[Ubuntu] Password for an SMB share?

[Miscbrah]

Hi all. Bear with me because this is going to be painful...

I'm totally new to Linux here, as in REAL-noob-new, and I've gotten all excited and dove into half-written tutorials here and there in the hopes of getting a samba server at least working.

My objective is to have one folder shared on the server for Linux and Windows clients on the domain, with a password required to get onto the share by users.

I've tried and failed to set up winbind for password authentication (and had to knock out all sorts of things in different .conf files to turn it off again after!) so everything might be in such a mess that I'll need to reinstall, like, everything. I was hoping before embarking on the winbind thing that there just might be a way to set up a simple username/password prompt somehow (doesn't even need to be domain-related) but I tried and couldn't do it.

On a marginally related note how the £*$# do you restart the samba service anyway? Nothing I've googled works and I just bounce the server every time I change smb.conf.

Smelly smelly thing...

But yes if anyone's got any clue how to steer me right it'd be great. Spent a few days on and off looking into it but I'm just making more mess than progress now. If you're reading this and you're feeling me and can help I'd be mega grateful!

Thanks!

[computer_expert]

On a marginally related not how the £*$# do you restart the samba service anyway? Nothing I've googled works and I just bounce the server every time I change smb.conf.

Depends on which distribution you use, but for Debian/Ubuntu i find running ' /etc/init.d/samba restart' (without quotes) will restart it. You'll also need to use sudo for ubuntu (ie. sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart). On debian, you'll either need to install/configure sudo (or use the root account which isn't really recommended)

[Miscbrah]

Thanks for the help!

Urgh, but I got bash: /etc/init.d/samba: No such file or directory I'm using Ubuntu server if that's any good...

[jinnantonnixx]

On Ubuntu it's
sudo service smbd restart

smdb is 'sambda daemon' I suppose.

[jinnantonnixx]

The Ubuntu documentation is usually pretty good; this might be a good starting point.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Samba

You might want to look at something called SWAT, which is a GUI configuration manager for Samba, operated from a web browser pointing to the server. It's OK, and good if you need to get something up and running quickly. It's best to get to grips with the smb.conf files though, that's the proper way to do it.

[Miscbrah]

On Ubuntu it's
sudo service smbd restart

smdb is 'sambda daemon' I suppose.

Oh bloody hell that was amazing and worked. Thanks!

[CyberNerd]

The edugeek wiki is finally back on line.
heres my config:

Samba Homedirectory - Wiki

[cpjitservices]

I prefer to use something like CentOS for Samba... it's what I would recommend anyway... although on a different note if you are hosting samba on a clean Linux server..... setup and install webmin it's got an nice easy web interface for managing samba, works on all versions of Linux!

[Miscbrah]

Thanks guys!

I can't say I understand much from having a GUI but that in itself is a huge leap forward from "conf? What? What domain?"

OMG a GUI!

[Geoff]

webmin doesnt work well on ubuntu IIRC.

[cpjitservices]

New version works splendidly on Ubuntu 11 - or at least it seems to on the test machine I have it installed on

[dhicks]

My objective is to have one folder shared on the server for Linux and Windows clients on the domain, with a password required to get onto the share by users.

Assuming you get winbind set up correctly, the idea is that your Windows client connects to the share with the appropriate credentials, so password typing in neccesary. There's a thread over here:

Configuring Samba

Which I've updated a few times with bits and pieces I've come accross as I set up various Samba systems.

[hit]

What other services are you going to run on the Linux server? If it is purely for file shares I wouldn't bother with any of the Ubuntu/fedora/Debian etc. and just use freeNAS (FreeNAS 8 | Storage For Open Source). It has NFS, CIFS, TFTP protocols and AD integration. I recently built one and had it up and running in less than an hour.