knowledge/linux/samba.md

Samba Share

A Samba share lets you access files on this machine over the network (Windows SMB protocol).

<> - Is used to mark that you need to fill that in

Initial Setup (one-time)

1. Install Samba

sudo pacman -S samba        # Arch
sudo apt install samba      # Debian/Ubuntu

2. Create a Samba user

The samba password is separate from your system password.

sudo smbpasswd -a <username>

3. Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Example config for sharing the Projects folder:

[global]
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = %h
   map to guest = Bad User
   log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
   max log size = 50
   socket options = TCP_NODELAY

[Projects]
   comment = Projects
   path = /home/honney/Projects
   browseable = yes
   read only = no
   writable = yes
   valid users = honney
   create mask = 0664
   directory mask = 0775

4. Start Samba

sudo systemctl enable --now smb

5. Allow Samba through the firewall

sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=samba --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Or with ufw:

sudo ufw allow samba

Mounting the share on another Linux machine

Install cifs-utils:

sudo pacman -S cifs-utils     # Arch
sudo apt install cifs-utils   # Debian/Ubuntu

Mount manually:

sudo mount -t cifs //<IP>/Projects </path/to/mount> -o username=honney,vers=3.0

/etc/fstab entry

//<IP>/Projects  </path/to/mount>  cifs  username=honney,password=<password>,vers=3.0,nofail,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0664,dir_mode=0775  0  0

Or with a credentials file (more secure):

//<IP>/Projects  </path/to/mount>  cifs  credentials=</path/to/.smbcredentials>,vers=3.0,nofail,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0664,dir_mode=0775  0  0

Credentials file (~/.smbcredentials):

username=honney
password=<password>

chmod 600 ~/.smbcredentials

Find the IP of the Samba server

ip a | grep inet

List available shares

smbclient -L //<IP> -U honney

Troubleshooting

Check if Samba is running:

sudo systemctl status smb

View active connections:

sudo smbstatus

Test the config for errors:

testparm

Restart Samba after config changes:

sudo systemctl restart smb

Access from Windows

Open File Explorer and type:

\\<IP>\Projects

Then log in with the samba username and password.