Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two

Hack #60. Share Files Across Platforms Using Samba

Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X all speak SMB/CIFS, which makes Samba a one-stop shop for all of their resource-sharing needs.

It used to be that if you wanted to share resources in a mixed-platform environment, you needed NFS for your Unix machines, AppleTalk for your Mac crowd, and Samba or a Windows file and print server to handle the Windows users. Nowadays, all three platforms can mount file shares and use printing and other resources through SMB/CIFS, and Samba can serve them all.

Samba can be configured in a seemingly endless number of ways. It can share just files, or printer and application resources as well. You can authenticate users for some or all of the services using local files, an LDAP directory, or a Windows domain server. This makes Samba an extremely powerful, flexible tool in the fight to standardize on a single daemon to serve all of the hosts in your network.

At this point, you may be wondering why you would ever need to use Samba with a Linux client, since Linux clients can just use NFS. Well, that's true, but whether that's what you really want to do is another question. Some sites have users in engineering or development environments who maintain their own laptops and workstations. These folks have the local root password on their Linux machines. One mistyped NFS export line, or a chink in the armor of your NFS daemon's security, and you could be inadvertently allowing remote, untrusted users free rein on the ...