I have a router and 2 pcs that I think are already networked (ifconfig on both pcs shows an eth0 IP of 192.168.1.xx). How would I share files from 1 Linux pc to the other Linux pc?

You can setup ftp servers on both boxes.

I wonder if there is a Windows-like file sharing thing but only for sharing files between linux systems.


--EDIT-- to setup ftp

edit /etc/inetd.conf with your favorite text editor and uncomment a line:

from this:

# Very Secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server.
#ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd vsftpd

to this:

# Very Secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server.
ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd vsftpd

----

then restart your computer

then you can edit /etc/vsftpd.conf and /etc/ftpusers to your likings

Then what? When I try to do a ftp in Firefox I get a window that says my connection was refused. Do I somehow need to set permissions on both pcs so that any user can access the harddrives?

You could set up NFS share too...

Did you configure /etc/ftpusers and /etc/vsftpd.conf to your likings?

if so

try this in the browser:

ftp://username@localaddress

in my case:

ftp://houler@192.168.0.234

Now it prompts for a password, type it in. Then you should get a list of files.

--EDIT--

Also, if you set inetd.conf, /etc/ftpusers, /etc/vsftpd.conf on BOX1, that is only set for BOX1.
Like if you Are on BOX2 and you ftp to BOX1, you're going to have to use the username/password that is used on BOX1.



You have to apply the steps above to other boxes if you want to access there files.

This isn't working. Box 1 has Slackware 10 with kernel 2.4.30 and Box 2 has Fedora Core 3 with kernel 2.6.11. I am trying to have Box 1 (Slack) contact Box 2 (FC3). In Box 1 (Slack) I edited /etc/ftpusers and took out ftp after editing /etc/inetd.conf and rebooting Box 1. I tried to edit /etc/vsftpd.conf but it doesn't exist so I didn't create it.

Box 1 has local IP 192.168.1.43 and username marty.
Box 2 has local IP 192.168.1.44 and username linuxhippy.

In Firefox on Box 1 I type the following to contact Box 2:

ftp://linuxhippy@192.168.1.44

What am I doing wrong?

This should be in your inetd.conf, notice that thereis is no # in front of 'ftp stream tcp nowait...'

ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd vsftpd

That's what I mean by 'uncomment', copy the line above if you deleted that line to your inetd.conf file.

reboot.

This should work if you have vsftpd installed.

If you can't find /etc/vsftpd.conf, do a 'whereis vsftpd' to look for the conf file and edit it. If nothing comes up when you do execute that command then you don't have vsftpd installed. Go back to /etc/inetd.conf and comment the 'vsftpd' line and uncomment the 'proftpd' line, then do a 'whereis proftpd' and find and edit the conf file.


Now for Box 2:

If you want to connect Box 2, then you're going to have to set FTPD on Box 2 , like you did with Box 1. Edit /etc/inetd.conf and uncomment the line with 'proftpd' or 'vsftpd' to enable it, don't uncomment both, choose 1.

Do a 'whois proftpd' and edit the config file to suit your needs, also edit the /etc/ftpusers/ file to allow which users are authorized to connect to Box 2.

Although ftp is fine to share files, I use for my part NFS share which is
more user friendly in my opinion (no need to login, access to shares as
they were local directories)

The setup is simple, on box 1:
edit /etc/exports (if it does not exist, install nfs-utils package) :
Start nfs server and portmap on box 1 :
Now go to box 2 and add an entry in fstab :
Create the mount point in box 2, mkdir -p /net/marty
Now to access box 1 shared directory /home/marty, you just do :
And after that you browse into it with any file manager/browsers you
want at /net/marty

houler, in Fedora Core 3 (Box 2) /etc/inetd.conf does not exist-they are different than Slack.

keefaz, NFS sounds good. My router is setup as a DHCP, so those IP addresses will change a bit. In fstab could I enter a wild card to include a series of #s:

192.168.1.*

My router has a little DNS server so I use hostnames instead
of IPs in my setup, maybe your router has this feature ?

not my router

I would also recommend NFS but I've never tried to use it under dynamic ips, if you can't get it, you could also use Samba (easier with dynamic IPs I guess).

You can also set up the nfs dynamically, with exportfs
(so without set up ip in /etc/exports)
on the box 1 :
and mount it without fstab on the client box2

Sorry about that linuxhippy, I don't know anything about Fedora. Remember google is your friend , or You can ask the nice people over at the Fedora forum for help on setting up a basic ftp server .

NFS sounds promising so far. I may try it one of these days, as I only have 1 computer running linux (this one, which is a laptop).

What are the security features of NFS?

What do you mean by security features ?
When you share a directory with NFS, it keep system permissions for files,
you can also explicitly share a directory as read-only (it is read-write by
default), you can map permissions to a user and more (see man exports)