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#1 2010-01-21 05:39:11

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Creating a wireless home intranet

Hi,
I have a Arch laptop and my wife has a Macbook. We have got a wireless router for accessing the internet. I was hoping on setting up a wireless network in the house to access each others laptopsn/ I also wanted to add an external storage device to the network to regularly back up stuff. I have tried googling this, but the info seems aimed at windows users or RedHat / Debian users.
I am basically a bit of a noob and will require pretty basic instructions and information.
Can anyone advise me as what I will need or point me in the direction of some useful online resources?
Thanks in advance
Samsom


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#2 2010-01-21 05:54:31

brianhanna
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Registered: 2009-10-30
Posts: 157

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

I have exactly the same setup and as always Linux is easy but Apple insists on using their own stuff.  Time machine only works with the Apple file system AFAIK.

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#3 2010-01-21 06:02:31

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

brianhanna wrote:

I have exactly the same setup and as always Linux is easy but Apple insists on using their own stuff.  Time machine only works with the Apple file system AFAIK.

But if the Macbook can access the external storage, can  you back up manually?
How did you set it up? Did you need to buy any additional hardware? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Samsom


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#4 2010-01-21 07:32:55

hw-tph
Member
Registered: 2006-11-01
Posts: 149

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

You can use SMB shares for Time Machine backups, but I prefer to just back up manually from my Mac.

My setup: A few laptops running Mac, Windows and Linux all connect using WLAN to a Linksys WRT320N router running DD-WRT. The router connects to my Internet connection and also has a wired connection to my little backup server (an Atom based setup with a 2.5 inch hard drive and two mirrored 1GB disks for storage, running Debian).

The server shares backup directories over SMB (using Samba) and over NFS. It also acts as a print server, subversion repository and a host of other things.

What exactly is it that you need help with? How do you want to "access" each other's laptops? Just enable ssh on your computers (yes, it comes as default on the Mac), and set up key authentication for ease of use. The Arch wiki has lots of useful information, like on the topic of SMB filesharing too.

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#5 2010-01-21 15:04:22

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

Both the laptops connect to my WLAN of the router and to the internet. I was not sure how to go about connecting the 2 laptops via the same WLAN when they are both connected to the router. I have read about ssh, but have never used it yet. If both laptops are connected to the WLAN, can I use ssh from one to log in to the other without any other steps?
The main reason for trying to set one up was to be able to back up my stuff wirelessly to an external storage device if possible. Accessing each others laptops is  a bonus.


Samsom

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#6 2010-01-21 16:56:54

hw-tph
Member
Registered: 2006-11-01
Posts: 149

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

I'm still not really sure what you are trying to accomplish or set up, but basically you already have a home network already. This is a simple TCP/IP local network managed by your router. The router provides your laptops with IP addresses and ssh:ing from one to the other should be very easy. If you connect a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device to the router using an Ethernet cable it will most likely end up on the same little network the laptops already share, so accessing it should be very straightforward. You can get a NAS as simple as a hard drive with just enough logic to get an IP address on your network and share its contents - these devices are very affordable.

SSH stuff: First, make notes of your two laptops' current IP addresses and enable SSH on both computers. If possible with your router firmware, set the DHCP leases for your laptops to always get the same IP addresses. If you can do this you can set up hosts entries in /etc/hosts on both computers so you can access the other computer by name instead of by IP.

Example hosts entry for the Linux box:

192.168.1.2    macbook

The hosts file is similar on the Mac so set up an entry for the Linux box in the Mac's hosts file too. I made up the IP's, you must use the corrects ones or it won't work.

Then you can access the other computer by ssh: ssh myusername@macbook or ssh myusername@192.168.1.2. Log in with the credentials for the machine you're connecting to, so if you're connecting from the Linux box to the Macbook you should use the user credentials on the Macbook.

On the Arch box you need to allow incoming SSH entries in /etc/hosts.allow. Read this on how it's done. On the Mac it should be automatically allowed and unblocked in the firewall when enabled in Sharing in the control panel or whatever it's called.

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#7 2010-01-21 17:37:20

ewaller
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From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

expanding on comments by hw-tph, Instead of using entries in your host file, you could look into using Avahi in the Linux boxes.  It implements Apple's BonJour discovery protocol making it easy to easy to discover other network computers and the services they are offering (SSH, HTTP, Deskto Sharing, SMB)

As to file sharing, If you are using Gnome or KDE (and perhaps other environments on which I cannot intelligently write) you can use a URL in your file manager of the form:

    sftp://<theOtherComputerName>

This should result in a challenge for login credentials over ssh, followed by a file manager window into the other machine's file system


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#8 2010-01-22 01:14:18

brianhanna
Member
Registered: 2009-10-30
Posts: 157

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

hw-tph wrote:

You can use SMB shares for Time Machine backups, but I prefer to just back up manually from my Mac.

My setup: A few laptops running Mac, Windows and Linux all connect using WLAN to a Linksys WRT320N router running DD-WRT. The router connects to my Internet connection and also has a wired connection to my little backup server (an Atom based setup with a 2.5 inch hard drive and two mirrored 1GB disks for storage, running Debian).

The server shares backup directories over SMB (using Samba) and over NFS. It also acts as a print server, subversion repository and a host of other things.

What exactly is it that you need help with? How do you want to "access" each other's laptops? Just enable ssh on your computers (yes, it comes as default on the Mac), and set up key authentication for ease of use. The Arch wiki has lots of useful information, like on the topic of SMB filesharing too.

That sounds like a very nice way to do it.  I may have a project for this weekend.

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#9 2010-01-26 11:44:21

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

Hi,
Thanks for your advice so far. My laptop had a few issues with booting up over the past few days and have only just tried out your tips.
This is basically what I was looking for.
Thanks a lot guys
Samsom


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#10 2010-01-26 14:30:52

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

Hi,
I have managed to connect with the 2 laptops via ssh. I have got a wireless Kodak printer which unfortunately does not have drivers for linux. Will I be able to use it from my Linux laptop via ssh if I have printer sharing enabled on the macbook?
Thanks
Samsom


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#11 2010-01-26 19:10:16

hw-tph
Member
Registered: 2006-11-01
Posts: 149

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

You can share your printer on the Mac and use it on your Linux box, no problem. First share it on the Mac (obviously) and then set up the remote printer using Cups on your Linux box. When you have Cups running (start it using /etc/rc.d/cups start I suppose - I haven't used it much on Arch, mostly on Debian) you should be able to access the web GUI. On the Linux box, navigate to http://localhost:631 with your favourite browser and enter the network path to the printer shared on the Mac. You can look up Apple's documentation on Cups on how to do this. When it's set up you can print from pretty much any application on your Linux box using the printer connected to the Mac.

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#12 2010-01-27 11:16:57

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

hw-tph wrote:

You can share your printer on the Mac and use it on your Linux box, no problem. First share it on the Mac (obviously) and then set up the remote printer using Cups on your Linux box. When you have Cups running (start it using /etc/rc.d/cups start I suppose - I haven't used it much on Arch, mostly on Debian) you should be able to access the web GUI. On the Linux box, navigate to http://localhost:631 with your favourite browser and enter the network path to the printer shared on the Mac. You can look up Apple's documentation on Cups on how to do this. When it's set up you can print from pretty much any application on your Linux box using the printer connected to the Mac.

That worked a treat. Thanks a lot. Managing to print stuff off my Linux box which is cool. Only small problem is that if the Mac is switched off, then I obviously cannot access the printer. I suppose there isn't a way around that.

I have been looking into Network Attached Storage for backup as you suggested. However, the ones that I have seen in PC world say on the box that they are only compatible for Mac OS and Windows. Can I still get it to work with Linux or do I need to buy a Linux specific NAS?
Cheers
Samsom

Last edited by samsom (2010-01-27 11:59:43)


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#13 2010-02-04 10:41:25

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

Hi,
I am stuck again.
I have managed to access each others files and share the printer across the wireless network.
My next plan was to implement NFS on both the laptops and set up an automated backup from the Linux laptop to the Macbook and vice versa.
I have installed all the necessary nfs stuff on the macbook and installed nfs-utils on my Arch laptop. However, when I try to start the daemons ( rpcbind and nfs-common), it just says Failed. Hoe do I find why it is failing? Had a look in /var/log. No file created around the time I attampted to start the daemons.
I still tried to run the backup,which flagged a few errors of which I am a bit unsure.




[sam@sony ~]$ /etc/rc.d/nfs-common start
:: Starting rpc.statd daemon                                              [FAIL]
[sam@sony ~]$ /etc/rc.d/rpcbind start
:: Starting rpcbind                                                       [FAIL]
[sam@sony ~]$ tar -cWfpP macbook:/Users/sam/sam.tar /home/sam
tar: macbook\:/Users/sam/sam.tar: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
tar: /home/sam/.kde4/share/apps/nepomuk/socket: socket ignored
^C
[sam@sony ~]$

Any advice, please

Thanks
Samsom


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#14 2010-02-04 18:41:33

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

I think you need to start rcpbind first (This may be the first fail, but not the second.)

Anything interesting in /var/log/everything.log ??

I have done this on other distros, but not Arch.  There may be logs specific to nfs.


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#15 2010-02-04 19:44:40

dunz0r
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From: Sweden
Registered: 2009-03-30
Posts: 258
Website

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

samsom wrote:

Hi,
I am stuck again.
I have managed to access each others files and share the printer across the wireless network.
My next plan was to implement NFS on both the laptops and set up an automated backup from the Linux laptop to the Macbook and vice versa.
I have installed all the necessary nfs stuff on the macbook and installed nfs-utils on my Arch laptop. However, when I try to start the daemons ( rpcbind and nfs-common), it just says Failed. Hoe do I find why it is failing? Had a look in /var/log. No file created around the time I attampted to start the daemons.
I still tried to run the backup,which flagged a few errors of which I am a bit unsure.




[sam@sony ~]$ /etc/rc.d/nfs-common start
:: Starting rpc.statd daemon                                              [FAIL]
[sam@sony ~]$ /etc/rc.d/rpcbind start
:: Starting rpcbind                                                       [FAIL]
[sam@sony ~]$ tar -cWfpP macbook:/Users/sam/sam.tar /home/sam
tar: macbook\:/Users/sam/sam.tar: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
tar: /home/sam/.kde4/share/apps/nepomuk/socket: socket ignored
^C
[sam@sony ~]$

Any advice, please

Thanks
Samsom

You need to be root to start services. So you would have to do "su -"(without quotation marks) and then run /etc/rc.d/nfs-common start and /etc/rc.d/nfs-server start for the server part.


RTFM or GTFO
hax0r.se

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#16 2010-02-05 00:41:03

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

You need to be root to start services. So you would have to do "su -"(without quotation marks) and then run /etc/rc.d/nfs-common start and /etc/rc.d/nfs-server start for the server part.

Thanks a lot. It worked.
Samsom


Samsom

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#17 2010-02-05 00:42:51

samsom
Member
Registered: 2009-07-17
Posts: 88

Re: Creating a wireless home intranet

Hi,
Back again. I have started the necessary daemons.
I have been following instructions from sourceforge.net and they say to run the command rpcinfo quota to check if NFS is running.

[sam@sony ~]$ rpcinfo quota
rpcinfo: can't contact rpcbind: RPC: (unknown error code)

rpcinfo -p again does not have nfs in the list

[sam@sony ~]$ rpcinfo -p
   program vers proto   port  service
    100000    4   tcp    111  portmapper
    100000    3   tcp    111  portmapper
    100000    2   tcp    111  portmapper
    100000    4   udp    111  portmapper
    100000    3   udp    111  portmapper
    100000    2   udp    111  portmapper
    391002    2   tcp    929  sgi_fam
    100024    1   udp  47228  status
    100024    1   tcp  51960  status
[sam@sony ~]$

I am not sure how to get nfs to run apart from starting the daemon.

This is my /etc/exports file

[sam@sony ~]$ cat /etc/exports
# /etc/exports
#
# List of directories exported to NFS clients.  See exports(5).
# Use exportfs -arv to reread.
#
# Example for NFSv2 and NFSv3:
#  /srv/home       hostname1(rw,sync) hostname2(ro,sync)
#
# Example for NFSv4:
#  /srv/nfs4       hostname1(rw,sync,fsid=0)
#  /srv/nfs4/home   hostname1(rw,sync,nohide)
# Using Kerberos and integrity checking:
#  /srv/nfs4        gss/krb5i(rw,sync,fsid=0,crossmnt)
#  /srv/nfs4/home   gss/krb5i(rw,sync,nohide)
#
/home/sam       192.168.0.3(rw,sync)
/home/chinoo    192.168.0.3(rw,sync)

Suggestions please
Samsom

Last edited by samsom (2010-02-05 01:13:38)


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