Chapter 17. Hosting a Microsoft Distributed File System tree on Samba

Chapter 17. Hosting a Microsoft Distributed File System tree on Samba
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Shirish Kalele

Samba Team & Veritas Software

- <samba@samba.org>
-

12 Jul 2000

Table of Contents

Features and Benefits
Common Errors

Features and Benefits

- The Distributed File System (or DFS) provides a means of separating the logical - view of files and directories that users see from the actual physical locations - of these resources on the network. It allows for higher availability, smoother - storage expansion, load balancing etc. -

- For information about DFS, refer to - - Microsoft documentation at http://www.microsoft.com/NTServer/nts/downloads/winfeatures/NTSDistrFile/AdminGuide.asp. -

- This document explains how to host a DFS tree on a Unix machine (for DFS-aware - clients to browse) using Samba. -

- To enable SMB-based DFS for Samba, configure it with the --with-msdfs - option. Once built, a Samba server can be made a DFS server by setting the global - boolean host msdfs - parameter in the smb.conf file. You designate a share as a DFS - root using the share level boolean - msdfs root parameter. A DFS root directory on Samba hosts DFS - links in the form of symbolic links that point to other servers. For example, a symbolic link - junction->msdfs:storage1\share1 in the share directory acts - as the DFS junction. When DFS-aware clients attempt to access the junction link, - they are redirected to the storage location (in this case, \\storage1\share1). -

- DFS trees on Samba work with all DFS-aware clients ranging from Windows 95 to 200x. -

- Here's an example of setting up a DFS tree on a Samba server. -

-# The smb.conf file:
-[global]
-	netbios name = SMOKEY
-	host msdfs   = yes
-
-[dfs]
-	path = /export/dfsroot
-	msdfs root = yes
-

In the /export/dfsroot directory we set up our dfs links to - other servers on the network.

-	root# cd /export/dfsroot
-	root# chown root /export/dfsroot
-	root# chmod 755 /export/dfsroot
-	root# ln -s msdfs:storageA\\shareA linka
-	root# ln -s msdfs:serverB\\share,serverC\\share linkb
-

You should set up the permissions and ownership of - the directory acting as the DFS root such that only designated - users can create, delete or modify the msdfs links. Also note - that symlink names should be all lowercase. This limitation exists - to have Samba avoid trying all the case combinations to get at - the link name. Finally set up the symbolic links to point to the - network shares you want, and start Samba.

Users on DFS-aware clients can now browse the DFS tree - on the Samba server at \\samba\dfs. Accessing - links linka or linkb (which appear as directories to the client) - takes users directly to the appropriate shares on the network.

Common Errors

Windows clients need to be rebooted - if a previously mounted non-dfs share is made a dfs - root or vice versa. A better way is to introduce a - new share and make it the dfs root.
Currently there's a restriction that msdfs - symlink names should all be lowercase.
For security purposes, the directory - acting as the root of the DFS tree should have ownership - and permissions set so that only designated users can - modify the symbolic links in the directory.

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