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2.2. Configuration
The main Samba configuration file is located in /etc/samba/smb.conf. The default configuration file has a significant number of comments in order to document various configuration directives.
Not all the available options are included in the default configuration file. See the smb.conf man page or the Samba HOWTO Collection2 for more details.
1. First, edit the following key/value pairs in the [global] section of /etc/samba/smb.conf:
workgroup = EXAMPLE
...
security = user
The security parameter is farther down in the [global] section, and is commented by default. Also, change
EXAMPLE to better match your environment.
2. Create a new section at the bottom of the file, or uncomment one of the examples, for the directory to be shared:
[share]
comment = Ubuntu File Server Share path = /srv/samba/share
browsable = yes guest ok = yes read only = no create mask = 0755
• comment: a short description of the share. Adjust to fit your needs.
2 http://samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/
• path: the path to the directory to share.
This example uses /srv/samba/sharename because, according to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), /srv3 is where site-specific data should be served. Technically Samba shares can be placed anywhere on the filesystem as long as the permissions are correct, but adhering to standards is recommended.
• browsable: enables Windows clients to browse the shared directory using Windows Explorer.
• guest ok: allows clients to connect to the share without supplying a password.
• read only: determines if the share is read only or if write privileges are granted. Write privileges are allowed only when the value is no, as is seen in this example. If the value is yes, then access to the share is read only.
• create mask: determines the permissions new files will have when created.
3. Now that Samba is configured, the directory needs to be created and the permissions changed. From a terminal enter:
sudo mkdir -p /srv/samba/share
sudo chown nobody:nogroup /srv/samba/share/
The -p switch tells mkdir to create the entire directory tree if it doesn't exist.
4. Finally, restart the samba services to enable the new configuration:
sudo systemctl restart smbd.service nmbd.service
Once again, the above configuration gives all access to any client on the local network. For a more secure configuration see Section 4, “Securing File and Print Server” [p. 312].
From a Windows client you should now be able to browse to the Ubuntu file server and see the shared directory. If your client doesn't show your share automatically, try to access your server by its IP address, e.g.
\\192.168.1.1, in a Windows Explorer window. To check that everything is working try creating a directory from Windows.
To create additional shares simply create new [dir] sections in /etc/samba/smb.conf, and restart Samba. Just make sure that the directory you want to share actually exists and the permissions are correct.
The file share named "[share]" and the path /srv/samba/share are just examples. Adjust the share and path names to fit your environment. It is a good idea to name a share after a directory on the file system. Another example would be a share name of [qa] with a path of /srv/samba/qa.