Chapter Summary

Samba is a suite of programs that enables Linux and Windows to share directories and printers. A directory or printer that is shared between Linux and Windows systems is called a share. To access a share on a Linux system, a Windows user must supply a username and password. Usernames must correspond to Linux usernames either directly or as mapped by the /etc/samba/smbusers file. Samba passwords are generated by smbpasswd and kept in /etc/samba/smbpasswd.

The main Samba configuration file is /etc/samba/smb.conf, which you can edit using a text editor, swat (a Web-based administration utility), or system-config-samba (a minimal-configuration GUI). The swat utility is a powerful configuration tool that provides integrated online documentation and clickable default values to help you set up Samba.

From a Windows machine, you can access a share on a Linux Samba server by opening My Computer or Explorer and, in the Address text box, entering \\ followed by the name of the server. Windows displays the shares on the server and you can work with them as though they were Windows files.

From a Linux system, you can use any of several Samba tools to access Windows shares. These tools include smbtree (displays shares), smbclient (similar to ftp), and mount with the t cifs option (mounts shares). In addition, you can enter smb:/ in the location bar of Konqueror or Nautilus and browse the shares.