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Sharing Linux Files and Printers with Windows Users

The previous section outlined the use of tools that make it possible for a Linux desktop user to access files located on Windows workstations and servers using native Windows networking protocols. These tools can also be used in the other direction: to access files that are on a Unix/Linux server.

In this section we explore the use of Samba to provide files that are stored on Linux to Windows clients.

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Tip

The CIFS/SMB protocol is more complex than some other file-sharing protocols such as NFS. Samba has to be not only protocol-compatible with Microsoft Windows clients, but also compatible with the bugs that are present in each client. In this section, we show you a simple Samba setup, using as many of the default settings as we can.

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Setting up Samba involves the following steps:

Compiling and installing Samba, if it is not already present on your system.

Writing the Samba configuration file smb.conf and validating it for correctness.

Starting the two Samba daemons smbd and nmbd.

When correctly configured, a Samba server and the directories shared will appear in the browse lists of the Windows clients on the local network—normally accessed by clicking on the Network Neighborhood or My Network Places icon on the Windows desktop. The users on the Windows client systems will be able to read and write files according to your security settings just as they do on their local systems or a Windows server. The Samba server will appear to them as another Windows system on the network, and act almost identically.

Installing Samba

Correctly compiling Samba can be a challenge, even for an experienced developer, so it makes sense to use prebuilt binary packages where they are available. For most administrators the choice is among the following options:

Install from trusted RPM or .deb pacakges.

Install from contributed RPM or .deb packages.

Compile and install from the official source tarball.

Hire someone else to compile and install from the source tarball.

Most Linux distributions include Samba, allowing you to install it simply by choosing an option when installing Linux. If Samba wasn't installed along with the operating system, it's usually a fairly simple matter to install the package later. Either way, the files in the Samba package will usually be installed as follows:

Daemons in /usr/sbin

Command-line utilities in /usr/bin

Configuration files in /etc/samba

Logfiles in /var/log/samba

Runtime control files in /var/lib/samba

There are some variations on this. For example, in older releases, you may find logfiles in /var/log, and the Samba configuration file in /etc.

If your distribution does not include Samba, you can download the source code, and compile and install it yourself. In this case, all of the files that are part of Samba are installed into subdirectories of /usr/local/samba.

Either way, you can take a quick look in the directories just mentioned to see whether Samba already exists on your system, and if so, how it was installed.

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Tip

If you are not the only system administrator of your Linux system, be careful. Another administrator might have used a source code release to upgrade an earlier version that was installed from a binary package, or vice versa. In this case, you will find files in both locations, and it may take you a while to determine which installation is active.

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If you need to install Samba, you can either use one of the packages created for your distribution, or install from source. Installing a binary release may be convenient, but Samba binary packages available from Linux distributors are usually significantly behind the most recent developments. Even if your Linux system already has Samba installed and running, you might want to upgrade to the latest stable source code release.

Obtaining fresh source files. You can obtain the Samba source files