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#1 2013-05-13 12:04:33

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Hi,

I've got an Arch box up and running on a local network where this one is the first ever Linux box. Server runs Ubuntu, though. Admin is not easily approachable, so I have to do some groundwork all on my own. My Samba experience is nil. Desktop environment is KDE. Internet connection is thankfully present by virtue of NetworkManager. What I really need is the visibility of the existing file share. Of course, I can't bypass sysadmin completely, but I'll have to limit his activity to giving permissions. Any advice is eagerly anticipated.

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#2 2013-05-13 12:25:42

hokasch
Member
Registered: 2007-09-23
Posts: 1,461

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Have you tried discovering shares with smbtree / smbclient? Can you access the share by IP?

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#3 2013-05-13 12:32:58

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

I've got this, so far:

$ smbclient -L WSERVER -U%
params.c:OpenConfFile() - Unable to open configuration file "/etc/samba/smb.conf":
        No such file or directory
smbclient: Can't load /etc/samba/smb.conf - run testparm to debug it
Domain=[SKPSS] OS=[Windows Server (R) 2008 Enterprise 6002 Service Pack 2] Server=[Windows Server (R) 2008 Enterprise 6.0]

        Sharename       Type      Comment
        ---------       ----      -------
Error returning browse list: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED
Domain=[SKPSS] OS=[Windows Server (R) 2008 Enterprise 6002 Service Pack 2] Server=[Windows Server (R) 2008 Enterprise 6.0]

        Server               Comment
        ---------            -------

        Workgroup            Master
        ---------            -------

which makes sense to my unenlightened eye, since I have not yet got any permissions for this box. Is there anything else I can probe into?

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#4 2013-05-13 13:01:04

hokasch
Member
Registered: 2007-09-23
Posts: 1,461

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Sure, you need a valid username/password in order to connect. What other issues do you want to probe into first? BTW, that doesn't look like an Ubuntu server wink

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#5 2013-05-13 13:16:49

Llama
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From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

hokasch wrote:

Sure, you need a valid username/password in order to connect. What other issues do you want to probe into first? BTW, that doesn't look like an Ubuntu server wink

Sure it doesn't. The very same admin told me once that it is Ubuntu.

About issues: they surely are going to pop up as soon as admin gets to entering permissions. I'd like to have all the necessary daemons running by the time, all the necessary configs put in the right place, and so on. Sysadmin is going to dismiss me if it is not in perfect shape. Arch Wiki is all about Samba server, and next to nothing about the client.

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#6 2013-05-13 13:30:58

hokasch
Member
Registered: 2007-09-23
Posts: 1,461

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

There is not much to do on the client side, no need for daemons/configs. What has been somehwat patchy in my experience is browsing/discovering shares, but it always worked with the server ip and share name. In gnome you can conenct by typing "smb://server/share" in the file path bar, should be similar in KDE.

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#7 2013-05-13 16:44:47

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

hokasch wrote:

There is not much to do on the client side, no need for daemons/configs. What has been somehwat patchy in my experience is browsing/discovering shares, but it always worked with the server ip and share name. In gnome you can conenct by typing "smb://server/share" in the file path bar, should be similar in KDE.

BTW, browsing/discovering is all my task is about.

Could you be a bit more specific about the server IP? How can I locate and employ it?

Last edited by Llama (2013-05-13 16:49:04)

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#8 2013-05-13 23:13:04

fukawi2
Ex-Administratorino
From: .vic.au
Registered: 2007-09-28
Posts: 6,231
Website

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

FWIW, I manage an Active Directory environment using my Arch machine. I use Gigolo to connect to Windows shares. Works great in the domain environment.

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#9 2013-05-13 23:36:59

firecat53
Member
From: Lake Stevens, WA, USA
Registered: 2007-05-14
Posts: 1,542
Website

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

<offtopic>

About the name Gigolo

You may ask why it is called Gigolo, a strange name for an application. But actually it fits pretty well for what it does:

It mounts what it is told to.

That's all.

LOL!!!
</offtopic>

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#10 2013-05-14 08:04:41

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

fukawi2 wrote:

FWIW, I manage an Active Directory environment using my Arch machine. I use Gigolo to connect to Windows shares. Works great in the domain environment.

Is it really a part of xfce4-goodies? It is visible only in AUR.

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#11 2013-05-14 23:19:16

fukawi2
Ex-Administratorino
From: .vic.au
Registered: 2007-09-28
Posts: 6,231
Website

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Correct, it's only in the AUR at the moment.

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#12 2013-05-15 06:38:16

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

(1) I've taken a look at Gigolo. Usage on Windows shares isn't intuitive, to put it mildly; the help is a joke. Hints are welcome.

(2) Any advice on Samba client is also welcome. How to get the server IP and how to use it, for instance.

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#13 2013-05-16 03:18:07

fukawi2
Ex-Administratorino
From: .vic.au
Registered: 2007-09-28
Posts: 6,231
Website

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Click "Edit Bookmarks" => "Add"
Service Type: Windows Share
Give it a name.
Server == FQDN of the server (eg, server.example.local)
Share == the share name (eg, home$ for the hidden homes share)
Folder == I leave this blank; can be used to bookmark a folder/path within a share
Domain == FQDN of the domain (eg, example.local)
Username == Shortname of the domain \ Username (eg, EXAMPLE\Administrator)

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#14 2013-05-16 05:10:20

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Thanks! The EXAMPLE part I grok: it's WSERVER in my case, right? How can I discover FQDN?

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#15 2013-05-17 06:38:03

fukawi2
Ex-Administratorino
From: .vic.au
Registered: 2007-09-28
Posts: 6,231
Website

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Ask your Windows Admin?

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#16 2013-05-17 18:10:44

ajbibb
Member
Registered: 2012-02-12
Posts: 142

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Since your desktop environment is KDE, have you tried smb4k?  It is in the extras repo.  I used it may years ago when I first got into Linux and had a KDE box.  No mess, no fuss, the Windows shares just show up in your file manager.  Have not used it in the past 5 or 6 years, but would hope that the functionality would not have decreased.

If you just want your Arch box to be a client in the network all you need is smbclient.  To mount Windows shares I use smbnetfs, directions in the Arch Samba wiki, section 3.2.1.  Follow every direction, especially don't forget the chmod 600 line.  I find browsing slow with this (may be a function of the firewall on the Windows box that has the shared directory I want to access), but once you find your share bookmark it in your file manager and from then on you can get to it very fast.

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#17 2013-05-18 16:51:17

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

Thanks, ajbibb!

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#18 2013-05-20 08:43:08

Llama
Banned
From: St.-Petersburg, Russia
Registered: 2008-03-03
Posts: 1,379

Re: Samba client in a Win-oriented LAN

smb4k indeed looks like the simplest of solutions. While starting successfully, it complains of the /etc/samba/smb.conf missing. If presented with the empty smb.conf, it crashes. If presented with the default smb.conf, it won't show all the shares.

What could be the minimal samba client configuration? Everybody (the Manual included) says that smb.conf is all about the samba server.

UPD:

/etc/samba/smb.conf:

[global]

Looks like this is enough smile

Last edited by Llama (2013-05-21 04:22:39)

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