Help setting Jaunty Jackalope up as a file server on windows small office networ

[Guest]

I've installed on a P4 1.8 ghz 512 ram dual hard drives. Installed Samba. I've got internet access through the hub but cant figure out how to get the machines to talk to each other. Have googled but only get answers for feisty fawn and the interface difference is confusing me. Should I just find feisty fawn. Any help will be much appreciated.

[dibl]

Re: Help setting Jaunty Jackalope up as a file server on windows small office networ

As you say, "Samba" is the term of art that you are looking for. Search this forum, Ubuntu Forums, or Google. You start the daemons with

sudo /etc/init.d/samba start

After you twiddle your /etc/samba/smb.conf file, trying to make it work, you need to restart the daemons with

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Windows firewalls are your enemy, in this case. In Win XP, if memory serves, you have to go at them from 3 different angles to get them entirely turned off. Control panel, network settings, and I forget what else -- maybe "Security Center".

Configuration of the /etc/samba/smb.conf file can be tricky, depending on how much security your network requires. For a simple 3-machine home network, behind a router (which has had its factory default IP address changed), I use this smb.conf so I can get to my Linux system from the Windows machines:

[global]

workgroup = WORKGROUP
interfaces = eth0
map to guest = bad user

[Data]
path = /home/dibl
read only = no
guest ok = yes
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no
force user = dibl

[Epson_84]

printing = cups
path = /var/tmp
printable = yes
guest ok = yes
guest only = yes

[Documents]
path = /home/dibl
writeable = yes
browseable = yes
guest ok = yes

When it is working correctly, a user on a Windows machine should be able to click "My Computer > network places > view workgroup computers", and see the Linux box. Click on it, and a login window appears. The user name should be entered in the form of "user@linuxbox" and then give his Kubuntu password and he should be logged in. From that point, he can browse to whatever is included under, or symlinked into, his /home/user directory. So you can symlink "MUSIC" or "ALLDATA" or whatever data storage partition to each user's home directory, and adjust their access privileges as you wish.