Topic: Accessing Windows Shares

[Andy Jarrell]

Here's the problem I'm having.  On most machines I can do the following (assuming the directory "mnt" is the mount point) and have no problem.

smbmount //Andy/Data mnt -o guest ro
smbmount //Andy/Data mnt -o username=Andy password=something ro

These commands work for all the machines on my network (Win 95, 98, 2000) except for two Windows 2000 machines.  I have verified that their shares are correctly setup (I can access them from my Windows 2000 machine).  I have turned on the "Guest" account and assigned the "Guests" group to be privy to that Windows share.  I have even created a special user named "test" with the password "test".  But, none of these work on those machines (which I have also rebooted).  Heres the error I get when I try to mount one of the affected computers (named David) on my network:

[root@engserver home]# smbmount '//David/Data' mnt -o guest ro
timeout connecting to 169.254.101.152:139
Error connecting to 169.254.101.152 (Operation already in progress)
7228: Connection to David failed
SMB connection failed

Firstly, 169.254.101.152 isn't even internal to my network.  Why is SAMBA (or SMEServer) doing some weird internet name resolution for that particular machine only?  Any thoughts or known quirks with SAMBA and SMEServer?  Our network is small (10 computers).  We are currently not logging into the domain created by the SMEServer box.  I'm having trouble there, but that's another issue.

My SMEServer version is 5.5 Update 2.

[Rob Wellesley]

Is the SME server acting as a dhcp server for your network? Do so if possible

Regardless of whether you actually logon to the server or not, set it to be the domain controller. (wins server)

When smbmounting a win2k share you will always need a valid user account and password on the win2k box (win9x don't care)

See how you go and repost your findings

Rob

[Andy Jarrell]

The SME Server isn't acting as the DHCP (that's being handled by a LinkSys DSL router).  I'll look into that.

In the setup I don't remember any setting to turn then domain controller on or off (except for the setting for the domain name, which I have set.)

I have tried several different usernames and passwords on the Windows boxes (all when connecting from other Windows machines), but to no avail.

I'll try the DHCP thing.  Thanks for your feedback.

Andy

[Rob Wellesley]

hi

DHCP will provide the client with the correct network info (gateway IP, DNS server, wins-server) automatically. this may solve the weird IP no. problem (check your server settings and make sure the gateway IP etc. are correct for your setup)

server-manager > workgroup > act-as-domain-controller=yes (assuming there is no other Domain controller)

keep EVERYTHING lower-case

rob

[Andy Jarrell]

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

I set up the machine for DHCP and put it between the LinkSys (which is currently acting as the firewall) and the LAN.

DSL Modem<--->LinkSys Router<--->SME Server<--->LAN

The SME Server is now acting as the gateway.  The name resolution and domain login are now working, too.  We will eventually drop the LinkSys Firewall/Router but it seems to be working for now.

The LinkSys Router has DHCP turned on (its DHCP range of address is 192.168.1.100-150).  The SME Servers range of DHCP addresses are 192.168.2.50-250.  Don't know if it was necessary to separate them like that, but we did it preventatively.

The SME Server was assigned an address for it's upstream ethernet adapter (eth0) from within the DHCP range of the LinkSys (verified with ifconfig).  The SME Server appears on the LAN with the permanent ip assigned by the configuration.

Once we had the new configuration setup we tried using "ipconfig /renew" on the Windows machine without rebooting, but that didn't seem to work.  Thus, we did a reboot and they worked fine.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

[Rob Wellesley]

Andy Jarrell wrote:

> The LinkSys Router has DHCP turned on (its DHCP range of
> address is 192.168.1.100-150).  

> The SME Server was assigned an address for it's upstream
> ethernet adapter (eth0) from within the DHCP range of the
> LinkSys (verified with ifconfig).

You can switch off dhcp on the linksys - assuming that the SME ext nic is the only connection to it

[Rob Wellesley]

Andy Jarrell wrote:

>
> I set up the machine for DHCP and put it between the LinkSys
> (which is currently acting as the firewall) and the LAN.
>

By the way - SME Server is an excellent firewall and is designed to sit securely between the Internet and the LAN - hardware cost savings to small businesses is one of the main attractions.

We are doing quite well shipping/installing SME in competition with Exchange Server as a mail server

good luck

rob

[Trampas]

Rob,

Are you using as a IMAP server? I was also wondering if you used the insight connector on the windows box to get the exchange functionality?

Thanks
Trampas

[Rob Wellesley]

Hi trampas

You probably mis-understand my last post. Exchange server is not necessary for mail serving. None of our clients want to share diaries (twiggi is better anyway) so they don't need to go to the expense of Exchange + CALS. However if you want to use outlook and share diaries then you still need exchange server or bynari server. It is better if you are going to go the Bynari way to set it up on a seperate box  and point all mail to it.

Many have tried to integrate Bynari insight server components into SME - I have yet to notice that it has been successful.

rob