File Sharing with Samba

Introduction

You should use NFS for dedicated Linux Client to Linux Server connections.

For mixed Windows/Linux environments use Samba.

Server

linux

Dependency Installation

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sudo pacman -Sy samba

configuration file

Need to create /etc/samba/smb.conf before starting the service systemctl start smb

You can get an example configuration file from Samba Git Repository.

Get help about writing the configuration file with man smb.conf.

Here’s mine:

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[global]
  workgroup = k4i.top
  map to guest = Bad Password
  server string = Samba Server
  passdb backend = tdbsam

[homes]
   comment = Home Directories
   browseable = no
   writable = yes

[tmp]
  comment = Temporary file space
  path = /tmp
  public = yes
  writable = yes
  printable = no

user management

we need to have a user to access linux files.

For anonymous access, we use the guest account (by default, it’s user nobody)
If you want to access files in a home directory, you should login as that user.

We need to specifically add a user (an existing linux user, or a non-existing one – samba will create the user for you) to samba, then set a password for that user (can be different from your linux login password)

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sudo smbpasswd -a sky

And by default, when you access a samba server with a user, you can browser that user’s home directory (if it has one).

start

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systemctl start smb.service
# if you want to access service with host names, start this service
systemctl start nmb.service

Client

windows

In the file manager location bar, input: \\servername\[share], then you may remap any folder to a drive.

tips: to clean user credentials (or with the control panel GUI)

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net use /delete *.

linux

With a file manager:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/samba#File_manager_configuration

In the location bar, input: smb://servername/share

With a command line tool: `smbclient`

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smbclient //xyz/public -U nobody
smbclient //xyz/sky -U sky

mount at startup

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sudo pacman -Sy cifs-utils

# prepare mount entry
sudo vim /etc/fstab
# add smbshare like:
# //192.168.31.248/Dev /home/sky/share/Dev cifs credentials=/home/sky/.smbcredentials,user,uid=sky,gid=sky 0 0
# user: allow any user to mount the drive
# noauto: the dirve is not mounted during startup, do not add this if you want to mount at startup

systemctl daemon-reload # make /etc/fstab change effective

# create mount credentials
vim ~/.smbcredentials
# username=sky
# password=sky
chmod 0600 ~/.smbcredentials

# create the mount point
mkdir -p ~/share/Dev

# mount
mount ~/share/Dev

# umount
umount ~/share/Dev

File Sharing with Samba

Introduction

Server

linux

Client

windows

linux

With a file manager:

With a command line tool: smbclient

mount at startup

Resources

With a command line tool: `smbclient`