Samba Profiles & WINS

Last Attacker · 12-23-2007, 07:42 AM

Hi there

I remember with OpenSuSE you can have Samba show a folder called Profile(s) and when you access that folder, you type in your linux username & password and it makes your home folder available to you only. Does Samba for Ubuntu have the same ability? I tried the same settings from OpenSuSE on Ubuntu's SAMBA but it just won't work.

Also, Samba can become a WINS server right? A WINS server is like a DNS for workgroups, right? I would like to have my windows file sharing lookup pcs faster via WINS. Does anyone know a tutorial of setting up a WINS? Do you then need to configure Windows/Linux clients to point to that WINS servers?

I hope I am clear enough.

Thanks

jschiwal · 12-23-2007, 09:01 AM

If you look in the smb.conf manpage you will find the setting for WINS. All you need to do in your smb.conf file is change "wins support = no" -> "wins support = yes". Do this on only one samba server in the subnet. On other samba servers, add "wins server = <your wins ip address>".

If you have a NAT router with DHCP, you can enter the samba servers' IP address in the router WINS entry to propogate that info to other hosts that use DHCP. On linux hosts, there should be a configuration item somewhere in an /etc/sysconfig/ file that will cause the dhcp client program to modify /etc/samba/dhcp.conf so that the WINS address is added when you boot. You may want to disable this setting for the samba wins server. You shouldn't use both "wins support = yes" and "wins server = <ipaddress>". The dhcp script may be smart enough to check for the "wins support" entry. If you reboot and don't see a "wins server =" line, you are OK.

Code:

cat /etc/samba/dhcp.conf
# This file is created by /etc/sysconfig/network/scripts/dhcpcd-hook-samba.
# It's possible to disable dynamic changes by setting DHCLIENT_MODIFY_SMB_CONF
# of /etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp to 'no'.
   wins server =eth0:192.168.1.105 eth1:192.168.1.105

The /etc/samba/dhcp.conf file is sourced by samba when you have this line in smb.conf:

Code:

        include = /etc/samba/dhcp.conf

If you don't use DHCP, then manually add the WINS ip address in each host. On windows hosts, in the network TC/IP configuration and on Linux hosts in the smb.conf file.

Also check if you have a libnss_wins library ("locate libnss_wins")

Code:

 locate libnss_wins
/lib/libnss_wins.so.2
/lib64/libnss_wins.so.2

Then edit /etc/nsswitch.conf. Add wins after "files" in the "hosts:" configuration entry.
Example from manpage:

Code:

       hosts:         files wins

You will also need to make sure that the winbind service is running.

Look at the contents of your samba package, or a samba-doc package. The Samba 3 Howto & Reference Guide will go into more detail. It has a section on Network Browsing that you will want to read.

Here is what the profiles service should look like.

Code:

[profiles]
        comment = Network Profiles Service
        path = %H
        read only = No
        create mask = 0600
        directory mask = 0700
        store dos attributes = Yes

I hope this helps. Be sure to scan through the smb.conf manpage. Also there are related manpages for nsswitch.conf, wins, winbindd, pam_winbind. Some you don't bother with unless you are in a network domain.

Also, if you can't find those samba3 books, you can download the from the samba.org website.

Some of the details may be different depending on the type of network technology you use, such as NT domain, a standalone PDC, AD, LDAP. Also, if you have XP Home edition hosts, you can't use a domain at all. You really can't get away with not reading the books and manpages.

Last Attacker · 12-23-2007, 10:53 AM

Cool thanks jschiwal!
Your reply realy means a lot!
I'll try it out and see what happens. Just want my internet on the gateway to work first.

Thanks again!