System information

58 Deploying Samba on IBM Eserver BladeCenter
4.1 Installing Samba
Since the version of Samba on the install CDs is usually downlevel, it is best to download the
latest version from http://www.samba.org/. The latest stable code is available in binary, rpm
file, and source code, tar.gz file, form. We downloaded the latest binary code for Red Hat 7.3
from http://us2.samba.org/samba/ftp/Binary_Packages/redhat/RPMS/7.3/.
1. Check whether Samba is already installed with the command:
rpm -qa |grep samba
This command will return the name and version of all the Samba packages installed on
the system. If there are Samba packages installed, uninstall these packages with the
command sequence:
for i in $(rpm -qa |grep samba); do rpm -e --nodeps $i; done
This command might return some errors while running.
2. Change to the directory where the downloaded RPM file is located and install the latest
version using the command:
rpm -ivh samba-2.2.6-1.i386.rpm
4.2 Configuring the Samba server
We will now explain how to configure Samba so it can participate as a file/print server in an
existing Windows network or as a stand-alone file/print server for Windows and Linux clients.
The Samba server configuration is stored in smb.conf. This file is usually found in the
/etc/samba directory. The file can be modified by directly editing it or by using the Samba
Web Administratin Tool (SWAT). We will configure Samba by directly editing the file. Then
we will show how SWAT can be used to configure and control Samba.
4.2.1 Samba configuration file
The SAMBA configuration file smb.conf is divided into two main sections:
1. Global Settings - these settings affect the general operation of the server.
2. Share Definitions - these settings are used in defining shares. A share is a directory on the
server that is accessible over the network by SMB client systems. There are three kinds of
shares:
a. Homes - in this subsection, the user’s home directories are defined.
b. Printers - in this subsection, available printers are defined.
c. Shares - this subsection is where all the shares are defined for the system.
We will now explain the common settings in each section of the configuration file. These
settings will configure the server so it can participate as a file/print server in an existing
Windows network or as a stand-alone file/print server for Windows and Linux clients. Only the
most necessary parameters will be covered. For more detailed information, see the manual
pages for smb.conf at:
/usr/share/doc/samba-2.2.7/docs/htmldocs/smb.conf.5.html
or the Samba documentation on the Samba project Web site at:
http://www.samba.org