Linux Help With Linux Guide

Hi,

Firstly thanks for the great guide, its really got me into Linux and I'm starting to look into dumping Windows completely in time. I have a problem though. I did all the Samba server configurations and update which all seemed to work correctly and added the user. But I can't see the server from the XP PC. I'm on a wireless network which is a homehub bridged by Ethernet to a Netgear router because the homehubs wireless signal is so poor. I can go into the homehub and see the server on the network and find the ip address (which I made static from Xubuntu).

I can't understand why I can't see it on XP then even when I type the address/home in. I assume it must be something I haven't configured in Xubuntu. The wireless adapter I'm using is a D-link wireless bridge which connects to the computer via Ethernet and appears as an Ethernet device and is configured to the network separately from a web page. I thought this was the best method as my wireless card does work with Xubuntu but this works more easily.

Can anyone think of anything that I may have missed in Xubuntu. I've known and used XP for years and know it well, I can't think of anything there that needs to be changed.

Any help will be much appreciated, it would be great to get this thing going.
CJ

 

Is the workgroup you set in the samba config the same (Linux is sensitive about caps) as your workgroup?

Can you reach the server based upon IP adress from the XP PC? (in explorer, add a network station, \\IP-of-server\homes)

 

I can't, thats what I tired. Yeah the workgroup is the same. Should the workgroup be in "" marks in the config file? Its not in mine. How do I check the workgroup in Xubuntu. The only reference I found to it is in General Properties in Shared Folders, that isn't in "" marks either.

 

Also I'd like to trial Xubuntu on my main PC but its a RAID setup and I don't know how to setup Xubuntu on RAID. I've looked around but I still don't understand how to do it. I don't want to lose my XP install yet so I can't just copy over everything so I've made a partition on the array I just need to know how to get Xubuntu to recognise the RAID in the setup. At the moment it only sees the two disks seperatly and thats using the alternative disk.

 

Software or hardware RAID? If it is the latter make sure there are healthy Linux drivers. If it is software RAID see: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_on_Software_RAID

 

Code:

sudo smbclient -L <ip-of-server>

 

Thanks, that was avery useful command. I've managed to logon via my iBook through the finder but I still can't get on with windows (for some reason the networks gone to **** on my XP box but I think thats becuase I've removed all the devices from the router to determine which ones were actually being used and it takes a while to find them again) and I can't get on via the IP address/homes on either machine.

The fact that is working on the Mac means its all there, theres just something not working somewhere.

I'm writing this on the Linux box, it feels good

 

Thanks for your help so far. I've got it working now and can login properly. Now I just need to work out setting up other users. Its good fun this Linux stuff.

 

I've got another problem, this time with the FTP server. I put in the exact file in the article (to my knowledge) and when I went to reboot the server I got the error:

I'm not sure what to do from here as I followed the instructions (again, to the best of knowledge).

Cheers.

 

the liveCD version of Xubuntu (or any version of ubuntu for that matter) does not include RAID drivers.
However the 'alternate-install' versions of the CDs do include them, you just get a debian-like text-based installer rather than the snazzy liveCD one

However i'd still be a bit cautious with it... as i've not seen any linux driver properly detect onboard raid arrays yet so the change of screwing up the array is quite high.

i think it's because linux sees onboard RAID controllers for what they are: essentially software raid, so therefore just give you generic software RAID linux support instead

 

Yeah I realised I need the alternative CD to use RAID but I just didn't know where to start when it comes to setting it up.

Glider do you know what I've done wrong to get that error?

Thanks for the help so far

 

Browe through the discussion thread... There are others that had this problem, and there's an alternate config provided somewhere. Don't worry about it not working, the bit-tech site doesn't parse all the configs correctly.

 

I can't get the FTP working. It asks me for a CD when I try to install something, but thats not really a problem now as I wont be using it that way yet.

What I need to be able to do at the moment is add more folders like the homes one. What I would like to do is have a public folder that everyone who logs on can access. At the moment I have 4 users each with their own folders that only they see when they log on which is what I need but I also need to be able to give individuals access to folders outside the homes folder, but maybe only for specific users. Also if I plug an external HD in how can I get it so when one person logs on they can access it but no-one else?

Hope that all makes sence. Thanks for all your help so far.

 

edit the apt sources and comment out the line for the cd

Code:

 vi /etc/apt/sources 

vi is my editor of choice you could equally use nano or what ever your used to. /etc/apt/sources is where the repositories are kept for all Debian derived systems (?)

you can make a directory any where just as you can in windows. Use the mkdir command.

Code:

 mkdir /mydir 

will give you a directory called mydir on the root of the drive. Then all you need to do is set the permissions for the folder and any one can read write. You can set the permissions by right clicking and bringing up the folder properties or you can

Code:

 chmod a+rw /mydir -R 

chmod sets the permissions, a+rw means all users add read write, you might want to add x to that ie a+rwx if you need to eXecute programs. /mydir is the directory you want to adjusts and the -R sets the command to work recursively through the folder. You'll see -r in many places however here it is capitalised for some reason.



i'm not in front of a linux box just now so use the above with care.

 

Urgh, don't teach bad habits. I would suggest putting mydir in /srv, much nicer.

 

True whilst its not best practise to pile up things on the root dir where do you draw the line. If mydir was only going to be one directory deep whats the point in nesting it two directories down. /srv isn't really meant for sharing files, i would stick by making a directory in the root to nest folders in for sharing.

 

/home is the place for this I guess

 

It most certainly is, the proper hierarchy should probably be /srv/{single word summary of data}/samba

 

[Citation needed]



Edit: Thinking about it LTSP stores its shared files under /var/opt/ltsp/arch so perhaps /var/mydir/ would be the most proper place for it.

To the OP this general confusion discussion between users is largely irrelevant to you. Unless you are running a production machine or intend to get a job as a sysadmin your bad habits, whether inherited from me or other, wont make the damnedest bit of difference. Good practise such as only using root for admin tasks is there for your protection but root architecture should only be followed up to the point where it starts to make life difficult. Putting all your shares in one directory is a good idea because it allows back ups to be run only on user files but for that reason you might as well use /home since then you only need to worry about backing up one root directory.

disclaimer: this last section is all my opinion feel free to disregard it at will

 

My principle is that everything outside the /home dir is for the system. Users have no buisness outside /home (or /tmp) IMHO. /srv is a (new) addition, for services IIRC. While Samba is a service, it contains userdata, hence should reside inside /home

But that's my opinion, and a matter of discussion...