SAMBA Project Documentation
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Chapter 1. How to Install and Test SAMBA

1.1. Step 0: Read the man pages

The man pages distributed with SAMBA contain + lots of useful info that will help to get you started. + If you don't know how to read man pages then try + something like:

$ nroff -man smbd.8 | more +

Other sources of information are pointed to + by the Samba web site, http://www.samba.org

1.2. Step 1: Building the Binaries

To do this, first run the program ./configure + in the source directory. This should automatically + configure Samba for your operating system. If you have unusual + needs then you may wish to run

root# ./configure --help +

first to see what special options you can enable. + Then executing

root# make

will create the binaries. Once it's successfully + compiled you can use

root# make install

to install the binaries and manual pages. You can + separately install the binaries and/or man pages using

root# make installbin +

and

root# make installman +

Note that if you are upgrading for a previous version + of Samba you might like to know that the old versions of + the binaries will be renamed with a ".old" extension. You + can go back to the previous version with

root# make revert +

if you find this version a disaster!

1.3. Step 2: The all important step

At this stage you must fetch yourself a + coffee or other drink you find stimulating. Getting the rest + of the install right can sometimes be tricky, so you will + probably need it.

If you have installed samba before then you can skip + this step.

1.4. Step 3: Create the smb configuration file.

There are sample configuration files in the examples + subdirectory in the distribution. I suggest you read them + carefully so you can see how the options go together in + practice. See the man page for all the options.

The simplest useful configuration file would be + something like this:

	[global]
+	   workgroup = MYGROUP
+
+	   [homes]
+	      guest ok = no
+	      read only = no
+

which would allow connections by anyone with an + account on the server, using either their login name or + "homes" as the service name. (Note that I also set the + workgroup that Samba is part of. See BROWSING.txt for details)

Note that make install will not install + a smb.conf file. You need to create it + yourself.

Make sure you put the smb.conf file in the same place + you specified in theMakefile (the default is to + look for it in /usr/local/samba/lib/).

For more information about security settings for the + [homes] share please refer to the document UNIX_SECURITY.txt.

1.5. Step 4: Test your config file with + testparm

It's important that you test the validity of your + smb.conf file using the testparm program. + If testparm runs OK then it will list the loaded services. If + not it will give an error message.

Make sure it runs OK and that the services look + reasonable before proceeding.

1.6. Step 5: Starting the smbd and nmbd

You must choose to start smbd and nmbd either + as daemons or from inetd. Don't try + to do both! Either you can put them in inetd.conf and have them started on demand + by inetd, or you can start them as + daemons either from the command line or in /etc/rc.local. See the man pages for details + on the command line options. Take particular care to read + the bit about what user you need to be in order to start + Samba. In many cases you must be root.

The main advantage of starting smbd + and nmbd using the recommended daemon method + is that they will respond slightly more quickly to an initial connection + request.

1.6.1. Step 5a: Starting from inetd.conf

NOTE; The following will be different if + you use NIS or NIS+ to distributed services maps.

Look at your /etc/services. + What is defined at port 139/tcp. If nothing is defined + then add a line like this:

netbios-ssn 139/tcp

similarly for 137/udp you should have an entry like:

netbios-ns 137/udp

Next edit your /etc/inetd.conf + and add two lines something like this:

		netbios-ssn stream tcp nowait root /usr/local/samba/bin/smbd smbd 
+		netbios-ns dgram udp wait root /usr/local/samba/bin/nmbd nmbd 
+

The exact syntax of /etc/inetd.conf + varies between unixes. Look at the other entries in inetd.conf + for a guide.

NOTE: Some unixes already have entries like netbios_ns + (note the underscore) in /etc/services. + You must either edit /etc/services or + /etc/inetd.conf to make them consistent.

NOTE: On many systems you may need to use the + "interfaces" option in smb.conf to specify the IP address + and netmask of your interfaces. Run ifconfig + as root if you don't know what the broadcast is for your + net. nmbd tries to determine it at run + time, but fails on some unixes. See the section on "testing nmbd" + for a method of finding if you need to do this.

!!!WARNING!!! Many unixes only accept around 5 + parameters on the command line in inetd.conf. + This means you shouldn't use spaces between the options and + arguments, or you should use a script, and start the script + from inetd.

Restart inetd, perhaps just send + it a HUP. If you have installed an earlier version of nmbd then you may need to kill nmbd as well.

1.6.2. Step 5b. Alternative: starting it as a daemon

To start the server as a daemon you should create + a script something like this one, perhaps calling + it startsmb.

		#!/bin/sh
+		/usr/local/samba/bin/smbd -D 
+		/usr/local/samba/bin/nmbd -D 
+

then make it executable with chmod + +x startsmb

You can then run startsmb by + hand or execute it from /etc/rc.local +

To kill it send a kill signal to the processes + nmbd and smbd.

NOTE: If you use the SVR4 style init system then + you may like to look at the examples/svr4-startup + script to make Samba fit into that system.

1.7. Step 6: Try listing the shares available on your + server

$ smbclient -L + yourhostname

You should get back a list of shares available on + your server. If you don't then something is incorrectly setup. + Note that this method can also be used to see what shares + are available on other LanManager clients (such as WfWg).

If you choose user level security then you may find + that Samba requests a password before it will list the shares. + See the smbclient man page for details. (you + can force it to list the shares without a password by + adding the option -U% to the command line. This will not work + with non-Samba servers)

1.8. Step 7: Try connecting with the unix client

$ smbclient //yourhostname/aservice

Typically the yourhostname + would be the name of the host where you installed smbd. The aservice is + any service you have defined in the smb.conf + file. Try your user name if you just have a [homes] section + in smb.conf.

For example if your unix host is bambi and your login + name is fred you would type:

$ smbclient //bambi/fred +

1.9. Step 8: Try connecting from a DOS, WfWg, Win9x, WinNT, + Win2k, OS/2, etc... client

Try mounting disks. eg:

C:\WINDOWS\> net use d: \\servername\service +

Try printing. eg:

C:\WINDOWS\> net use lpt1: + \\servername\spoolservice

C:\WINDOWS\> print filename +

Celebrate, or send me a bug report!

1.10. What If Things Don't Work?

If nothing works and you start to think "who wrote + this pile of trash" then I suggest you do step 2 again (and + again) till you calm down.

Then you might read the file DIAGNOSIS.txt and the + FAQ. If you are still stuck then try the mailing list or + newsgroup (look in the README for details). Samba has been + successfully installed at thousands of sites worldwide, so maybe + someone else has hit your problem and has overcome it. You could + also use the WWW site to scan back issues of the samba-digest.

When you fix the problem PLEASE send me some updates to the + documentation (or source code) so that the next person will find it + easier.

1.10.1. Diagnosing Problems

If you have installation problems then go to + DIAGNOSIS.txt to try to find the + problem.

1.10.2. Scope IDs

By default Samba uses a blank scope ID. This means + all your windows boxes must also have a blank scope ID. + If you really want to use a non-blank scope ID then you will + need to use the 'netbios scope' smb.conf option. + All your PCs will need to have the same setting for + this to work. I do not recommend scope IDs.

1.10.3. Choosing the Protocol Level

The SMB protocol has many dialects. Currently + Samba supports 5, called CORE, COREPLUS, LANMAN1, + LANMAN2 and NT1.

You can choose what maximum protocol to support + in the smb.conf file. The default is + NT1 and that is the best for the vast majority of sites.

In older versions of Samba you may have found it + necessary to use COREPLUS. The limitations that led to + this have mostly been fixed. It is now less likely that you + will want to use less than LANMAN1. The only remaining advantage + of COREPLUS is that for some obscure reason WfWg preserves + the case of passwords in this protocol, whereas under LANMAN1, + LANMAN2 or NT1 it uppercases all passwords before sending them, + forcing you to use the "password level=" option in some cases.

The main advantage of LANMAN2 and NT1 is support for + long filenames with some clients (eg: smbclient, Windows NT + or Win95).

See the smb.conf(5) manual page for more details.

Note: To support print queue reporting you may find + that you have to use TCP/IP as the default protocol under + WfWg. For some reason if you leave Netbeui as the default + it may break the print queue reporting on some systems. + It is presumably a WfWg bug.

1.10.4. Printing from UNIX to a Client PC

To use a printer that is available via a smb-based + server from a unix host with LPR you will need to compile the + smbclient program. You then need to install the script + "smbprint". Read the instruction in smbprint for more details. +

There is also a SYSV style script that does much + the same thing called smbprint.sysv. It contains instructions.

See the CUPS manual for information about setting up + printing from a unix host with CUPS to a smb-based server.

1.10.5. Locking

One area which sometimes causes trouble is locking.

There are two types of locking which need to be + performed by a SMB server. The first is "record locking" + which allows a client to lock a range of bytes in a open file. + The second is the "deny modes" that are specified when a file + is open.

Record locking semantics under Unix is very + different from record locking under Windows. Versions + of Samba before 2.2 have tried to use the native + fcntl() unix system call to implement proper record + locking between different Samba clients. This can not + be fully correct due to several reasons. The simplest + is the fact that a Windows client is allowed to lock a + byte range up to 2^32 or 2^64, depending on the client + OS. The unix locking only supports byte ranges up to + 2^31. So it is not possible to correctly satisfy a + lock request above 2^31. There are many more + differences, too many to be listed here.

Samba 2.2 and above implements record locking + completely independent of the underlying unix + system. If a byte range lock that the client requests + happens to fall into the range 0-2^31, Samba hands + this request down to the Unix system. All other locks + can not be seen by unix anyway.

Strictly a SMB server should check for locks before + every read and write call on a file. Unfortunately with the + way fcntl() works this can be slow and may overstress the + rpc.lockd. It is also almost always unnecessary as clients + are supposed to independently make locking calls before reads + and writes anyway if locking is important to them. By default + Samba only makes locking calls when explicitly asked + to by a client, but if you set "strict locking = yes" then it will + make lock checking calls on every read and write.

You can also disable by range locking completely + using "locking = no". This is useful for those shares that + don't support locking or don't need it (such as cdroms). In + this case Samba fakes the return codes of locking calls to + tell clients that everything is OK.

The second class of locking is the "deny modes". These + are set by an application when it opens a file to determine + what types of access should be allowed simultaneously with + its open. A client may ask for DENY_NONE, DENY_READ, DENY_WRITE + or DENY_ALL. There are also special compatibility modes called + DENY_FCB and DENY_DOS.

1.10.6. Mapping Usernames

If you have different usernames on the PCs and + the unix server then take a look at the "username map" option. + See the smb.conf man page for details.

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