[KLUG Members] Re: Nautilus in RH 7.3 and Samba shares...revisited... -- Use NFS for UNIX-to-UNIX

[Bryan J. Smith]

Quoting Tahnesha Pinckney <tep@hanify.com>:
> Hi Everyone,
> I just have what might be an easy question (actually I have 1 1/2
> questions...)
> I was finally able to establish samba shares throughout my
> Windows/Linux network.  However, when I sign in as root on the RH 7.3
> machine, (I'm using the Gnome desktop as root user, BTW), I use
> Nautilus
> to browse my samba shares.  I can access all folders with no problem,
> but when I go to open a Word document or an .mp3 file, I get a message
> saying that the application, be it mpg123 or AbiWord "cannot open the
> file in samba shares".  At first I thought this was something I did
> again, but, decided to use Konqueror on the KDE menu, and I can open
> any files within my samba shares with no problems.  Is it just something
> in Nautilus?  A config setting of some sort?

AFAIK, Gnome applications do not support directly accessing files over the
Microsoft SMB (aka "Windows Networking") protocol.

I'm surprised KDE does though.  I guess that is a home user consideration since
 I would _not_ want my users on my corporate network doing so.

> My second half question was really already answered by someone else on
> this board.  Everytime I access a windows share from Konqueror, I have
> to re-type my username and password.  As I understand it, if I enable
> encrypted passwords (since NT 4.0 requires it and that's what I'm
> running on my windows machines), it should solve the problem. 
> However, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong..I'm just a lowly beginner!

"Encrypted passwords" on the _Samba_server_ has _nothing_ to do with any "SMB
client" embedded in your Linux desktop/applications.  It only affects NT-based
Windows clients to that Samba server.

So KDE re-prompts you for the password each-and-every-time by design.  I'm not a
KDE user so I don't know if there is toggle to cache the password.

FYI ... do _not_ use SMB for UNIX-to-UNIX ...

You should _not_ be accessing files from UNIX/Linux client to UNIX/Linux servers
via the SMB protocol (e.g., Samba service on the UNIX/Linux server and Konqueror
on the UNIX/Linux client).

You _should_ be using the Network FileSystem (NFS).  NFS is _native_ to UNIX,
meaning users can run regular UNIX commands on remote files.  Both the NFS
server and client are built right into the Linux kernel.

Basic NFS is _very_easy_ to configure -- both on the client and server, because
it is UNIX-native.  But NFS is most powerful when combined with the
"Automounter," which requires a little more care (but not too much).

To start, check out the NFS HOWTO:  
http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto

BTW, NFS and Samba quite peacefully co-exist (even for file locking).

-- Bryan

P.S.  If you are using the SMB or NFS protocols, I _highly_recommend_ you be
behind a firewall.  Otherwise, only Kerberos will do (and you don't want to go
there yet, it's a bit more complex ;-).

-- 
Bryan J. Smith, E.I. (BSECE)       Contact Info:  http://thebs.org
[ http://thebs.org/files/resume/BryanJonSmith_certifications.pdf ]
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