Using the Samba Protocol to Access Windows Shares and Files

Novell Cool Solutions: Trench
By Girish Mutt

Digg This - Slashdot This Posted: 17 Jan 2006

1.The Problem Statement

As soon as you migrate from the Windows Desktop to the Novell Linux Desktop(NLD) the one thing we may want to do during initial phases of migration from Windows desktop to Novell Linux desktop(NLD) is accessing the Windows Work groups and shares on the various windows machines so that you will be able to transfer all the data. The next step is to find a way of accessing the Work groups and windows machines shared data. There is one such technology because of which we can do it easily by using a protocol called Server Message Block(SMB) which allows the NLD users to do the above said things seamlessly.

SMB is basically a client-server, request-response protocol for sharing the files,printers and others between the computers. Most of the windows machines are running SMB as a client , server or both. SMB can be used with TCP/IP, NetBEUI and IPX/SPX protocols.

The requests and responses that are interchanged between the client and servers are referred as SMBs. SBM is available with most versions of UNIX, Windows,VMS and other operating systems. Although the primary use of the SMB is to share the files , it can be used for other purposes like:-

1. Finding the SMB protocol supporting servers or browsing the machines on Windows networks.

2. Printing over networks.

3. File/Directory authentication based access.

Figure 1:- SMB interactions between the client and the server using request-response messages.

The Solution

The two major things that will be covered as part of the solution are:-

• Accessing the Windows work groups or domains.

• Accessing the Windows machines and shares.

1. Accessing the Windows work groups or domains

Before knowing how to access the Windows work groups or domains it essential to understand the basic difference between the two. A Work group is basically a collection of the computers that maintain their own security information in a De-centralized manner. A Domain is also a collection of the computers where the security information is controlled in a centralized manner which is usually done by a set of domain controllers under a particular domain.

A work group can be easily accessed by using the File Manger utility available in the Accessories of the Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) main menu as shown below:-

Figure 2:- Here we are seeing the work group by name "workgroup" being accessed using the SMB through File Manager.

We can also see all the work groups that available by using File Manger utility as shown below:-

Figure 3:- Accessing all the work groups using SMB.

Here the only difference between accessing a particular workgroup and all the work groups is that we will not use any workgroup name in the location box.

2. Accessing the Windows machine and shares.

The process of accessing a Windows machine or a Windows share is same; the only difference is that for accessing the shares you need to give the machine name and the shared folder name while we only give the workstation name to access a machine.

A Windows machine can be easily accessed by using the File Manger utility available in the Accessories of the Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) main menu as shown below:-

Figure 4:- Here we are accessing a Windows network machine by using its host name.

Reader Comments

• What on earth is the purpose of this article? It gives no useful information whatsoever - or is there a "next page" button that I've missed?
• does not really explain how to do this... to general... was lookingfor a FAQ on setting up SMB for linking to Mac and PC via a DSL Router
• more detail on domain securities?
• I was hoping to find the answer to why after installing samba client I'm not able to access the available shares on a 2003 server.
• We all want to see concise instruction on how to connect to Active directory or domain shares automatically.
• "Guys, Some of the comments given here doesn't make any sense....." Um, you don't know your audience then. Your audience are technical folks who need detailed answers not noobs that need 'ease of use' answers. My end users are not reading the artical, my IT staff is. All in all though, the article has some good info that answers the 'what?' but nothing that answers the 'how?' which is what your audience is looking for.
• The information provided would not help anyone to do meaningful networking with Samba. Using Samba for the first time can be a royal pain in the keester. Please provide detailed information that works and help add a little user friendliness to what can be an unfriendly process to learn. This was a waste.
• Guys, Some of the comments given here doesn't make any sense. First try to undertstand with whatrequirements in mind this article was writte. End users never want technical hyopthesis.what they want is ease of use. If they are given some easy tips to use some existng technology to get their workdone, that's more than enough. I find these comments as totally un-necessary. Before making such comments about somebody, try to show your expertisen rather than showing somebody down.
• almost useless. And despite the one "defender" comment, it is clear that this article makes little or no effort to actually understand the audience. Newbie users NEED guidance, tips, an explanation of "gotchas" and, frankly, just some substance. This is neither "cool" nor a "solution" really in any way. Please respect your audience enough to allocate sufficient resources such that when you publish something it has some merit, and is useful to folks. Please.
• This page was a waste of time. Perhaps I expected too much but I wanted information on installation/configuration steps needed to get samba running. This was all high level that didn't even touch on that.
• Obviously the 7th comment was from the author - you're outnumbered dude - go ask someone with a brain to explain why you get these comments for an utterly useless document. We all know it explains features - where is the "Cool Solution"?

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