Samba Server Setup

Check if the Samba server is installed: You can check this by going to Main Menu > System Settings > Server Settings > Services. Then, look for a service named smb. If it is present, that means, the Samba server is installed. If it is not started, start it up.

If you donot have the Samba server installed on your system, you should install it from the RedHat 9 CDs. The server along with the GUI to configure Samba are present on CDs 1, 2 & 3.

- Insert CD1.
- Go to the CDROM and navigate to RedHat > RPMS.
Here, look for a file called samba*.rpm. Install it.
- Insert CD2. Navigate to RedHat > RPMS.
Install a package called redhat-config-samba*.
- Insert CD3. Navigate to RedHat > RPMS.
Install a package called samba-swat*

NOTE: SWAT is a browser based configuration tool for Samba. It talks be default on port 901. So, to use this, httpd should be running on Linux and the firewall should not block this port.) We will use the GUI rather than SWAT for configuration.

• Go to the command prompt and type: /usr/bin/redhat-config-samba (it is in /usr/bin folder).
• Login as root.
• You will get a screen similar to the one shown here.
• Go to Preferences > Server Settings. The default settings are shown here. I had to keep the group to something different from what was the Workgroup on my Windows system. Give a nice description; this is what people from other systems will see as the title for the Server (eg. In Windows, in the My Network Places, Show Work Group Computer, this is what will be seen.)
• On the Security tab,

- set the Authentication Mode to User.
- set the Encrypted Password to Yes.
- set Guest account to the user for whom you are setting up this share.
(I donot as yet know how to allow for anonymous shares...)
- click OK.

• Go to Preferences > Samba Users.

- click add.
- Select the Unix username for the user whom you want to
permit to use the share. When he logs in, he will be takent to his home
directory unless some other shared folder has been specified.
- If the user is logging in from Windows, provide his Windows username

(this simplifies authentication and hepls to map Windows users to Linux users, I think so, I am not sure about this part).

- Provide a password (preferrably different from his Linux login password).
- click OK.

• Click Add, and add a shared folder to allow access from outside the Linux machine.
• To access this share from Windows, Go to My Network Places > View Workgroup Computers > Microsoft Windows Networks. Go to the appropriate workgroup that you had specified earlier. Here you will find the Samba Server with the description you provided earlier. Open this Samba and there you go!!!

Now someone please tell me how to access the Windows Shares from Linux. Any help would be appreciated. :)

UPDATE: Okay, just discovered that File & Printer Sharing must be enabled on Windows for accessing the Shared Files! For this, please run the Network Setup Wizard with appropriate options!!!