Setting Up Samba as a Client

Setting Up
Samba as a Client

Samba can be compiled from the source
distribution or installed as a Debian or RPM package. In either case, there are
several different components that will be installed. The server
components are:

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smbd: a daemon that shares out files and
printers from the Linux system

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nmbd: a daemon that provides NetBIOS name
resolution

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sambaconfig: a reconfiguration tool

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smbpasswd: an SMB password maintenance tool

The client components are:

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smbclient: an FTP-like program for accessing
shares

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smbspool: a tool to send print jobs to shared
printers

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smbmount, smbumount: tools to, respectively,
mount and unmount SMB shares.

All of the Samba components use a single
configuration file, usually located at /etc/samba/smb.conf.
The majority of configuration options in this file affect the behavior of the
Samba server, but a few options need to be set correctly in order to use the
client applications.

Like many other Linux configuration files,
the Samba configuration file is a simple text document. Blank lines and white
space are not significant (except in parameter values), and comments begin with
a semicolon and extend to the end of the line. The whole file is case
insensitive, so WORKGROUP is the same as class=docemphasis1>workgroup is the same as WoRkGrOuP.
Booleans can be yes/no, 0/1, or true/false. There are three special sections:
[global], [homes], and [printers]. The man page covers this and more in pretty
good detail.

The default configuration file is heavily
commented, describing the purpose of each line. The only significant thing
you'll have to do for using client applications is to change the default
workgroup:

; "security = user" is always a good idea. This will require a

lang=EN-GB>; Unix account in this server for every user accessing the server.

lang=EN-GB>security = domain

; Change this for the workgroup your Samba server will part of

lang=EN-GB>workgroup = WORKGROUP

server string = %h server (Samba %v)

Modify the line starting with workgroup = to
specify the name of your Windows workgroup or Windows NT domain. Actually, this
step is not strictly necessary, since the Samba client tools will also accept
the -W command line option to specify a nondefault workgroup. But it's easier
to use a tool if you don't have to remember (and type!) a long list of arcane
options and flags.