba is an open source, and free software suite that provides file and print services to the SMB/CIFS clients. It allows us to share files, folders, and printers between Linux server and Windows clients. Using Samba, we can setup a domain controller on Unix/Linux server, and integrate the Windows clients to the Domain controller.
01. Installing Samba :
Install this packages on Server ( I’m using CentOS 7.3 )
yum -y install samba samba-client cifs-utils
Install this packages on Clients
yum -y install samba-client cifs-utils
02. Run samba service :
The services needed is called smb
systemctl enable smb systemctl start smb systemctl status smb
03. Open Firewall port :
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=samba firewall-cmd --reload
04. Samba Configuration :
The main configuration file is /etc/samba/smb.conf
The Global section is the global configuration that samba use to provide files and printers sharing, let’s see it.
vim /etc/samba/smb.conf
[global]
workgroup = SAMBA
security = user
passdb backend = tdbsam
printing = cups
printcap name = cups
load printers = yes
cups options = raw
The most important option is security = user
It means that a valid user is required to be able to mount the shared files, other security levels like :
security = domain , if samba server is joined a domain.
security = ADS , if samba server is joined microsoft AD.
To create a valid users to be used with samba shares, you must create a user in your system, then use it with samba ,
Let’s add a user named test using normal user-add command with smb password ‘test’ using smbpasswd -a user command , use pdbedit -L to list smb enabled users.
[root@server01 ~]# useradd test [root@server01 ~]# smbpasswd -a test New SMB password: Retype new SMB password: Added user test. [root@server01 ~]# pdbedit -L test:1001: [root@server01 ~]#
you can add many users as you need .
To list current samba sharing using user test and provide the password from a client (server IP: 192.168.1.4):
[root@server01 ~]# smbclient -L 192.168.1.4 -U test Enter test's password: Domain=[SAMBA] OS=[Windows 6.1] Server=[Samba 4.4.4] Sharename Type Comment --------- ---- ------- print$ Disk Printer Drivers IPC$ IPC IPC Service (Samba 4.4.4) test Disk Home Directories Domain=[SAMBA] OS=[Windows 6.1] Server=[Samba 4.4.4] Server Comment --------- ------- SERVER01 Samba 4.4.4 Workgroup Master --------- ------- SAMBA [root@server01 ~]#
Nice , it is listing the default sharing , Now let’s share and mount our own files.
05. Sharing a directory :
Create a directory
mkdir /mysamba
Correcting SELinux type to samba_share_t
semanage fcontext -a -t samba_share_t "/mysamba(/.*)?" restorecon -Rv /mysamba
Set appropriate permissions for all users
chmod o+rwx /mysamba
Create share configuration in /etc/samba/smb.conf
vim /etc/samba/smb.conf
and append the following
[test] comment = My Testing share path = /mysamba writable = yes
[test] is the share name that we will use to mount.
comment is just a comment message, not required.
path is the path to directory that we want to share.
writable is specifying the ability to write with yes/no value.
writable = yes is the same as read only = no .
To allow writing to only specific users or groups append this line (change user , group with real names ) :
write list = user to allow write to one user
write list = @group to allow write to one group
write list = user1,@groupX,user2,user3,@groupY to specify many users and groups separated by comma .
Test our configuration in smb.conf file for errors using testparam , it will list errors or ask to press ENTER to list current shares
[root@server01 ~]# testparm
No error , nice , let’s test it from a client and mount it.
List allowed shares using: smbclient -L SERVER-IP-OR-Name -U SMB-USER
[root@server02 ~]# smbclient -L 192.168.1.4 -U test
Enter test's password:
Domain=[SAMBA] OS=[Windows 6.1] Server=[Samba 4.4.4]
Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
print$ Disk Printer Drivers
test Disk My Testing share
IPC$ IPC IPC Service (Samba 4.4.4)
Domain=[SAMBA] OS=[Windows 6.1] Server=[Samba 4.4.4]
Server Comment
--------- -------
SERVER01 Samba 4.4.4
Workgroup Master
--------- -------
SAMBA
[root@server02 ~]#
06. Mounting a shared directory :
Now we see our test sharing , let’s mount it
[root@server02 ~]# mount -o user=test //192.168.1.4/test /mnt/ Password for test@//192.168.1.4/test: **** [root@server02 ~]# touch /mnt/client [root@server02 ~]# ls /mnt/ client [root@server02 ~]#
That is good , let’s mount it automatically using fstab file.
vim /etc/fstab
append this, then save and exit /etc/fstab file:
//192.168.1.4/test /mnt/ cifs user=test,password=test 0 0
unmount the old one , and test fstab mounts:
[root@server02 ~]# umount /mnt/ [root@server02 ~]# mount -a [root@server02 ~]# mount | grep cifs //192.168.1.4/test on /mnt type cifs (rw,relatime,vers=1.0,cache=strict,username=test,domain=SERVER01,uid=0,noforceuid,gid=0,noforcegid,addr=192.168.1.4,unix,posixpaths,serverino,mapposix,acl,rsize=1048576,wsize=65536,echo_interval=60,actimeo=1) [root@server02 ~]# ls /mnt/ client [root@server02 ~]#
Awesome , now you can add your own shared directories, and you can mount it easily to Microsoft Windows .
That is it, i hope it was simple , thanks for joining me.
Enjoy !.