Samba needs to be easier

[Eksistenz]

I started looking into Linux and Samba as a possible way of being able to introduce more file servers in my company without having to pay M$ licencing fees, but I have to say that I'm rapidly losing heart.

I've been using computers for the last 25 years, but have never come across anything as convoluted as Samba. If the aim of Samba is to try to woo Windows users away from M$, it needs some serious work. FOr a start the documentation needs to be far clearer and more concise - on several occasions, references are made in the HOW-TOs to 'previously mentioned' options which were not previously mentioned. I've also lost count of the number of times I've checked and re-checked parameters and methodes which the docs and O'Reilly books say will work, only to be presented with an undocumented error message.

I'll admit that Windows users have had it easy - i.e. easy to set up, install and use, at the expense of security, but when you're a busy sysadmin, ease of use has a lot going for it, and correctly configured firewalls, anti-virus and file security go a long way on the security front.

Windows may be exensive, but at least it works. I had thought that open source software was free because of an ethical stance, not because it's not worth paying for!

I would dearly love to be able to deploy Linux and Samba, but am getting nearer every day to ditching the experiment as a waste of time, not to mention giving my head a rest from being banged repeatedly against a wall.

 

[mithrilhall]

I don't think I can help you much or even change your mind but being a newbie to Linux, I didn't have a problem getting samba up and running for me (or course I am on a 2 computer network and you're trying to use it for a much larger one).

I found it just as easy as setting up a windows network, but that's must my 2cp(cents).

 

[Murugs]

Hello Eksistenz
I tried to install samba in the LINUX box to connect to 5 other NT machines. For 5 days I have seen all the references and forums and books. Finally after the 5 th day I was succesfully able to install samba and get my file sharing services working.
I peeped in to the forums and posed lot of questions and got the proper answer from experts who had already faced these type of problems.
Give samba another try and best wishes.

Regards
MP

 

[gwinn7]

Eksistenz,

I concur with MP, give it a chance. However, I do agree that the documentation is pretty cryptic.

Though I would not use this source as much of an installation guide, it does have a lot of good explanations and descriptions. Its called, "Using Samba" by Robert Ekstein, David Collier-Brown, and Peter Kelly. The publisher is O'Reilly.

In our office, we have succesfully setup a Linux Samba server for a mortgage company and as a member server on our Win2K network and they both work great.

It took me a lot of trial and error at first, but once I got it, it was downhill from there. Like anything else, it takes time to learn. You may want to hire a Samba expert to help get you going on it.

Gary
gwinn7
A+, Network+

 

[Starsman]

I have to put in my 2 cents here. It is somewhat harder to get samba going, but the long term benefits are awesome. I set up our first one over 4 years ago, (it took me about a week to get it going) and the only thing I EVER had to do to it once it was going was restart it when we had long power outages. One of the hard drives just failed so I am replacing the entire server with a faster one, but that PII 200 mhz samba box ran like a champ for a long time. Try running ANY windoze server that long without doing any maintainence. I think not. That being said it was only a file server, no printing. That's what I'm doing now.

 

[sleipnir214]

Eksistenz, did I miss a question somewhere in there, or did you just feel the need to kvetch?

If you can't get Samba to work for you, you aren't required to use it. ______________________________________________________________________
Never forget that we are
made of the stuff of stars

 

[nonguru]

The aim of Samba is not to "woo Windows users away from M$". It is to help people who use both Windows and
Unix / Linux. I think it's a great tool, and I guess a lot
of other people do, since thousands of people seem to use it.
Considering it is absolutely free, it really is a credit to the dedicated people who develop it.
I think everyone agrees that the documentation could be better, but that also is a side-effect of the fact that we aren't paying any money to improve it. If you're looking for good documentation though, there are several good books available for a price.
You might consider buying a good book a worthwhile investment considering you don't have to pay anything for SAMBA itself.

I think if you stick with SAMBA you will soon work out any problems, with the help of the friendly SAMBA community.
However, you will find that a positive attitude draws more help than a negative one. Remember, people are only helping because of their generosity, they are not being paid.

However, as 'sleipnir214' said - you don't have to use it.

Good luck - hope you get your setup sorted
and go on to help other people starting out.

 

[Guest_imported]

Sorry to hear you had so much trouble. If you're willing to give it another go, you may have better luck with the tutorial (

http://http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/esdd/tutorials/samba.html)

at IBM's developerworks site. You'll have to register, but well worth it.

Using the tutorial, I got my test box (a spare running debian) up and running as a PDC in about an hour. The only gotcha: You'll have to log into the domain as root (PDC's root) the 1st time. The tutorial makes no mention of it (but I just did!), so it took a little time and a google search to sort that bit out. Other than that it was truly painless.

Good luck and have fun.

dave

 

[jeepdc]

Samba is an excellant program but you must take the time to learn how to use it. As Samba gains in popularity, the documentation will improve. Start simple and gradually implement more advanced features. It took me a month to really feel comfortable with Samba but it was worth it. I was also very frustrated at the beginning. I was trying to implement too many features without truly understanding how Samba works. Samba works and the developers of Samba continue to improve on it. If we (IT professional) want alternatives to MS products, we must support these independent developers.

-DC