Configuring Samba

Samba uses /etc/samba/smb.conf as its configuration file. If you change this configuration file, the changes will not take effect until you restart the Samba daemon with the command service smb restart.

The default configuration file (smb.conf) in Red Hat Linux 7.2 allows users to view their Linux home directories as a Samba share on the Windows machine after they log in using the same username and password. It also shares any printers configured for the Red Hat Linux system as Samba shared printers. In other words, you can attach a printer to your Red Hat Linux system and print to it from the Windows machines on your network.

To specify the Windows workgroup and description string, edit the following lines in your smb.conf file:

workgroup = WORKGROUPNAME server string = BRIEF COMMENT ABOUT SERVER

Replace WORKGROUPNAME with the name of the Windows workgroup to which this machine should belong. The BRIEF COMMENT ABOUT SERVER is optional and will be the Windows comment about the Samba system.

To create a Samba share directory on your Linux system, add the following section to your smb.conf file (after modifying it to reflect your needs and your system):

[sharename] comment = Insert a comment here path = /home/share/ valid users = tfox carole public = no writable = yes printable = no create mask = 0765

The above example allows the users tfox and carole to read and write to the directory /home/share, on the Samba server, from a Samba client.