[NTLUG:Discuss] Network basics?

[Mark Bickel]

> From: falconjetflyer at netscape.net
> To: discuss at ntlug.org
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
> Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] Network basics?
> Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 15:28:34 -0400
> 
> I have a network with my Mandrake Linux machine as the internet gateway.
> I want to be able to transfer files to my other machines (windoze machines).   
> The windows machines can access the internet flawlessly.   
> 
> I want to be able to "see" the other machines from my linux machine and 
> transfer files from one to the other.   
> 
> What am I missing.  Is that general a question?  Where so I start.

What ou are missing is that "Windows" style networking - file & print share -
rely on a Microsoft networking protocol called SMB - Server Message Block -
which has been reverse-engineered and implemented for Unix and Linux in SaMBa.

SaMBa has two daemons: smbd and nmbd. smbd allows you machine to act as a
file and/or print server to Windows machines and other hosts running SaMBa.
nmbd is an SMB "browsing" daemon that enables you computer to be "seen" by
other hosts using network SMB browsers such as "My Network Neighborhood".

In other words if one configures SaMBa correctly other hosts can map network
SMB path. However, they still will not "see" your machine when browsing the
SMB network unless you also have nmbd running and configured correctly so
that your host's resources are advertised on the network.

Your confusion may be that you are equating IP network protocols with SMB.
They are distinctly different things. SMB is an "encapsulated" protocol. 
That means that it must ride on top of (be encapsulated inside of) other
networking protocols such as TCP/IP, or IPX (Netware). Thus you may have
your IP address, netmask, default gateway, and DNS servers all configured
correctly and thus be able to surf the Web, read and send mail, FTP, etc.
You still then need SaMBa to share your network resources Windoze-style.

Now you may also want to be able to use other Windows hosts' resources,
like "mapping" a "network drive" or remote printer. In Linux you can do this
because the kernel supports mounting SMB filesystems through the use of the
smbmount command. Likewise modern UNIX/Linux printing systems (CUPs, LPRng)
support connecting to SMB printer shares.

There are GUI tools to help with this: LinNeighborhood allows you to browse
your "windows network" and then mount remote filesystems locally. There are
several other file and printer manager GUI apps that do this also on Linux.
It is possible to mount SMB shares automaticly by putting them in mounting
table /etc/vfstab or using an automounter like autofs. It is then possible
to place an icon on your desktop that will automount a network fileshare.

The Web-base SWAT GUI tool can help you configure your smb.conf SaMBa file.

Additionally SaMBa can handle authentication in several different manners.
It is possible for example to relay authentication through a Primary or
Secondary Domain Controller PDC/BDC or Remote Authentication Server (RAS),
using Kerberos or NIS.

man smbd; man nmbd
man smbmount; man smbumount
man nmblookup; man smbclient
mount testparm; man testprns
man smb.conf; man /etc/vfstab
man amd; man autofs

Check out the links Rick Mathews listed and try doing some google searches
on SaMBa SMB Linux for other resources.

Cheers,
Mark (dot) Bickel (at) Ericsson (dotcom)