Re: [tlug] Networking two Linux computers harder than Linux to Windows?

[Patrick Kellaher <kalmite@example.com>]

Dave M G wrote:
> Scott, Arwyn, TLUG,
>
> Thanks for responding.
>
> I will take a look at Scott's web site tomorrow, and also take into 
> account Arwyn's comments.
>
> However, just before I go to bed, I just thought that I should mention 
> that the subject line seems to still be holding true. All these 
> configurations and names and configuration files... wow. This is 
> difficult stuff. Almost makes me wish I hadn't installed Ubuntu on my 
> girlfriend's laptop. If she were running Windows, I'd be connected to 
> her already.
Dave

Actually, networking two Linux computers together is easier than Linux 
to Windows.  What is making this hard is your need for samba and 
connecting to a Windows PC.  Using NFS, you can get a Linux to Linux 
file sharing connection going with a simple:

Server Machine
# echo "/path/to/shared/filesystem <what machines have 
access>(<options>)" >> /etc/exports
# pkill -HUP nfsd

Client Machine
# echo "<server name>:/path/to/exported/filesystem 
/path/to/local/mount/point  nfs         defaults         0   0" >> 
/etc/fstab
# mount /path/to/local/mount/point

Note1: on the server side you can also use the rc scripts to restart 
nfs... for ubuntu (and presumably other debian and System V systems) use 
this command to restart nfs: 
 
   # /etc/init.d/nfs restart

Note2: on the client the defaults option for /etc/fstab is probably not 
the best option, but it seems to work for me.  In the past I have used 
some other options related to the size of packets or blocks or something 
like that.

When I use samba I always change the security type to share rather than 
user by putting the following line under [global]

   security = share

This does significantly reduce security though as it won't require an 
username/password so anyone on your LAN can access the share, think 
anonymous access.  However, it does greatly decrease the complexity of 
samba.  Now of course I don't use samba to share file systems to other 
Linux boxes.

How I do things is setup samba with share level security for only the 
directories I want the windows clients to access and then use NFS for 
the Linux to Linux sharing.  I also have it configured to share out a 
couple of the same directories, of course with different permissions on 
each smb and nfs.

I still haven't read all the threads related to this yet, so hopefully 
this isn't redundant info.

Pat