# Configure Samba Share on Debian Normally when you launch the system’s file manager on Linux/Windows system, you will see network shares advised on your network. These shares are only allowed if remote users are connected to the machine. ***Samba*** is a free software that enables one to share files across the network using the SMB(Server Message Block) protocol. This tool was developed by **Andrew Tridgell** in December *1991* and January *1992*. The cool features associated with Samba are: - It is easy and quick to deploy - It offers secured data transfer - Multichanel technology - Message signing-with digital signing – users who receive the data packets are assured of the origin point authenticity. - Allows concurrent operations.(simultaneous access to the files) - It offers good performance under heavy loads. - Samba supports POSIX extensions for CIFS/SMB - Supports NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT) - It supports the NT-style printing service (SPOOLSS) Samba is supported on various platforms such as Windows and Unix operating systems i.e Solaris, Linux, AIX, and BSD variants. This guide will equip you with the required knowledge on how to configure Samba Share on Debian. ## 1 – Install Samba Packages We will start off by installing Samba on Debian Linux system. This is easy since it is available in the default Debian repositories. ``` sudo apt update sudo apt install samba smbclient cifs-utils ``` Dependency tree: ``` ... 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 0 upgraded, 29 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 24.4 MB of archives. After this operation, 84.7 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y ``` ## 2 – Set the Samba Global settings The Samba configuration file is located under ***/etc/samba/smb.conf***. In this file, there are several changes we need to make. Although Debian is intelligent enough to provide default configurations, it is also good to verify this. Open the file using a preferred editor. ```bash sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf ``` In the file, make make adjustments as you deem fit, example for workgroup. ```bash workgroup = WORKGROUP ``` ## 3 – Create Shared Samba Directory Here, you can share both public and private directories. So we will create the two directories as below. ```bash sudo mkdir /public sudo mkdir /private ``` Now edit the Samba conf and add the two directories. ```bash sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf ``` At the end of the file, add the shares and authentication methods 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 ``` ## 4 – Create Samba User and Group We need the Samba share user group to access the Private share as specified in the conf above. So we will create the group as below. ```bash sudo groupadd smbshare ``` Add the necessary permissions for the private share. ```bash sudo chgrp -R smbshare /private/ sudo chgrp -R smbshare /public ``` Set the right directory permissions. ```bash sudo chmod 2770 /private/ sudo chmod 2775 /public ``` In the above command, the value 2 at the beginning, stands for the SGID bit. This allows newly created files to inherit the parent group. Next, create a no login local user to access the private share. ```bash sudo useradd -M -s /sbin/nologin sambauser ``` Add the user to the Samba share group created above. ```bash sudo usermod -aG smbshare sambauser ``` Now create an SMB password for the user. ```bash sudo smbpasswd -a sambauser ``` Enable the created account: ```bash sudo smbpasswd -e sambauser ``` ## 5 – Verify the Samba configuration Once changes have been made to the config file, it is recommended that you test it using the below command: ```bash sudo testparm ``` Execution output: ``` Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf Loaded services file OK. Weak crypto is allowed Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE Press enter to see a dump of your service definitions # Global parameters [global] interfaces = 192.168.205.0/24 eth0 log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m logging = file map to guest = Bad User max log size = 1000 obey pam restrictions = Yes pam password change = Yes panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* . passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u server role = standalone server unix password sync = Yes usershare allow guests = Yes idmap config * : backend = tdb ..... [public] comment = Public Folder force create mode = 0775 force directory mode = 0775 guest ok = Yes guest only = Yes path = /public read only = No [private] comment = Private Folder force create mode = 0770 force directory mode = 0770 inherit permissions = Yes path = /private read only = No valid users = @smbshare ``` The above output shows that everything is configured appropriately. Now proceed as below. Create demo files in the Samba shares: ```bash sudo mkdir /private/demo-private /public/demo-public sudo touch /private/demo1.txt /public/demo2.txt ``` Restart the Samba service for the changes to apply. ```bash sudo systemctl restart nmbd ``` If you have a firewall running, you need to allow remote access from the specified IP range: ```bash sudo ufw allow from 192.168.205.0/24 to any app Samba ```