Page 286 - DCAP602_NETWORK_OPERATING_SYSTEMS_I

Network Operating Systems-I

notes clients

Ubuntu includes client applications and capabilities for accessing network resources shared with
the SMB protocol. For example, a utility called smbclient allows for accessing remote shared
file-systems, in a manner similar to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client. To access a shared
folder resource known as documents offered by a remote Windows computer named bill using
smbclient for example, one would enter a command similar to the following at the prompt:

smbclient //bill/documents -U <username>
You will then be prompted for the password for the user name specified after the -U switch,
and upon successful authentication, will be presented with a prompt where commands may be
entered for manipulating and transferring files in a syntax similar to that used by non-graphical
FTP clients. For more information on the smbclient utility, read the utility’s manual page with
the command:

man smbclient
Local mounting of remote network resources using the SMB protocol is also possible using the
mount command. For example, to mount a shared folder named project-code on a Windows
server named development as the user dlightman to your Ubuntu system’s /mnt/pcode mount-
point, you would issue this command at the prompt:

mount -t smbfs -o username=dlightman //development/project-code /mnt/pcode
You will then be prompted for the user password, and after successfully authenticating, the
contents of the shared resource will be available locally via the mount-point specified as the last
argument to the mount command. To disconnect the shared resource, simply use the umount
command as you would with any other mounted file system. For example:

umount /mnt/pcode
user accounts

User Accounts define persons with some level of authorization to use certain computer and
network resources. Typically, in a network environment, a user account is provided to each
person allowed to access a computer or network, where policies and permissions then define
what explicit rights that user account has access to. To define SAMBA network users for your
Ubuntu system, you may use the smbpasswd command. For example to add a SAMBA user
to your Ubuntu system with the user name jseinfeld, you would enter this command at the
prompt:

smbpasswd -a jseinfeld
The smbpasswd application will then prompt you to enter a password for the user:

new smB password

Enter the password you wish to set for the user, and the smbpasswd application will ask you to
confirm the password:

retype new smB password

Confirm the password, and smbpasswd will add the entry for the user to the SAMBA password
file.

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