Regarding NTFS support you'll probably need this:

apt-get install ntfs-3g

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountingWindowsPartitions/ThirdPartyNT...

Good luck and tell us how it goes!

Hi mark,

I was able to configure my fileserver using Webmin. Now I am trying to add samba user which I cant find where.

Under Samba Windows File Sharing > Samba Users, I dont see "add samba user" anywhere. Now I tried to create a samba group and I stumblec with the Unix group field which I dont understand.

Can you enlighten me on this?

Thanks and regards,

Hi ..

I'm also a samba newbie.

I found that basicaly the samba user and group IS unix/linux group.

So you have to do unix user/group management

I found that the easiest path is :

1. Plan what groups you will need on your system, i.e :

- grp_accounting

- grp_marketing

2. When add a new user :

a. Set the "shell" as /bin/false

b. set the Primary group as one of defineed group , i.e : grp_accounting

c. if you want that this person will also able to "read" shr_marketing , then set the secondary group grp_marketing.

3. When creating share (i.e:shr_accounting)

a. set the limiting ON , valid group : grp_accounting, grp_marketing

b. set the "create group" to grp_accounting

c. set the read-write group to grp_accounting

d. set the read-only group to grp_marketing

cmiiw

-bino-

@JedMeister & Bino Oetomo

Thanks guys! your post really helped me alot.

Now I want to add another hard drive on my machine chich will be a repository for the users. Each user that I created on the machine as a corresponding folder on that hard drive.

How would I mount the hard and change the share folder of the users?

Thanks and regards,

Aris

Most Desktop Linux Distros these days auto mount new media (eg new HDD, USB stick, etc) but I'm pretty sure that Ubuntu Server 8.04 (which is what TKL is under the hood) doesn't. You can have a read about mount here in the Ubuntu Documentation.

Basically you will need to work out what device your new drive is using

fdisk -l

Prob easiest way is to run this command before hooking up drive, then connect drive and run it again.

Then you will need to mount it like so (assuming your new HDD is sdb)

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

Good luck

Thanks JedMeister!

I was able to mount it. Now how would I point the User's home directory to a folder in that hard?

Thanks and regards,

Aris

This is not something that I have done before in Linux (I'm still pretty noobish with it myself) but a quick google suggests that it can be defined when setting up user accounts or changed for existing users using the usermod command. If you're keen to learn CLI then do some googling around that (just remember that TKL is Ubuntu Server 8.04 under the hood).

Probably the easiest way to do that though is through Webmin (which as Liraz suggested earlier in this thread, can also be used to mount devices). Webmin is accessed via https://your-tkl-server-name-or-ip:12321. If you have a look in Webmin under System>>Users & Groups it should be pretty obvious.

Hi again,

I am currently having a problem with the samba shares. I was able to create a share which is already available for windows clients how ever they cannot access the shared folders.

Thanks and regards,

Aris

What do you mean by that? That users can access the share but not the sub-folders within the share?

Assuming that is what you meant I suspect you have problems with permissions.

From my experience as a Windows Admin I can say that to open a file/folder (on a Win box), permissions are required at the share level, but also at the file level. The (probably lazy way) I was taught to do this is to set permissions at the share level to give all users full control, and use user and group permissions to allow/disallow the required access level. Then any shares you don't want other people browsing you hide - you still use file permissions to to set access level.

Obviously Linux is different but my experience with the TKL Fileserver has led me to believe that Samba operates in a similar way (which makes sense). I have set up my Fileserver almost almost like I would a Win Server. It seems that Linux doesn't allow you to hide shares (well not that I've found) but it also won't show you shares unless you have access to them (at a share level). So there's no need to hide shares - you just don't allow access! End result looks similar.

Anyway, sorry to waffle. I use Samba share permissions to control what users see (and have read access to) and normal Linux user & group account (file) permissions to allow write access.

If you wish to do similar to me, set Samba share permissions to read/write for all (I use Webmin). Then you can either use chmod at the command line or Webmin File Manager. Webmin: Tools>>File Manager - browse to the share you wish to access, select the file/folder (in the right pane), click Info (in the toolbar). Don't forget to set it to "all folders and sub-folders" (if appropriate).

Hope that helps!

Hi JedMeister!

I created a user named aris and when I access fileserver on my windows workstation with the user aris, I saw a shared folder also named aris. I figured out that it is my default home directory (am I right?) but the problem is that I cant access it - it says "You might not have permission to use this network resource".

I also mounted an NTFS filesystem on /mnt/ntfs and added a new share through Webmin. The shared directory also appeared in the my windows workstation however it is not also accessible (same error message as above).

I checked Webmin and I saw the Security under those shares says - "Read/write to all known users".

Thanks and regards,

Aris

Hi JedMeister!

Finally, I was able to solve my problems. Apparently, the folder with the same name as of the user, is just a link to the user's home directly. and the user's home directory was not yet set. so I executed usermod -d user /pathto/user/home/dir for each user and wallah! Users can now access their home directories.

Thanks you so much for your support guys! I'll be back if I will stumble into another problem.

Cheers!

Thanks and regards to all!

Aris

Nice work. For interest sake, Webmin should auto assign home folders by default when you set up a new user account. I'm pretty sure I used Webmin for most of my setup, and it all went incredibly smoothly!

Obviously you worked out that you were correct in thinking the folder with the user name was the home folder. However I wasn't aware that they were only links. I guess it makes sense but you learn something new every day!

Also how did you go with your NTFS drive? Did it work? I wouldn't have thought Linux would be able to write file permissions to NTFS. If that's the case it may be a security issue (unless you use Samba permissions). I know that Linux ignores Windows filre permissions (I assume that's across NTFS drives but I've only tested it with XP/2003).

Hi JedMeister!

You are right. Webmin really came in handy for me for most of the configuration. I'm glad it the setup went well (though I had some trial and errors).

As for the NTFS drive... I got Liraz Siri's tip on installing ntfs-3g and ntfs-config. Then I remounted the NTFS drive using ntfg-3g, created new shares using Webmin, restarted samba and the drive is now accessible.

As for the home folders, I ran a usermod -d user /path/to/userfolder/on/the/ntfs/drive for each user and they now have access to their home folders.

I'm glad everything come out right.

Thanks and regards Jed!

Aris

Hi JedMeister!

It's me again.

Is it possible to compile or convert my TKL File Server for deployment on a viltual machine?

Thanks in advance.

Aris

hi guys!

I'm having this "File Exists" problem. I cannot delete empty folders.

Thanks!

Aris

Hi JedMeister!

I am already using rm -rf foldername but still not successfull.

I found out that the folders I am trying to delete are really not empty when I booted the drive under windows. These folders contain files with filename with special characters (', &, ñ, Ñ). These files are not visible in TKL Fileserver due to its current locale which is en_GB.UTF8. I managed to installed the en_US.UTF-8 locale.

Set locale (adjust your language accordingly).

And there it is. All files are visible now. Problem with the "File Exists" during deleting folders is now solved.

Thanks you so much Jed!

 Hi Jed!

Hi Jed and Liraz!

I am getting these errors while executing the command "apt-get update".

root@file-server:/etc/apt/sources.list.d# apt-get update 
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-security Release.gpg 
Could not resolve 'archive.ubuntu.com

Hi Jed!

Apparently I have wrong nameservers. I edited the file and replaced with the correct one.

By the way, congrats on TKLBAM! It will surely make a great impact on all TKL Appliance.

I hope I can use this locally. lol

Thanks Jed!

Aris

We are very lucky that we have you guys!

Is there a way I can backup my TKL's config in case I want to migrate into a better machine?

I already read about the TKLBAM, I still cant afford it, but I'm trying to sort in out with my bosses. 

Thanks Jed!

Aris

Hi Liraz,

Hi Liraz,

I already created an account and I was able to initialize the API key.

Now I tried following your instructions from here. Then I executed the following command and I got this hub error.

Hi Liraz,

I got this error when adding Amazon EC2 Account.

Your aws account isn't signed up for the EC2 service. Click help to see step 2.

I need a credit card information for step 2. I dont have that yet.

Hi Liraz,

I'll get back to this as soon as I got the credit card.

Back on the nameserver, I edited and saved the /etc/resolv.conf file yesterday.

I found out today the content was back to the old nameserver after I reboot the appliance.

Did I edited the wrong file?

Thanks!

Aris

Got that one solved.

Thank you so much guys for your tireless support!

More power to all!

Aris

Hi Jed/Liraz!

I am having a problem an excel file on the TKL Fileserver.

Whenever I try to open and save a file on a windows workstation, I am getting this error:

filename cannot be accessed. The file may be read-only, or you may be trying to access a read-only location. Or, the server the document is stored on may not be responding.

The error has the Retry and Cancel options. When I choose Cancel, I get this prompt:

the document was saved successfully, but excel cannot re-open the file because of a share violation... with just an OK option.

When I try to save again, the Save-As window will appear but I cannot overwrite the file.. The first error message will appear again.

Thanks!

Aris