Linux NFS/Samba shares

DIL23 · 09-15-2007, 05:46 PM

Hello

Can anyone help me please as I'm a Linux AND Network newbie?
I'm running Kubuntu 7.10 on a laptop and a desktop and also have a WinXP machine.

I want to set up a shared folder between the 2 Kubuntu machines to transfer working files etc.

Both Kubuntu machines can see the Samba network share on the WinXP machine (sorry I have no idea how I set that up! trial and error I think!!!) and I can transfer files that way K1->WinXP->K2 and the reverse direction but can't set up a shared folder between the Linux machines.

I can 'ping' each machine from each other - so they know they're there

I installed NFS Server and tried to make the folder as accessible/public(?) as possible under 'Simple file sharing' but can't see the machine anywhere in Konqueror but don't really know where to look for it - under /mnt ?

I also tried to mount the folder by doing

sudo mount -t nfs 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxxx:~/transfer /mnt/remotefolder

but best I get is a "Permission denied"

As I say I've tried to allow permissions for anything at all to connect - very dangerous I know! - but seems perfectly safe as even I as sudo/root can't seem to get in

I'm sure it's something simple I've overlooked, a missing setting, config file edit, tick box - whatever.

Any help would be VERY much appreciated

Regards
DIL23

w3bd3vil · 09-15-2007, 07:20 PM

just for the info
SMB is quite different from NFS.

To see if NFS directories are exported properly do
showmount -e

check your /etc/exports to make sure you have the correct syntax in it.

If you do want to have SMB between the linux machines, edit smb.conf file and add a share to it.

andrewdodsworth · 09-16-2007, 04:06 AM

If you're running KDE and sshd then in Konqueror you should be able to use fish://.

For example on machine A in konqueror window type

Code:

fish://machineBname

or

Code:

fish://machineBIP

or

Code:

fish://user@machineB

and if it can find the machine (you may have to use IP address or put details in /etc/hosts file) it will prompt you for a name and password and then you'll be able to browse the other machine. Don't know whether Kubuntu automatically runs sshd but you can check by

Code:

fish://yourmachine

.

jschiwal · 09-16-2007, 04:14 AM

I'm not sure how the kde nfs: protocol works. I can enter "nfs:/<hostname>" in konqueror but I get authorization failed. It is a simple matter to mount the shares and the browse to the mountpoints in konqueror so I haven't put any effort in finding out about konqueror's nfs:/ protocol.

DIL23 · 09-16-2007, 04:34 AM

even more confusing!

Many thanks for the reply w3bd3vil

I thought Samba was purely for Windows shares and NFS was for Linux? Can I just use Samba for both - seeing as that seems to work a bit?

I tried showmount -e

at first it complained I didn't have nfs-common so I installed that and retried and now get:

portmap getport: RPC: Success

It doesn't list anything else! I don't even have a /etc/exports file so that's probably why - and have no idea what syntax to use to make an export file (and can't even find an example one to copy)

I found a Samba/smb.conf file in /etc and also a smb.conf in /etc/samba **AND** /usr/share/samba

they all look to be the same example files with most stuff commented out - but I have no idea which one to edit and what to comment in/change to make things work.

I'm sure there must be an easier way of going about this - it does after all state 'use SIMPLE filesharing' in system settings - I would hate to try complex filesharing!!!

and that's supposed to give all users access to home directory without need for authentication anyways?

Thanks again - I'll keep googling and post back if I find an easy/step-by-step way of going about this - but if you have any more pointers they'd be gratefully accepted!!

All the best
DIL23

DIL23 · 09-17-2007, 04:30 PM

Hello again!

Thanks Andrew
Have tried the fish://**** stuf - nothing doing! I don't think sshd can be installed/running - how do I launch/install/find out if it's installed/running etc?

..and thanks jschiwal too!
I also get the authorisation failed on nfs://*** in Konqueror but could you post your mount command so I can try that? Then at least I'd have direct file access between the 2 machines - I'll worry about printing and things later when I learn more of the "black art" of linux networking ;-)

Thanks again for your help guys/grrls it is very much appreciated.

Regards
DIL23

onebuck · 09-17-2007, 08:57 PM

Hi,

To get some background for the NFS, from the cli do a 'man exports'. You can see how to create the '/etc/exports' file.

Code:

sample '/etc/exports'
# See exports(5) for a description.
# This file contains a list of all directories exported to other computers.
# It is used by rpc.nfsd and rpc.mountd.
#
#exports for renew network
/mnt/share 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)
/mnt/transfer 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)

/mnt/nfs-share 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0(rw,insecure,async,no_subtree_check)
/mnt/nfs_share 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0(rw,insecure,async,no_subtree_check)

Once you create the file, you will need to do a 'exportfs -ra' to update the table. You should do a 'man exportfs' to get the definition of the options.

You should also 'man nfs' to get more background information.

You could reference 'Linux NFS' which is listed in the Network section of 'Slackware-Links' formerly 'Slackware LQ Suggestions Links!' for some good online reference for Linux.

andrewdodsworth · 09-19-2007, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DIL23

Thanks Andrew
Have tried the fish://**** stuf - nothing doing! I don't think sshd can be installed/running - how do I launch/install/find out if it's installed/running etc?

To test if it's installed and running :

Code:

# sudo ps ax | grep sshd

And you should get a response similar to:

Code:

 4818 ?        Ss     0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -o PidFile=/var/run/sshd.init.pid
 3704 pts/1    R+     0:00 grep sshd

If you don't get something like the first response then it's not running.
If it's not installed then:

Code:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/setup-openssh-server-on-ubuntu-linux/

should help.

jschiwal · 09-25-2007, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DIL23

Hello again!

Thanks Andrew
Have tried the fish://**** stuf - nothing doing! I don't think sshd can be installed/running - how do I launch/install/find out if it's installed/running etc?

..and thanks jschiwal too!
I also get the authorisation failed on nfs://*** in Konqueror but could you post your mount command so I can try that? Then at least I'd have direct file access between the 2 machines - I'll worry about printing and things later when I learn more of the "black art" of linux networking ;-)

Thanks again for your help guys/grrls it is very much appreciated.

Regards
DIL23

Code:

hpmedia.jesnet:/home/jschiwal/Documents /mnt/hpmedia/Documents  nfs     defaults,rsize=8192,wsize=8192,soft,_netdev 0 0

This is just one of my shares. If you use SuSE Linux, the YaST2 NFS client setup is very good. Enter in the Hostname of the other computer, and click on the search button for a list of NFS directories to import. After the share is mounted, if you use KDE and have mounted network shares displayed on the desktop, they will pop up then and you can access them quickly that way in the file browser with one click!

I was curious myself today how you work with "nfs:/" in konqueror and did a google search for 'linux konqueror "nfs:/"' and it brought me back to this thread