Samba uses /etc/samba/smb.conf as its configuration
file. If you change this configuration file, the changes will not take
effect until you restart the Samba daemon with the command
service smb restart.
The default configuration file (smb.conf) in Red Hat Linux
7.3 allows users to view their Linux home directories as a Samba
share on the Windows machine after they log in using the same username
and password. It also shares any printers configured for the Red Hat Linux
system as Samba shared printers. In other words, you can attach a
printer to your Red Hat Linux system and print to it from the Windows machines
on your network.
To specify the Windows workgroup and description string, edit the
following lines in your smb.conf file:
workgroup = WORKGROUPNAME
server string = BRIEF COMMENT ABOUT SERVER |
Replace WORKGROUPNAME with the name of the
Windows workgroup to which this machine should belong. The
BRIEF COMMENT ABOUT SERVER is optional and
will be the Windows comment about the Samba system.
To create a Samba share directory on your Linux system, add the
following section to your smb.conf file (after
modifying it to reflect your needs and your system):
[sharename]
comment = Insert a comment here
path = /home/share/
valid users = tfox carole
public = no
writable = yes
printable = no
create mask = 0765 |
The above example allows the users tfox and carole to read and write to
the directory /home/share, on the Samba server,
from a Samba client.
In Red Hat Linux 7.3 encrypted passwords are enabled by default because
it is more secure. If encrypted passwords are not used, plain text
passwords are used, which can be intercepted by someone using a
network packet sniffer. It is recommended that encrypted passwords be
used.
The Microsoft SMB Protocol originally used plaintext passwords.
However, Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or higher
require encrypted Samba passwords. To use Samba between a Red Hat Linux system
and a system with Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 or
higher, you can either edit your Windows registry to use plaintext
passwords or configure Samba on your Linux system to use encrypted
passwords. If you choose to modify your registry, you must do so for
all your Windows NT or 2000 machines — this is risky and may cause
further conflicts.
To configure Samba on your Red Hat Linux system to use encrypted passwords,
follow these steps:
Create a separate password file for Samba. To create one
based on your existing /etc/passwd file, at a
shell prompt, type the following command:
cat /etc/passwd | mksmbpasswd.sh > /etc/samba/smbpasswd |
If the system uses NIS, type the following command:
ypcat passwd | mksmbpasswd.sh > /etc/samba/smbpasswd |
The mksmbpasswd.sh script is
installed in your /usr/bin directory with
the samba package.
Use the command chmod 600 /etc/samba/smbpasswd
to change permissions on the Samba password file so that only root
has read and write permissions.
The script does not copy user passwords to the new file. To set
each Samba user's password, use the command smbpasswd
username (replace
username with each user's username).
A Samba user account will not be active until a Samba password
is set for it.
Encrypted passwords must be enabled in the Samba
configuration file. In the file smb.conf,
verify that the following lines are not commented out:
encrypt password = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd |
Make sure the smb service is started by
typing the command service smb restart at a
shell prompt.
If you want the smb service to start
automatically, use ntsysv,
chkconfig, or
serviceconf to enable it at
runtime. Refer to Chapter 8 for details.
 | Tip |
|---|
| | To learn more about encrypted passwords read
/usr/share/doc/samba-<version>/docs/htmldocs/ENCRYPTION.html
(replace <version> with the
version number of Samba that you have installed).
|
The pam_smbpass PAM module can be used to sync
users' Samba passwords with their system passwords when the
passwd command is used. If a user invokes the
passwd command, the password he uses to log in to
the Red Hat Linux system as well as the password he must provide to connect to
a Samba share are changed.
To enable this feature, add the following line to
/etc/pam.d/system-auth below the
pam_cracklib.so invocation:
password required /lib/security/pam_smbpass.so nullok use_authtok try_first_pass |
