Samba is a popular open source software package that provides file and print services using the SMB/CIFS protocol. This protocol is built into Microsoft® Windows® systems. It can be added to non-Microsoft® Windows® systems by installing the Samba client libraries. The protocol allows clients to access shared data and printers. These shares can be mapped as a local disk drive and shared printers can be used as if they were local printers.
On FreeBSD, the Samba client libraries can be installed using the net/samba-smbclient port or package. The client provides the ability for a FreeBSD system to access SMB/CIFS shares in a Microsoft® Windows® network.
A FreeBSD system can also be configured to act as a Samba server. This allows the administrator to create SMB/CIFS shares on the FreeBSD system which can be accessed by clients running Microsoft® Windows® or the Samba client libraries. In order to configure a Samba server on FreeBSD, the net/samba36 port or package must first be installed. The rest of this section provides an overview of how to configure a Samba server on FreeBSD.
A default Samba configuration
file is installed as
/usr/local/share/examples/samba36/smb.conf.default.
This file must be copied to
/usr/local/etc/smb.conf and customized
before Samba can be used.
Runtime configuration information for
Samba is found in
smb.conf, such as definitions of the
printers and “file system shares” that will
be shared with Windows® clients. The
Samba package includes a web based
tool called swat which provides a
simple way for configuring
smb.conf.
The Samba Web Administration Tool (SWAT) runs as a
daemon from inetd. Therefore,
inetd must be enabled as shown in
Section 29.2, “The inetd
Super-Server”. To enable
swat, uncomment the following
line in /etc/inetd.conf:
swat stream tcp nowait/400 root /usr/local/sbin/swat swat
As explained in Example 29.1, “Reloading the inetd Configuration File”, the inetd configuration must be reloaded after this configuration file is changed.
Once swat has been enabled,
use a web browser to connect to http://localhost:901.
At first login, enter the credentials for root.
Once logged in, the main
Samba configuration page and the
system documentation will be available. Begin configuration
by clicking on the tab. The
section corresponds to the
variables that are set in the [global]
section of
/usr/local/etc/smb.conf.
Whether swat is used or
/usr/local/etc/smb.conf is edited
directly, the first directives encountered when configuring
Samba are:
workgroupThe domain name or workgroup name for the computers that will be accessing this server.
netbios nameThe NetBIOS name by which a Samba server is known. By default it is the same as the first component of the host's DNS name.
server stringThe string that will be displayed in the output of
net view and some other
networking tools that seek to display descriptive text
about the server.
Two of the most important settings in
/usr/local/etc/smb.conf are the
security model and the backend password format for client
users. The following directives control these
options:
securityThe two most common options are
security = share and
security = user. If the clients
use usernames that are the same as their usernames on
the FreeBSD machine, user level security should be
used. This is the default security policy and it
requires clients to first log on before they can
access shared resources.
In share level security, clients do not need to log onto the server with a valid username and password before attempting to connect to a shared resource. This was the default security model for older versions of Samba.
passdb backendSamba has several
different backend authentication models. Clients may
be authenticated with LDAP, NIS+, an SQL database,
or a modified password file. The default
authentication method is smbpasswd,
and that is all that will be covered here.
Assuming that the default smbpasswd
backend is used,
/usr/local/etc/samba/smbpasswd
must be created to allow Samba to
authenticate clients. To provide UNIX® user accounts
access from Windows® clients, use the following command to
add each required user to that file:
#smbpasswd -ausername
The recommended backend is now
tdbsam. If this backend is selected,
use the following command to add user accounts:
#pdbedit -a -uusername
This section has only mentioned the most commonly used settings. Refer to the Official Samba HOWTO for additional information about the available configuration options.
To enable Samba at boot time,
add the following line to
/etc/rc.conf:
samba_enable="YES"
Alternately, its services can be started separately:
nmbd_enable="YES"
smbd_enable="YES"
To start Samba now:
#service samba startStarting SAMBA: removing stale tdbs : Starting nmbd. Starting smbd.
Samba consists of three
separate daemons. Both the nmbd
and smbd daemons are started by
samba_enable. If winbind name resolution
services are enabled in smb.conf, the
winbindd daemon is started as
well.
Samba may be stopped at any time by typing:
#service samba stop
Samba is a complex software
suite with functionality that allows broad integration with
Microsoft® Windows® networks. For more information about
functionality beyond the basic configuration described here,
refer to http://www.samba.org.
All FreeBSD documents are available for download at http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/doc/
Questions that are not answered by the
documentation may be
sent to <[email protected]>.
Send questions about this document to <[email protected]>.