Using SMB Client

The SMB Client program—smbclient—is used to connect your Linux machine to networked SMB servers: for example, those running Windows NT.

Smbclient is a command-line program with many options.

To display smbclient syntax:

To establish a typical connection:

• At the command prompt, type smbclient \theserver mp psswd where passwd is the password for the current user, and tmp is the resource on theserver.
  
  

  Tip

  Table 13.2 lists some of the commonly used smbclient command flags.

  Common smbclient command flags
  Flag	Comment
  -L host	Displays a list of resources available on the host
  -I IP Address	Causes smbclient to use the IP address rather than a host name look up
  -N	Used when a password is not required
  -U Username	Use the specified user name, rather than the Linux logon ID. Passwords are specified using a percent sign. For example, if you were logged on as root, you could issue the following command to connect as juser:
  	smbclient \theserver tmp –U juser%passwd
  -W Workgroup	Specifies the workgroup on the remote SMB server

  
  

  Tip

  Once you are connected to a file resource, there are a number of commands available for manipulating files and directories. These are pretty much like the command-line FTP commands (see "Using FTP" earlier in this chapter). Some of the more common commands available for file operations are listed in Table 13.3.

  File Operation Commands
  Command	Comment
  cd	Changes the directory
  del	Deletes a file
  dir	Lists a directory
  get	Gets a remote file and saves it on the local system
  lcd	Changes the local directory
  mkdir	Creates (makes) a directory on the remote resource
  put	Puts local files on the remote resource
  quit	Exits smbclient