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Old 01-13-2009, 11:26 AM   #1
davidb2002
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Samba Alternatives


Hi Everyone,

I have been trying to setup samba for some filesharing with windows machines and have been having some crazy trouble. So I was wondering if there are any good FREE sambe alternatives that provide basic file sharing between linux and windows.

Cheers
 
Old 01-13-2009, 11:39 AM   #2
pljvaldez
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Samba is really the way to go. I guess the only alternative I can think of would be to set the linux box as an ftp server and then transfer files using an FTP client on windows.

What issues are you having with Samba? Maybe we can help you out getting it to work.
 
Old 01-13-2009, 02:30 PM   #3
jkzfixme
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David ,
I have to concour with pljvaldez that samba is the way to go , what I would recomend is installing webmin and it will help make all the configuration a little easier you might also want to check out this tutorial

Regards
JKZfixme
 
Old 01-13-2009, 05:50 PM   #4
chrism01
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You could do it using NFS. Both OSes understand that.
Alternatively, post what you're doing so we can solve it. There's LOADs of threads on Samba.
 
Old 01-13-2009, 05:54 PM   #5
GaijinPunch
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How do you get Windows to read NFS?

Samba, while crappy for some things, is pretty much the standard. I've found that if you have two Linux machines, you should definitely be using NFS.
 
Old 01-13-2009, 06:02 PM   #6
chrism01
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MS has NFS support; its a very old std. Its in SFU: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microso...vices_for_UNIX
 
Old 01-13-2009, 06:05 PM   #7
GaijinPunch
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Quote:
its a very old std.
Interesting choice of abbreviation.
 
Old 01-13-2009, 06:18 PM   #8
pentode
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Samba is the best option. There are thousands of Samba servers being used for serious file serving by lots of business and individuals, many of them installed to replace Windows servers on Windows networks.

Maybe if you tried explaining your problems, we could help resolve them.
 
Old 01-14-2009, 12:02 AM   #9
shawnbishop
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To setup SAMBA use webmin as suggested or use SWAT, also a good and easy interface to use
 
Old 01-14-2009, 12:38 AM   #10
lazlow
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I am going to second NFS. The main reason so few (windows) are using it is that nobody knows about it.
 
Old 01-14-2009, 03:39 AM   #11
davidb2002
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Right, it seems i get a lot more response in this forum then my usual support forum about samba so perhaps there is more help on this here.

I have been going back and forth with samba for a week now trying to get a simple share to work. Nothing special, i just want windows machines to be able to access the share without the need of a username and password. I think with all the changes I have done over the past days i don't know if im coming or going anymore.

So perhaps someone can direct me or help me out on how to do this. I have webmin and swat setup but I seem to keep getting hung up on users and permissions.

So heres what im trying to achive

- multiple shares that I can access through multiple windows machines without any need of username/password.
- Don't want to have to mount the drive. I want to be able to access the shares via network places
- I want everyone to have read/write permissions on all folders/shares/files available through the shares
- I don't mind if the windows users have root access

I had yum installed samba on centos5. Treat me like a newb, as I am.
 
Old 01-14-2009, 04:01 AM   #12
billymayday
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Your most likely issue under CentOS, if everything else looks correct, is SELinux.

While you are testing things, you can turn it off with "setenforce 0", then back on with "setenforce 1".

Otherwise, try posting where you got to with your smb.conf. What you are trying to do should be pretty simple.

Try a really basic setup like the one shown here http://us1.samba.org/samba/docs/man/...html#id2546704

Hope that helps for starters
 
Old 01-14-2009, 04:05 AM   #13
davidb2002
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Is there a way to tell if SELinux is the problem? I don't even know what it is. I have installed Centos with minimum (1 cd install). Ill be setting up a comf shortly as I have just diverted back to another setup.
 
Old 01-14-2009, 04:08 AM   #14
davidb2002
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Heres the conf I have at the moment:


[global]
netbios name = MPLINUX2
security = SHARE
passdb backend = tdbsam
cups options = raw

[thumb]
comment = Thumb Drive
path = /media/thumb/
force user = root
guest ok = Yes
 
Old 01-14-2009, 04:20 AM   #15
billymayday
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You'll have messages (somewhat cryptic) in /var/log/audit/audit.log.

Can I suggest you set up a test share, say /share, and get that working before you try a thumb drive? That will enable you to isolate issues around the drive itself as opposed to samba.

Once you create the share (with mkdir /share), (see instructions insmb.conf), do

chcon -t samba_share_t /share

to give the correct SELinux context (ie allow samba to access the share).

Add /share as a share to smb.conf and see how you go
 
  


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