Contents of Samba directory accessible but not viewable

kaplan71 · 08-20-2015, 03:27 PM

Hello --

I have Apache 2.2.23 running on a CentOS 5.3 server. The web server root directory, /var/www/html, has two folders that are Samba mounts. The contents of the two mounts, various folders containing Microsoft Excel 2007 files, are accessible and readable from the console of the local machine. This is done via the OpenOffice application.

However, when the same files are accessed via a web browser on a Window system, the files can be opened but the contents of the files are not shown.

As a test, I also created a text document in one of the shares, and the results were the same.

I checked the source code of a given webpage going to one of the mounts, and I have it listed below:

Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
<html>
 <head>
  <title>Index of /UNIX_Server_Backups/UNIX/2015/August</title>
 </head>
 <body>
<h1>Index of /UNIX_Server_Backups/UNIX/2015/August</h1>
<table><tr><th><img src="/icons/blank.gif" alt="[ICO]"></th><th><a href="?C=N;O=D">Name</a></th><th><a href="?C=M;O=A">Last modified</a></th><th><a href="?C=S;O=A">Size</a></th><th><a href="?C=D;O=A">Description</a></th></tr><tr><th colspan="5"><hr></th></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><img src="/icons/back.gif" alt="[DIR]"></td><td><a href="/UNIX_Server_Backups/UNIX/2015/">Parent Directory</a></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">  - </td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><img src="/icons/unknown.gif" alt="[   ]"></td><td><a href="03aug2015.xls">03aug2015.xls</a></td><td align="right">07-Aug-2015 12:37  </td><td align="right"> 28K</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><img src="/icons/unknown.gif" alt="[   ]"></td><td><a href="10aug2015.xls">10aug2015.xls</a></td><td align="right">14-Aug-2015 07:42  </td><td align="right"> 28K</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><img src="/icons/text.gif" alt="[TXT]"></td><td><a href="Test.txt">Test.txt</a></td><td align="right">20-Aug-2015 16:03  </td><td align="right"> 24 </td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan="5"><hr></th></tr>
</table>
<address>Apache/2.2.23 (CentOS) Server at rorecovery.mgh.harvard.edu Port 80</address>
</body></html>

It appears the files in question, 03aug2015, 10aug2015, Test.txt, have relative paths rather than full paths.

Why would this occur, and how can I correct it?

Thanks.

JaseP · 08-20-2015, 03:45 PM

Find and print out the contents of your smb.conf... Feel free to redact anything you feel might compromise your system (but let us know you've done that)...

kaplan71 · 08-20-2015, 03:58 PM

Hello --

Thank-you for your reply. Per your request, the smb.conf file has been attached to this posting. I have gone through the file, and there is nothing that needed to be redacted from view.

Also, to clarify my earlier posting: The mounts in question are shares originating from a Windows server. They are mounted via two commands within the /etc/rc.local file. The redacted text of the commands in question are the following:

Quote:

mount -t cifs -o credentials=/<directory>/<file> '//<windows server ip address>/<share$>/<folder name>' /var/www/html/UNIX_Server_Backups
mount -t cifs -o credentials=/<directory>/<file> '//<windows server ip address>/<share$>/<second folder name>' /var/www/html/Semi-Offsite_Archives

Thanks again for the help.

JaseP · 08-23-2015, 01:39 AM

That helps a little bit, but I'm a little unclear...

1) Are the directories you are mounting being shared from Windows machines???

2) What Windows systems are you accessing the shares from (Win7, Win8/8.1)???

Here's a nice page from RedHat about mounting Windows shares...
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/448263

kaplan71 · 08-31-2015, 08:20 AM

Hello --

My apologies for not replying sooner.

The directories in question are being shared from Windows 2008 servers.

kaplan71 · 09-01-2015, 07:40 AM

Hello --

I had a follow-up to my posting. I downloaded a file from the Samba share, and its reported size was zero bytes, as opposed to the thirty-five kilobytes reported in the directory.

That would explain why the opened file appears blank. The question now is the following: Why would this occur, and how can it be corrected?

Thanks.

ericson007 · 09-01-2015, 07:47 AM

I am truly sorry I cannot be of specific help but may I pose a question. If served from server 2008, why do you want samba server and apache involved? Maybe it is easier sharing from alternatives like webdav that would be accessible from http.

My experience does not reach back to major version 5 but, is SElinux not at fault? Itmay be a simple permissions problem as well

kaplan71 · 09-01-2015, 07:57 AM

Hello --

I do not have control of the Windows 2008 servers; my access is limited to the shares in which I have read and write access. I did some preliminary reading on
webdav, and correct me if I am wrong, but if I go that route, I would need to copy the contents of the Windows shares to a directory on the local server. If that
is the case, that would not be an ideal option.

I did check the selinux settings on the server, and they are set to permissive. I could disable them entirely, and see if that makes a difference.

ericson007 · 09-01-2015, 10:57 AM

I will have a look out for webdav part. Bummer you need the files but don't have access to the server, that would make it easier, but leave permissive mode. No need to disable selinux. Many people recommend to set permissive or disable but i view permissive as absolute last resort if nothing else works.

Hope you can getit sorted soon.