Communicator 3000 MPE/iX Release 6.0 (Platform Software Release C.60.00) (30216-90269)

Chapter 10 237
Technical Articles
Introducing Samba/iX
•ASMBCLIENT utility is part of Samba suite. SMBCLIENT is a client
that can access to a SMB (Server Message Block) server. It provides
a user interface similar to that of FTP program. Mainly, it is used on
UNIX based servers as they typically do not have a Windows File
Manager available.
•ANMBLOOKUP utility allows to query WINS name-servers and to
assist with manual NETBIOS name resolution.
•ATESTPARMS program provides the user to test the Samba
configuration file for correctness. If this program reports no
problems, the SMBD process will successfully load the configuration.
•ASAMP-SMB.CNF file is a sample Samba/iX configuration file that
contains the runtime configuration information for the SMBD
program. This file consists of sections and parameters. A global
section is defined to contain the general parameters and defaults.
This file also contains the information required for each share and
defines attributes like associated directory path, read or write access
for each share. This file resides in the /usr/local/samba/lib
directory.
File and Printer Sharing Using Samba/iX
With the availability of Samba/iX on a MPE/iX 6.0 system, you can set
up your HP 3000 system as a Samba server. In order to set up the HP
3000 system as a Samba server, you have to create a configuration file
that basically contains the information required for file and printer
sharing services. This Samba configuration file contains information on
various shares you may access. This file resides in
/usr/local/samba/lib directory and is read when the SMBD server
is run. Samba/iX supports both file and printer sharing services. As a
result, you can define not only file shares but also printer shares.
A listener process is then started under the control of INETD. The
listener process waits for incoming client connection requests and
creates child processes as needed. The Samba/iX server side validates
user name and password which are sent by the client and grants access
to the requested share if it is appropriate.
When the client connection is established, the client can then send
requests to the Samba/iX server that allow them to access shares, open
files, read and write files.
At the DOS prompt on a PC client, you can use NET VIEW command to
retrieve information about available shares from the Samba/iX server.
You can use NET USE command to connect to server shares and to map
them to disk drivers. These network drivers are then accessible to
regular PC applications. You don't need to use DOS commands for
connecting or accessing shares, this can also be done from the Windows
File Manager.