Allow users to mount windows share(s)

[wmjasonward]

I'm finally starting to use Linux for some of my desktops but need to allow my users to mount windows shares at will (and ideally on login).

I'd like for them to be able to create directories under their home directory and mount a share using their credentials for the windows server so that only that user would be able to access that share with those credentials at that location. As such, multiple users may mount the same share at different locations with different credentials.

I'm currently running CentOS 5.4 and Gnome.

Does anyone have a tutorial on how to set this up or know of a plugin or software that will let me do this?

Thanks!
Jason

 

[Noway2]

The best way to do this would be to use SAMBA. It will handle user authentication from the simple to the complex. Google the terms samba tutorial and you will be inundated with information. Try a few of them. There are also several books on using Samba including one by O'Reilly (a generally reliable brand).

 

[wmjasonward]

Being inundated with information is the reason I posted here! I've used samba for over eight years but just to mount a share as root, copy files one way or the other, then unmount it.

What I really need are some details on how to allow regular users to mount shares (seems to be a permissions issue with 'mount' rather than a samba specific problem).

It seems like this would be a readily available feature but I'm not seeing an easy way to do it. When I get some free time (yeah right), I'll see if I can put together a script with sudo or a sticky bit to see if I can get it to work that way.

 

[pentode]

I've found this helpful:

http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialMicrosoftWindowsNetworkIntegration.html

 

[Annihilannic]

I use automountd to mount my Windows shares with SAMBA. Combined with a good user and share naming convention it may work well for you.

The shares will only be mounted when the user actually tries to access them, which may also save some unnecessary waiting time mounting shares that may not be used.

Annihilannic.