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Configuring Samba on Debian

Debian Samba

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Select the desired version or distribution.

Intro

Samba is a multi-functional file server and the name of the protocol it uses, originally developed by Microsoft as a proprietary SMB. It actually has functionality for gateways to printers and pipes for IPC communication. Next, we will walk through the configuration process of Samba on Debian, which involves several steps.

Installing additional applications

First you need to update the apt cache and install the required software components. Open terminal and paste:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install samba
installation
Screenshot №1 — Installation

The command above will install necessary packages with their dependencies.

Manage Users

When deploy complete, we make and setup consumer to gain resources.
Do it:

sudo useradd -m user1

Change "user1" with the actual username
Upon completion of the creation process, we should create a password:

sudo passwd user1

And then assign the Samba group:

sudo smbpasswd -a user1
New user
Screenshot №2 — New user

Preparing Shared Catalogs

After creating and configuring users, we create shares to which they will have access. Create a folder share1 along the path / media

mkdir /media/share1

Next, edit the Samba configuration file with a text editor, in this case nano:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

It is used for creation shared folders, grant access to them, and other important service settings.
Now make new resource and define access rights to it.
Make a folder "share1", set permissions for user1:

[share1]
path = /media/share1
read only = no
guest ok = no
valid users = user1
Configuration
Screenshot №3 — Configuration

After making these, directory "share1" will be accessible for user1.

Restart Samba

After changing the settings, the service should be restarted:

sudo systemctl restart smbd.service
Status
Screenshot №4 — Status

This command will restart the Samba service and commit any changes made to the configuration.

Availability check

Once configured, you can test access to shared folders from another host on the network. To check from the server itself, you can use the smbclient utility, which should first be installed:

sudo apt install smbclient -y

Let's know your white IP-address with command:

ip a

And then verify:

smbclient -U user1 //[IP_address|Server_name]/share1 -c 'ls'

Or by opening the file manager on another computer and typing in the address bar:

\\Debian_server_IP\share1

"Debian_server_IP" is the IP address of the newly configured server.
If everything was done correctly, then as a result you should see the contents of the "share1" folder. In the Windows you can use Explore.exe which have handler for SMB communications:

Connection
Screenshot №5 — Connection

Alright, after that we can use our shared folder under authenticated user1. For more control of user's action you can configure attributes for each! That solution also will be suitable for other distributives like alt Linux with Samba.

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