Chapter 6: Samba Style

Overview

Initially, FTP was used for exchanging files is Linux. (The protocol is considered in detail in Chapter 10 .) But the protocol is not convenient to work with because it uses "clientserver" technology. For example, to download a file from another computer, an FTP server must be started on that computer. Next, you start an FTP client on your computer, connect to the server on the source computer, and only then download the needed file.

Many local network administrators did not wish to burden themselves with configuring the FTP server for file sharing and started simply allocating a dedicated FTP server with public access for this.

Windows introduced a more convenient way to share files: the Network Neighborhood ( My Network Places in Windows XP) service. This service displays the network's computers, whose shared resources are available to all network users. This is a handy feature, so it's no wonder that users quickly became used to it despite the dangers posed by working with shared resources.

The Samba package was developed to let Windows users see Linux servers in their network environment and perform file operations on them like on Windows machines. The package is often called by its abbreviated name smb and comprises two programs. The server allows local folders to be shared; the client is used to connect to other computers and work with their shared resources.

Samba can be used to make a practical, user -friendly file server. I used to employ a Windows 2000 server for this purpose that was also used as a database server. But a file archive takes too much disk space, consumes network resources, and negatively affects the system security. Therefore, I decided to move the file archive to a separate physical server. The question was what operating system this server should run under. To use Windows 2000 to run a file server would be like using a luxury car for taking trash to a dumpster 20 feet from your house. Linux, which is much less expensive and does not require routine maintenance, is much more suited to this purpose. Once the server has been configured, it can run for years without requiring further attention. Such was the operating system I installed to run my file server, and it has been handling its duties without a hitch ever since.

One of the Samba's powerful features is that is can be remotely controlled using SSH (a remote login utility) or Samba Web-Based Administrative Tool (SWAT).