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Understanding SAMBA's Best Uses

Started by Terry, 2008.01.02, 01:33:35

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Terry

While I am a long-time eCS user, since OS/2 v2.1, I have never used SAMBA.  A SOHO Network is planned with a small collection of computers including access to Linux, XP, and NT while using the upcoming eComStation 2.0 GA as the primary desktop workstation.

SAMBA QUESTIONS:

What is SAMBA?
What are SAMBA Shares?
How are SAMBA networks best used under OS/2 & eCS?
How do you use SAMBA in your SOHO networking?

[1]  The latest SAMBA status for eCS 2.0...

http://www.os2world.com/content/view/16227/2/

eComStation Virtual File System (Samba client support)
Samba is a SMB/CIFS protocols file and print sharing server/client set originally made for UNIX world to cooperate with corresponding Windows and OS/2 servers or clients. eComStation has a native implementation of SMB/CIFS server/client set - IBM LAN Manager and IBM Peer. These products have not been recently updated and may have some compatibility issues with modern Windows SMB/CIFS implementations.
Serenity Systems International has reached an agreement with Blueprint Software Works for the inclusion of the 'eComStation Virtual File System' driver which provides support for Samba Client. A simple GUI to configure and mount Samba shares is provided.

[2]  The latest Netlabs release of SAMBA...

http://svn.netlabs.org/samba

[3]  Micro$oft releases SAMBA protocols...

http://www.os2world.com/content/view/16164/79/

http://www.os2world.com/content/view/16156/79/

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS5157209946.html

bjorso


There is plenty of documentation on Internet for Samba configuration. The problem I encountered when trying to set up a Samba environment myself is every single document is different from the other so it left me more confused than before I started this!

It should be very welcome if somebody with the scills could write an informative article about this subject, no too technical and not only for eCS. I think most people want to use eCS in a modern network and then it's most likely to use any Linux as server of economical and political reasons, no Microsoft on the server side!

I have tried to set up this with a Debian server at home and it works OK but not perfect. Something that didn't surprice me was dealing with Windows is the trickiest part! Even if eCS gets a Samba-server and the problem with EA's and WPS is taken care of, will that have any effect on the server-part of Linux?

//bjorso

kim

#2
Agree with you Björn that there are a few steps to overcome when it comes to learn how to use Samba, but once your up and running with it works really great.

For most users normal Samba shares would do the trick and in Windows your would just mount the network shares as any other Windows share, ie \\server\share so my initial try with the eComStation Virtual Filesystem for SMB didn't work out that well. My result was that it looked up the WPS and I could get out of it with the result that I had to reboot the system. Removing the Workgroup name and trying out to mount the share again did the trick and everything works fine and speedy. Missing features within this little nice tool would be following:

  • Save the mounted volumes/shares
  • Edit existing mounted volumes/shares
  • Copy existing mounted volumes/shares

But, the GUI looks nice and straight forward to use and getting Samba to work together proper with eComStation is essential due to that many small NAS (Network-attached storage) make use of Linux Samba system to be shared on home networks. I myself are running with a D-Link DNS-323 that has worked flawless since I bought it.


melf

Talking about samba. For me Samba, via EVFS have showed up as most reliable. With the ordinary networkrequester the connection to my network is unstable and I'm sometimes unable to connect. With samba connection always works. But how about networkprinting and samba? For me availability to a networkprinter is a must, but what is the requirements for making a printershare?
/Mikael

Terry

Quote from: melf on 2008.01.03, 12:11:25
But how about networkprinting and samba? For me availability to a networkprinter is a must, but what is the requirements for making a printershare?

At least "in theory" for my situation, without ever having configured SAMBA, Network Printing and File Sharing appear to be good goals.

-- It looks like SAMBA would be a good "common ground" for all operating systems in your network.
-- The suggestion for a thorough SAMBA "how-to-article" under OS/2-eCS makes perfect sense.

Paul Smedley

Quote from: Terry on 2008.01.03, 17:52:54
Quote from: melf on 2008.01.03, 12:11:25
But how about networkprinting and samba? For me availability to a networkprinter is a must, but what is the requirements for making a printershare?

At least "in theory" for my situation, without ever having configured SAMBA, Network Printing and File Sharing appear to be good goals.

-- It looks like SAMBA would be a good "common ground" for all operating systems in your network.
-- The suggestion for a thorough SAMBA "how-to-article" under OS/2-eCS makes perfect sense.

Samba/2 really isn't that hard to configure - see http://svn.netlabs.org/samba for a walkthrough/howto and there's also a mailing list where questions can be asked.

At home here, I've connected successfully from:
- Macbook running MacOS X 10.5.1
- Fedora Linux
- Mandrake Linux
- Mediagate MG-35 (Media player)
- eCS
- Windows XP Home
- Windows 2000

melf

I've tried this guide before, but I didn't succeed though it is a thourough step by step guide. I think it is the unix way of thinking I've a bit hard to understand. I also had problems when trying to use the sambaplugin with netdrive. So this new GUI was quite intuitive and easy to understand and I hope they will extend the configuration possibilities to also include printing setup.
/Mikael

Paul Smedley

Quote from: melf on 2008.01.04, 08:30:19
I've tried this guide before, but I didn't succeed though it is a thourough step by step guide. I think it is the unix way of thinking I've a bit hard to understand. I also had problems when trying to use the sambaplugin with netdrive. So this new GUI was quite intuitive and easy to understand and I hope they will extend the configuration possibilities to also include printing setup.

Funny really - cos at the end of the day - EVFS basically == netdrive + samba plugin - just the interface is different :)

Terry

Quote from: Paul Smedley on 2008.01.05, 02:13:14
EVFS basically == netdrive + samba plugin

It looks like Netdrive makes SAMBA much easier to configure with the coming eComstation 2.0 GA.

Question:  Is Netdrive built into eCS, or; is the Netdrive Plug-in only built into eCS?

Paul Smedley

Quote from: Terry on 2008.01.05, 17:39:49
Quote from: Paul Smedley on 2008.01.05, 02:13:14
EVFS basically == netdrive + samba plugin

It looks like Netdrive makes SAMBA much easier to configure with the coming eComstation 2.0 GA.

Question:  Is Netdrive built into eCS, or; is the Netdrive Plug-in only built into eCS?

Note that eCS 2.0 GA will only have a Samba CLIENT - not the SERVER.

EVFS is a new product - that I assume is somewhat based on Netdrive - but it will only work with the Samba netdrive plugin.

melf

Quote from: Paul Smedley on 2008.01.05, 02:13:14
Quote from: melf on 2008.01.04, 08:30:19
I've tried this guide before, but I didn't succeed though it is a thourough step by step guide. I think it is the unix way of thinking I've a bit hard to understand. I also had problems when trying to use the sambaplugin with netdrive. So this new GUI was quite intuitive and easy to understand and I hope they will extend the configuration possibilities to also include printing setup.

Funny really - cos at the end of the day - EVFS basically == netdrive + samba plugin - just the interface is different :)
Yes, it's absolutely just a question of ease of use I guess. The samba GUI in netdrive just isn't that easy.
/Mikael

kim

Quote from: Paul Smedley on 2008.01.06, 02:02:13Note that eCS 2.0 GA will only have a Samba CLIENT - not the SERVER.

Paul, how come can it be that the GA won't include Samba Server? I mean easy installed by the users; so what not include it?

Terry

We don't know "why" but do have an idea of "when" for Samba Server and related support...

http://www.ecomstation.com/ecomstation20.phtml

Proposed components of eComStation 2.1 and beyond:

ACPI updates: the ACPI project will be enhanced and an updated release will be included
in a newer release of eComStation.

CUPS: provides a portable printing layer for UNIX-based operating systems. It is
developed and maintained by Easy Software Products to promote a standard printing
solution and is the standard printing system in MacOS X and most Linux distributions.
It supports hundreds of modern printers.

Samba Server support: enables the utilization of your eComStation machine as a
(cost-efficient) file-server for your SOHO network.

OpenLDAP: OpenLDAP enables you to authenticate your eComStation workstation against a
Windows 2003 Active Directory server, as well as Novell or Linux networks. It is an open
source suite of LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) applications and development
tools. The eComStation implementation will feature a convenient WPS configuration frontend.