Tutorial Configure Samba on Debian

If you connect from a Windows client to a Windows file server, your communication will be established without any problems due to the same communication protocols between the two operating systems. But to connect the Windows client to a server file from the Linux or Unix operating systems, you will need a communication protocol. Samba is a communication protocol between Linux and Windows. In this article, we are going to teach you how to configure Samba on Debian. Also, you can visit the packages available in Eldernode if you wish to purchase a Linux VPS Hosting.

What is Samba?

Samba is a protocol, networking tool, and standard Windows interoperability suite of programs for Linux and Unix. The name Samba is derived from SMB, which stands for Server Message Block and is the name of the standard protocol used by Microsoft Windows Network File System. Samba allows Windows to share files and printers on a Unix host, and also allows Unix users to access shared resources on Windows systems. Samba is free software that re-implements the SMB/CIFS network protocol. Andrew Tridgell developed the first version of Samba Unix in December 1991 and January 1992.

Samba Features

• Offers good performance under heavy loads
• Offers secured data transfer
• Supports NT-style printing service (SPOOLSS)
• Supports POSIX extensions for CIFS/SMB
• Supports NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT)
• Easy and quick to deploy
• Allows concurrent operations
• Multichannel technology

How to Install Samba on Debian

Before doing anything, update your packages list with the following command:

sudo apt update

Samba is available on Debian default repositories. You can install Samba by running the following command:

sudo apt install samba smbclient cifs-utils

The following dependencies will also be installed with Samba:

The following additional packages will be installed:  attr ibverbs-providers keyutils libcephfs2 libgfapi0 libgfrpc0 libgfxdr0  libglusterfs0 libibverbs1 librados2 librdmacm1 python3-cffi-backend  python3-cryptography python3-dnspython python3-gpg python3-markdown  python3-pygments python3-requests-toolbelt python3-samba python3-tdb  python3-yaml samba-common samba-common-bin samba-dsdb-modules  samba-vfs-modules tdb-tools

Suggested packages:

winbind python-cryptography-doc python3-cryptography-vectors python3-sniffio  python3-trio python-markdown-doc python-pygments-doc ttf-bitstream-vera  bind9 bind9utils ctdb ldb-tools ntp | chrony smbldap-tools ufw  heimdal-clients

The following NEW packages will be installed:

attr cifs-utils ibverbs-providers keyutils libcephfs2 libgfapi0 libgfrpc0  libgfxdr0 libglusterfs0 libibverbs1 librados2 librdmacm1  python3-cffi-backend python3-cryptography python3-dnspython python3-gpg  python3-markdown python3-pygments python3-requests-toolbelt python3-samba  python3-tdb python3-yaml samba samba-common samba-common-bin  samba-dsdb-modules samba-vfs-modules smbclient tdb-tools

How to Configure Samba on Debian

At this point, you need to change the Samba Global settings. The Samba configuration file is located in /etc/samba/smb.conf. To do this, you should open the file with your favorite text editor and change your desired settings:

nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Now it’s time to create a shared Samba directory in which you can share both public and private directories:

sudo mkdir /public  sudo mkdir /private

Then you need to add two directories to a Samba conf. To do this, open the file in your text editor and edit it:

nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Remember to add shares and authentication methods at the end of the file to access it:

[public]  comment = Public Folder  path = /public  writable = yes  guest ok = yes  guest only = yes  force create mode = 775  force directory mode = 775  [private]  comment = Private Folder  path = /private  writable = yes  guest ok = no  valid users = @smbshare  force create mode = 770  force directory mode = 770  inherit permissions = yes

In this step, you should create Samba Share User and User Group to access the Private share. You can create the group by entering the following command:

sudo groupadd smbshare

Next, you should add the necessary permissions for the private share:

sudo chgrp -R smbshare /private/  sudo chgrp -R smbshare /public

To set the appropriate directory permissions run the following command:

sudo chmod 2770 /private/  sudo chmod 2775 /public

Value 2 at the beginning of the above command stands for SGID bit, which allows newly created files to inherit the parent group.

To access a private share, you need to create a no login local user. To do this, run the following command:

sudo useradd -M -s /sbin/nologin sambauser

Then you should add the user to the Samba share group as below:

sudo usermod -aG smbshare sambauser

Remember to create an SMB password for the user with the following command:

sudo smbpasswd -a sambauser

Finally, enable the created account by entering the following command:

sudo smbpasswd -e sambauser

How to Verify the Samba configuration

You can test the config file with the help of the following command:

sudo testparm

Now you need to create demo files in the Samba shares. To do this, run the following commands:

sudo mkdir /private/demo-private /public/demo-public  sudo touch /private/demo1.txt /public/demo2.txt

You should restart the service by executing the following command to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart nmbd

If you have a Firewall running, you can enable remote access from the specified IP range using the following command:

sudo ufw allow from IP-range to any app Samba

Note that you should enter your IP instead of the IP-range in the above command.

How to Access the Shares from the Client

First, you should have access to the share from your local device. You can do this with the following command:

$ smbclient '\\localhost\private' -U sambauser  Enter WORKGROUP\sambauser's password:   Try "help" to get a list of possible commands.  smb: \> ls  .                                     D        0  Tue Apr  26 02:10:34 2022  ..                                    D        0  Tue Apr  26 02:04:41 2022  demo1.txt                             N        0  Tue Apr  26 02:10:34 2022  demo-private                          D        0  Tue Apr  26 02:10:24 2022                   39987708 blocks of size 1024. 32647972 blocks available  smb: \> exit

Setting up a Windows Client

You can access the share from Windows using the IP address of the Samba share system.

First, you should open a run box by pressing Win+R and then enter your IP.

Then you will see the shared folders. Create a file in one of the shared folders.

The created file should be viewed on the Samba server device.

Next, you need to install the Samba share on your Windows system. To do this, right-click on This PC and select Map Network Drive.

Now you need to fill in the Path details.

Then you should enter the Samba user credentials.

Finally, the share will be available to you.

Setting up a Linux Client

To set up the Linux client, you should install the Samba packages using the following command:

sudo apt install samba-client cifs-utils

After the installation is complete, go to the File Manager and select Other Locations. Then you can add your share using the following syntax:

smb://servername/Share_name

Now you should enter the Samba user credentials.

Finally, you will have Samba share available.

How to Uninstall Samba on Debian

You can remove Samba with the following command:

apt-get remove samba

The following command can remove the entire samba packages along with the configuration files:

sudo apt-get purge samba

Purge is identical to remove except that packages are removed. That’s it!

Conclusion

In this article, we taught you how to configure and uninstall Samba on Debian. After installing Samba, you can share files over the network between Windows and Linux systems. I hope this article was useful for you. You can ask your questions in the comments.