Samba network-filesharing

Samba is an easy way to share an external storage to the whole network.

In my case there is a 2TB USB Hard Disk, which I wanted to share to everyone. My router would provide a built-in NAS option, but not everyone does have the luck of owning a router capable of this option and furthermore, where is the fun in that? Let’s get started:

Pre-Samba:

Install raspberian on the SD. Get the image and a good description of the installation on http://www.raspberrypi.org/

After the installation you can give your Raspberry Pi a shiny name and you can also change the overclocking settings. Mine are running medium overclocking settings.

If you own a router who is providing DHCP to the network, I suggest giving your raspberry(s) a static IP address. This will make your life easier and also prevents confusion if you are using more then 1 raspberry.

The MAC address might be needed, for this reason use the command:

ifconfig

1

ifconfig

 

eth0 is your network adapter.

USB drive mount:

First we need to tell your raspberry where to find the USB drive.

sudo apt-get -y install ntfs-3g hfsutils hfsprogs exfat-fuse

1	sudo apt-get -y install ntfs-3g hfsutils hfsprogs exfat-fuse

 

driver installation

sudo mkdir /media/usb

1	sudo mkdir /media/usb

 

You can change “usb” to whatever you like

tail -f /var/log/messages

1	tail -f /var/log/messages

 

Execute this command AFTER you plug in your USB drive. It should prompt something like “sda:”.

CTRL + C

to cancel the message

Depanding on the filesystem we will mount the USB drive now

FAT32:

sudo mount -t vfat -o uid=pi,gid=pi /dev/sda /media/usb/

1	sudo mount -t vfat -o uid=pi,gid=pi /dev/sda /media/usb/

 

NTFS

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o uid=pi,gid=pi /dev/sda /media/usb

1	sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o uid=pi,gid=pi /dev/sda /media/usb

 

exFAT

sudo mount -t exfat -o force,rw,uid=pi,gid=pi /dev/sda /media/usb

1	sudo mount -t exfat -o force,rw,uid=pi,gid=pi /dev/sda /media/usb

 

In order to mount the USB drive during every restart we needto do the following steps

sudo blkid /dev/sda

1	sudo blkid /dev/sda

 

This will output an UUID. Note your UUID and procceed to the next step

sudo nano -Bw /etc/fstab

1	sudo nano -Bw /etc/fstab

 

Add one of the following at the end of the file (depending on your filesystem)

FAT32

UUID=your-uuid /media/usb /vfat defaults,auto,umask=000,users,rw 0

1	UUID=your-uuid /media/usb /vfat defaults,auto,umask=000,users,rw 0

 

NTFS

UUID=your uuid /media/usb ntfs-3g defaults,auto,umask=000,users,rw 0

1	UUID=your uuid /media/usb ntfs-3g defaults,auto,umask=000,users,rw 0

 

exFAT

UUID=your uuid /media/usb exfat defaults,auto,umask=000,users,rw 0

1	UUID=your uuid /media/usb exfat defaults,auto,umask=000,users,rw 0

 

That’s it, we are done mounting the USB drive. The next step is to install samba:

sudo apt-get install -y samba samba-common-bin

1	sudo apt-get install -y samba samba-common-bin

 

After that we need to edit smb.conf

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

1	sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

 

uncomment (delete ‘#’) the following line and save

# security = user

1	# security = user

 

to

security = user

1	security = user

 

Now we are adding a samba user to the standard user pi

sudo smbpasswd -a pi

1	sudo smbpasswd -a pi

 

and add the rights to the USB drive

sudo chown -R pi:pi /media/usb

1	sudo chown -R pi:pi /media/usb

 

we are now editing smb.conf

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

1	sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

 

At the end of the file add the following code. change [share] to whatever you want. This will be the name which is displayed to the users.

[share] path = /media/usb writeable = yes guest ok = no

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[share] path = /media/usb   writeable = yes   guest ok = no

 

save and restart

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

1	sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

 

[1] We are now adding users who may access the USB drive. Replace [user] with a username of your choice.

sudo adduser --disabled-password --disabled login [user]

1	sudo adduser --disabled-password --disabled login [user]

 

[2] Adding the user to samba. Replace [user] again with the user created in the steop before.

sudo smbpasswd -a [user]

1	sudo smbpasswd -a [user]

 

We are almost done. The last step is to configure smb.conf:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

1	sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

 

This part now is pretty much customizeable to fit your needs. I will provide a basic configuration and my personal configuration that has 2 users. To add a user simply repeat the steps [1] and [2].

[sharename] path = /media/usb writeable = no write list = [user] guest ok  = no available = yes browseable = yes valid users = [user]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

[sharename]   path = /media/usb   writeable = no   write list = [user]   guest ok  = no   available = yes   browseable = yes   valid users = [user]

 

This configuration will provide your user full access to your USB drive. Below you can see my setup which is set up for 2 users, one with full rights to the USB drive and another share that has just access to one folder of the USB drive.

Restart your samba one last time.

sudo /etc/init.d./samba restart

1	sudo /etc/init.d./samba restart

 

We are done!

Credit goes to http://jankarres.de/ who provides very good guides about Raspberry Pi in German. I have made the whole samba setup using his guides.