Simple Samba Setup

Simple Samba (SMB) Setup with the main focus being of of having a file share method for www developers on windows machines.

Install Samba on Debian or Ubuntu

apt-get install samba samba-common 

Note: If firewalls or port filters are in use then please make sure that Tcp 445 is allowed to talk to the Samba Server

Configure Samba with a local user for www-data

Configure Samba with a local user to authenticate and enforce the user www-data to be used on the share level

• Add a new group

addgroup sambagrp

• Create a user (demo01), no home directory and no local login, just to authenticate with Samba, add the user to the new group

useradd demo01 -M -G sambagrp -s /usr/sbin/nologin 

• Add a the new user (-a) to the Samba authentication and create a new password

smbpasswd -a demo01

• Create or edit /etc/samba/smb.conf

[global]
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = %h server (Linux)
   interfaces = eth0
   bind interfaces only = yes
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
   panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
   server role = standalone server
   obey pam restrictions = Yes
   passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
   passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
   pam password change = Yes
   map to guest = Bad User
   #log level = 4 #To be used for debugging purposes

[www]
   comment = www
   path = /var/www
   valid users = @sambagrp
   browsable = yes
   writable = yes
   read only = no
   force user = www-data

• Restart Samba

systemctl restart smbd

Ready to use the demo01 user to connect to the Samba Server

Configure Samba with a foreign user for www-data

Configure a new user which gets authenticated with other methods such as 'sssd (ldap authentication)' like with ActiveDirectory

• Add a new group, this time we use a ldap group

addgroup ldapgrp

• Add the Ldap user to the new group

usermod -a -G ldapgrp  <ldap user>

• Add a the new user (-a) to the Samba authentication and create a new password. This can become interesting because if the same password is used for ldap then the result will be some kind of a improved single sign on, ldap or active directory users will not get prompted for a password this way

smbpasswd -a <ldap user>

• Create or edit /etc/samba/smb.conf, note that obey pam restrictions is not used anymore in this sample

[global]
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = %h server (Linux)
   interfaces = eth0
   bind interfaces only = yes
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
   panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
   server role = standalone server
   #obey pam restrictions = Yes
   passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
   passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
   pam password change = Yes
   map to guest = Bad User
   #log level = 4 #To be used for debugging purposes

[www]
   comment = www
   path = /var/www
   valid users = @ldapgrp
   browsable = yes
   writable = yes
   read only = no
   force user = www-data

Configure Samba with a local user for general purpose

Configure Samba with a local user to authenticate both, to the Linux console and Samba

• Add group

addgroup demogrp

• Add user with password

adduser demo2

• Add the user to the Samba TDB

smbpasswd demo02

• Change the primary group

usermod -g demogrp demo02

• Create a test directory for the samba share

mkdir /data

• Assign user and group to the new directory

chown root /data
chgrp demogrp /data
chmod 770 /data

[global]

  workgroup = WORKGROUP
  server string = %h server (Linux)
  interfaces = eth0
  bind interfaces only = yes
  log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
  panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
  server role = standalone server
  obey pam restrictions = Yes
  passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
  passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
  pam password change = Yes
  map to guest = Bad User
  #log level = 4 #To be used for debugging purposes

[data]

  comment = data
  path = /data
  valid users = @demogrp
  browsable = yes
  writable = yes
  read only = no
  create mask = 0660

Maintenance Commands

Delete Windows Connection

This must be used whenever credentials or other share parameter has been changed==

• Show connections

net use

• Delete default connection

net use \\<Name or IP> /delete

• Or delete a shared specific connection

net use \\<Name or IP>\sharename /delete

Samba Account

• Create a new samba account with password

smbpasswd -a username

• Change a samba account password

smbpasswd username

• Delete a samba account

smbpasswd -x username

Groups

• Create group

addgroup groupname

• Delete group

delgroup groupname

• Change users primary group

usermod -g groupname username

• Add user to group

usermod -a -G groupname username

• Delete user from group

deluser username groupname

Local User

• Add with no home, no login

useradd username -M -G groupname -s /usr/sbin/nologin

• Show user ID, primary group and group membership

id <username>

Samba

• Stop/Start/Restart/Status

systemctl stop smbd
systemctl start smbd
systemctl restart smbd
systemctl status smbd

• Test configuration

testparm

• Status

smbstatus