configure samba for remote access

by Danial Smith Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago

How To Configure Samba Server In Linux

Step
1 . First you will need to create a directory where you want to keep data and share with other remote system such...
Step
2.. Now you will need to install Samba server on system.
Step
3.. After installing samba server, configure it using it’s main configuration file “ /etc/samba/smb.conf “.

Full Answer

How do I connect to a Samba server?

On Ubuntu: Open up the default file manager and click Connect to Server then enter: On macOS: In the Finder menu, click Go > Connect to Server then enter: On Windows, open up File Manager and edit the file path to: \\ip-address\sambashare. Note: ip-address is the Samba server IP address and sambashare is the name of the share.

What is Samba on Ubuntu?

A Samba file server enables file sharing across different operating systems over a network. It lets you access your desktop files from a laptop and share files with Windows and macOS users. This guide covers the installation and configuration of Samba on Ubuntu.

How do I create a user in samba Linux?

Samba uses Linux users and group permission system but it has its own authentication mechanism separate from the standard Linux authentication. We will create the users using the standard Linux useradd tool and then set the user password with the smbpasswd utility.

How to create a custom network location for a samba share?

Select “Choose a custom network location” and then click “Next”. In “Internet or network address”, enter the address of the Samba share in the following format \samba_hostname_or_server_ip\sharename. In the next window, you can type a custom name for the network location.

How do I access smb shares remotely?

How to access SMB share from windows over the internet with specific port numbergo to My computer.Click add network location.Enter x.x.x.x as ip (ofcourse I enter a real public IP)Then try to connect.

How do I setup a Samba network share?

Sharing a directory inside /homeCreate a user called jane in Samba: sudo smbpasswd -a jane.Create a directory to be the share for jane, and set the correct SELinux context: ... Samba configuration lives in the /etc/samba/smb. ... Restart Samba for the changes to take effect:

How do I set Samba permissions?

Create a Samba password for the user with the command smbpasswd -a shares. Type and verify a password for the user. Create the folder with the command sudo mkdir -p /samba/shares. Change the permissions of the folder with the command sudo chmod -R 0770 /samba/shares.

How do I connect to a Samba share in Linux?

To access Samba from a UNIX client session:Log on to the Linux or UNIX computer using the Active Directory account that has been granted access to the local computer's zone.Run the following command: smbclient -k -L host_name.

What is the difference between SMB and Samba?

SAMBA was originally SMB Server – but the name had to be changed due to SMB Server being an actual product. SMB was the predecessor to CIFS. SMB (Server Message Block) and CIFS (Common Internet File System) are protocols. Samba implements CIFS network protocol.

How do I share files across a local network?

How do I share files or folders over a network now?Right-click or press a file, select Give access to > Specific people.Select a file, select the Share tab at the top of File Explorer, and then in the Share with section select Specific people.

What is Samba configuration in Linux?

The Samba configuration is meant to join an RHEL, Fedora or CentOS system to a Windows Workgroup and setting up a directory on the RHEL system, to act as a shared resource that can be accessed by authenticated Windows users.

Where is the Samba config file?

/etc/samba/smb.confThe main Samba configuration file is located in /etc/samba/smb. conf . The default configuration file has a significant number of comments in order to document various configuration directives. Not all the available options are included in the default configuration file.

How do I add a user to Samba?

Once you have created the samba user, you need to add them to the samba share by editing the samba smb. conf file which is Samba's configuration file. Scroll and locate the samba share, in this case, 'documents', and append the user to the list of valid users as shown in the 4th line in the configuration block below.

How do I find my Samba IP address?

From the desktop, click on the Start button. In the search box, type: CMD and press enter. Once the Command Prompt opens, type: "ipconfig" and press enter. The IP address will then be listed (example: 192.168.

How do I use Samba?

Step 1: Install Samba in Linux. ... Step 2: Create and Configure Samba Shares. ... Step 3: Accessing Samba Share from Windows. ... Step 4: Secure Samba Share Directory. ... Step 5: Accessing Samba Share from Linux Client.

How do I connect to a Samba share from Windows?

[Network Place (Samba) Share] How to access the files on Network Devices using SMBv1 in Windows 10 ?Open Control Panel in your PC/Notebook.Click on Programs.Click on Turn Windows features on or off link.Expand the SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support option.Check the SMB 1.0/CIFS Client option.Click the OK button.More items...•

How do I create a Samba share in Windows 10?

4. Windows 10Right click on the created folder and select Properties.Click on the Sharing tab.Click the Share button.Type "Everyone" in the text box and click Add. ... The folder is now shared. ... Click on Advanced Sharing to check the advanced share properties.More items...•

Where do I put Samba shares?

To configure shares and users, edit the /etc/samba/smb. conf file. The default file has several good examples of common options, including provisions for shared printers and home directories. There's a global section, which defines a workgroup.

How do I create a Samba username and password?

First, create a new user account just as you would in any Linux system. In this example, we will create a new user account for a user called 'joe'. New SMB password: Retype new SMB password: added user joe. Once you have created the samba user, you need to add them to the samba share by editing the samba smb.

What is a Samba share?

Samba allows file and print sharing between computers running Microsoft Windows and computers running Unix. It is an implementation of dozens of services and a dozen protocols, including: NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT) SMB (known as CIFS in some versions)

Where is the Samba configuration file?

The configuration file for Samba is located at /etc/samba/smb.conf. To add the new directory as a share, we edit the file by running:

What is a Samba server?

A Samba file server enables file sharing across different operating systems over a network. It lets you access your desktop files from a laptop and share files with Windows and macOS users.

1: system-config-samba

This is the GUI tool that all new Samba admins should be using. System-config-samba ( Figure A) can be installed onto practically any Linux distribution and is incredibly easy to use. With this tool, you can configure the shares to be handed out, as well as the Samba server settings.

2: Swat

Swat ( Figure B) is the original GUI tool for Samba. It’s a Web-based tool that allows you to get much deeper into the configuration of Samba than any other tool. Although newbies can use it, they may quickly become intimidated by the number of options available. Once Swat is installed, you reach it by going to:

3: GAdmin SAMBA

GAdmin SAMBA ( Figure B) is part of the GAdmin Tools administration toolkit and doesn’t disappoint. This GUI tool can satisfy by any level of experience and will allow the newbie plenty of room to grow. Although there is a bit of a learning curve with this interface, once you’ve figured it out, you’ll be rocking out Samba shares like crazy.

4: Webmin Samba Module

Webmin, being one of the most powerful administration tools, naturally offers a Samba module. Webmin Samba Module ( Figure D) offers everything you want in a Samba administration package: share, printer, share mode configuration as well as the ability to easily manage user access to different shares.

5: Command line

For those of you Samba masters, the command line ( Figure E) is the thing. WIth the help of your favorite text editor (such as nano, vi, or emacs), you can configure and manage every single aspect of your Samba server. Naturally, this isn’t the tool for new users.

Good options

When working within a business environment, you will more than likely come across the need for Samba. But Samba isn’t your average tool that can be easily configured by anyone. You need a certain amount of skill to understand how Samba works. Even so, that doesn’t mean you have to deal with overly complicated tools to set up those shares.

Step 2 – Set the Samba Global settings

The Samba configuration file is located under /etc/samba/smb.conf. In this file, there are several changes we need to make. Although Debian is intelligent enough to provide default configurations, it is also good to verify this.

Step 3 – Create Shared Samba Directory

Here, you can share both public and private directories. So we will create the two directories as below.

Step 4 – Create Samba Share User and User Group

We need the Samba share user group to access the Private share as specified in the conf above. So we will create the group as below.

Step 5 – Verify the Samba configuration

Once changes have been made to the config file, it is recommended that you test it using the below command:

Step 6 – Access the Shares from the Client

This guide demonstrates how to access the Share files using both Windows and Linux systems.

How to map network drive?

Map Network drive in Windows: Press the WINDOWS + E keys on your keyboard to open Windows Explorer. Click on the Computer menu and then on the Map Network Drive icon to open the Map Network Drive Dialog.

Can you run smbpasswd as root?

Some/all options are only available when running smbpasswd as root, so to make sure they are working, execute as root. Add and activate user accounts (there must be a system user with that username) smbpasswd -a <username>. This option specifies that the username following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file.

Can Samba users login to a VPS?

As a security measure we do not allow the samba users to login to the system, this way if a username/password combination gets out, only the files in that shared directory is accessible, not the rest of the VPS.

Accessing Samba Share from Windows System

Login to Windows, we are using Windows 7, in this example and right on click Computer (This PC on others) > Map Network drive.

AutoMount Samba Shares on Reboot

If you want the share to be automatically available during a system reboot, you can:

How to connect to Samba server?

In “Connect to Server”, enter the address of the Samba share in the following format smb://samba_hostname_or_server_ip/sharename.

How to access Samba share?

In macOS, you can access the Samba Shares either from the command line or using the default macOS file manager Finder. The following steps show how to access the share using Finder. Open “Finder”, select “Go” and click “Connect To”. ...

What is smbclient in Linux?

smbclient is a tool that allows you to access Samba from the command line. The smbclient package is not pre-installed on most Linux distros so you will need to install it with your distribution package manager.

What is Samba network?

Samba is a free and open-source re-implementation of the SMB/CIFS network file sharing protocol that allows end users to access files, printers, and other shared resources.

Where is Samba data located?

For easier maintainability and flexibility instead of using the standard home directories ( /home/user) all Samba directories and data will be located in the /samba directory.

Can I connect to Samba from command line?

Windows users also have an option to connect to the Samba share from both command line and GUI. The steps below show how to access the share using the Windows File Explorer.