Samba for NLP/SPANDH
1. Brief background
Samba is a piece of software that allows unix machines to run the SMB (Server
Message Block)
protocol, and thus appear as 'shares' within the Windows 95/98/NT environment.
We are
currently running this software on belch and stanage, making all the
disks they export via NFS
also read-writeable to Windows machines - provided you have an account!
2. So what do I need to connect?
You will need an account on the DCS-PRIMARY server run by Merrick. Why?
Because we need
some method of authenticating connections to ensure that ownerships
and permissions on the disks
shared by belch and stanage are maintained. Currently there is no way
for unix machines to
authenticate Windows users reliably, so we make use of the DCS NT server
(neither NLP or
SPANDH have copies of NT Server). Sun is due to release their own version
of Samba shortly,
and I understand this has unix authentication built in. We will probably
switch to this when it
becomes available, and do away with the need for an account on DCS-PRIMARY.
3. OK, I have my NT account - what now?
Pretty simple - go browse the Network Neighborhood on your NT machine using
the Windows
networking protocol, NOT the Hummingbird/NFS protocol (where installed).
You should see
list of workgroups including DCS-PRIMARY and NLP-SPANDH. belch and
stanage live in
NLP-SPANDH, so double-click on the icon. You should then see two machine
icons, labeled
belch and stanage - double click on the one for your group (belch for
spandh, stanage for nlp).
At this point you will be asked for a username and password. This is
the DCS-PRIMARY
account you set up earlier - your unix account will not work.
You should now see a series of folders representing the disks served
by that machine. All the
usual Windows conventions of copying, creating and deleting are supported
provided you have
the correct permissions (and those will be the permissions of the unix
disk). Basically if you can
do it using a unix shell prompt, you should be able to do it from Windows
NT.
4. Anything Else?
The eagle-eyed will have spotted a folder with your name on in there
too. This is your unix home
directory cunningly served from whichever machine hosts it. You have
all the usual permissions on
this to modify files as you see fit. Cool, huh?
CPS 28/4/99