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A Samba Server

Scope: installing Samba and standing up the first share — validated, running, and listing itself. Every step verified against Samba 4.19.

Install

sudo apt install samba smbclient

That brings smbd (the server), and smbclient — the command-line client that will be this chapter's test instrument, the way curl is for web servers.

The config: /etc/samba/smb.conf

One INI file. The guide's lab version ships as examples/smb.conf:

[global]
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = Lab Samba Server
   security = user
   map to guest = never
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
   max log size = 1000

[labshare]
   comment = Guide lab share
   path = /srv/labshare
   browseable = yes
   read only = no
   valid users = labuser

Anatomy:

  • [global] — server-wide settings. workgroup is the Windows-era grouping name; on a home network it matters little. security = user means "people log in as themselves" (the sane mode). map to guest = never closes the "unknown user becomes a guest" side-door — the Security chapter explains why that's the right default.
  • Each other [...] section is a share, named by its header. path is the real directory being offered; browseable lets it appear in listings; read only and valid users are access rules the next chapter exercises.

testparm: the config's examiner

testparm -s

Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE
...

testparm parses the file and prints the effective configuration — defaults filled in — which is why it's the debugging tool: it shows what Samba understood, not what you hoped you wrote. And like systemd, Samba ignores misspelled parameters after a warning:

Unknown parameter encountered: "broseable"
Ignoring unknown parameter "broseable"

A typo'd browseable doesn't stop the server; it just silently isn't set. Run testparm after every edit.

Start it, see it

sudo mkdir -p /srv/labshare
sudo systemctl start smbd        # or restart, after edits
smbclient -L localhost -U labuser

Sharename       Type      Comment
---------       ----      -------
labshare        Disk      Guide lab share
IPC$            IPC       IPC Service (Lab Samba Server)

smbclient -L asks a server "what do you offer?" — the first smoke test of any share. IPC$ is a built-in administrative share, always present, not a folder. The labuser in that command doesn't exist yet — creating Samba users is its own ceremony, and it's next.