43.18. Configuring the Samba Windows File Sharing Module
The module assumes that you have installed the Samba package available for your operating system or Linux distribution, or have compiled Samba from source code if no such package is available. If this is not the case (for example, if you have compiled the latest version instead of using a package), the paths that it uses for the Samba programs and configuration files will be wrong. This will cause the module's main page to incorrectly display an error message about Samba not being installed.
Fortunately, these paths can be easily changed by clicking on the standard Module Config link in the top-left corner of the main page. If you follow this link on the form that appears, there are fields that control the module's user interface (under Configurable options) as well as the fields for configuration file and program paths (under System configuration). The first group of settings can be safely changed at any time, but those that set paths do not generally need to be adjusted as the defaults are usually correct.
Table 43.1 lists the available configuration fields and their meanings.
| List of UNIX users not to add to the Samba password list | On the form for converting UNIX to Samba users (covered in Section 43.3 “Managing Samba Users”), there is a field listing users not to convert. Its default values are taken from this configuration field, so if you find yourself always adding certain users to exclude them from conversion, you may want to add them here. |
| Sort users and groups by name | When Yes is selected for this field, the list of Samba users will be sorted by login name. If No is chosen, they will be listed in the order that they were converted or added, instead. |
| Location of the Samba configuration file | This field must contain the full path to the Samba configuration file, smb.conf, such as /etc/smb.conf or /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf. |
| Location of the Samba password file | For the module to be able to edit and create Samba users, this field must contain the full path to the text file in which they are stored. It is called smbpassswd, and is usually found in /etc or /usr/local/samba/private. Do not enter the path to the smbpasswd program! |
| Full path to smbstatus | In this field you must enter the path to the smbstatus program, which displays the list of connected users. |
| Full path to smbpasswd | This field must contain the full path to the smbpasswd program, used for setting users' encrypted passwords. |
| Full path to smbd | This must contain the location of the smbd server program, such as /usr/sbin/smbd. |
| Full path to nmbd | Similarly, this field must contain the location of the nmbd server program, usually found in the same directory as smbd. |
| Full path to swat | If you want to be able to use SWAT from within this Webmin module, this field must contain the full path to the swat executable. If it is incorrect or None is chosen, the rest of the module will still work, but no SWAT icon will appear on the main page. |
| Full path to smbgroupedit | If you are running Samba version 3 which supports Samba groups as well as users, this field should be set to the path to the group editing command. This will enable the module's group management and synchronization features, which is not covered in this chapter as Samba 3 is still under development. |
| Command to start Samba servers | This field determines what command is run when the Start Samba Servers button on the module's main page is clicked. It is also used when a user clicks the Restart Samba Servers to restart Samba after the stop command set in the next field is run. If None is selected the module will just run smbd and nmbd, which works fine and should be used if you have compiled and installed Samba from the source code. Some Linux distribution packages include a bootup script to start the servers. On those systems, this field is set to something like /etc/init.d/samba start by default. Of course, this will not work if you have not actually installed the packaged version. |
| Command to stop Samba servers | Like the previous field, this field determines what command is used to stop Samba when the Restart Samba Servers button is selected. You can either select None to have the module simply kill all of the smbd and nmbd server processes, or enter a command like /etc/init.d/samba stop to have it executed, instead. The first option should be used if you have compiled and installed Samba from the source code, as no such script is likely to exist. |