Setting up a Network Folder Sharing Using Samba

Sometimes we would require files and directories to be accessed and saved across the Network.

·          On Computers with Windows Operating systems,

·          it is very simple, if you are under same WORKGROUP.

·          you only have to right-click and setup network sharing.

What if you would need to share the files to a Computer with Unix like Operating Systems ?

It is more simpler than we would ever think of.

In this blog, we will see how to setup network folder sharing using Samba.

Samba

·          Samba is an opensource software suite that provides file and printer sharing services using SMB/CIFS

·          SMB (Server Message Block) is a network file sharing protocol from Microsoft.

·          It is also known as CIFS (Common Internet File System)

Installing Samba

We will use Ubuntu Server for our Samba Setup. Let us install the samba server and its dependencies.

# install using apt-get

apt-get install samba samba-common python-glade2 system-config-samba

Creating network folder for sharing

# Lets make a directory to share via Samba and provide permissions

mkdir -p /home/share

chmod -R 755 /home/share              # Provide read,write permissions as required

chown -R nobody:nogroup  /home/share  # Change Ownership for anonymous access (you can also setup authentication)

Configuring Samba

The Samba configuration file is located in the path, /etc/samba/smb.conf

# Lets backup the original Samba configuration file

mv /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak

Edit the configuration file.

vim /etc/samba/smb.conf

[global]

workgroup = WORKGROUP                 # name of windows domain workgroup, usually WORKGROUP

server string = Samba Server         

netbios name = samba                 

security = user

map to guest = bad user

dns proxy = no

# configure your folder here

[Samba]

path = /home/share

browsable =yes

writable = yes

guest ok = yes

read only = no

# The above configuration is a minimal configuration for sharing a folder across network.

# For the other options, you can refer to the originial configuration file, you have backed up.

Restart Samba Server

service smbd restart

Accessing network share from a Windows Computer

Go to Windows, Start–> Run. Enter ip-address or hostname of samba server

\\172.16.2.100

• The remote folder will open on windows explorer.

• You will now have access to the network drive (/home/share) created

• You can also map it as network drive, so you can access it like a normal folder.

Accessing network share from a Windows Computer

Go to Windows, Start–> Run. Enter ip-address or hostname of samba server

\\172.16.2.100

•                      The remote folder will open on windows explorer.

•                      You will now have access to the network drive (/home/share) created

•                      You can also map it as network drive, so you can access it like a normal folder.