[lug] Ethereal installed - Samba question

[Ken MacFerrin]

[snip]
> So before reviewing the doc below, here's the basic goal:
> I have two laptops & 2 desktops that I would like to be able to access
> files & printers on my main machine.
> Laptop #1: Compaq NC6000 from work - already pointing to a work domain
> 	WinXPpro Service Pack 1
> Laptop #2: Averatec - WinXPhome 
> Desktop #1 - dsl (damnsmalllinux) 
> Desktop #2 - not yet running
> 
> Basic Questions:
> Should I be able to get Laptop1 to access the home Samba network without
> destroying my work access?

Depends on how you have your Samba configured but it can be a pain to do 
manually.  Assuming you have your Samba set in a workgroup configuration 
then you cannot switch WinXP Pro into Workgroup mode without 
disassociating from your work domain, which you do _not_ want to do 
(your work admin would have re-associate you).  Having a similar 
situation myself (on a nc6000 as luck would have it), I've had great 
luck with a tool called Mobile Net Switch.  It allows you to setup 
separate workgroup or alternate domain profiles in XP without disrupting 
your current work domain config.  It cost $24 but has a free 30 day 
evaluation period to ensure it works for you..
www.mobilenetswitch.com

> 
> Should winxphome work with samba out of the box, or will configs be
> necessary?

Assuming your Samba is setup correctly then, yes.  You should just be 
able to set XP to your Samba workgroup, authenticate and browse away. 
You will have to use Samba in workgroup mode (vs. a PDC) as XP Home 
doesn't do domains.

> 
> Are there any fundamental gotchas I should be looking for here?
> 
> So far neither laptop or desktop can access the Samba Server.
> 
> I've got everything running (smbd nmbd swat) & have configured samba
> (file included below).
> 

 From what I can see it doesn't look like you've designated an 
authentication scheme (ie: user or shared) so Samba will deny all 
access.  You'll need to decide upon the scheme you want, setup a 
password backend, add user accounts and group permissions to the linux 
box that samba is running on and define host and user access to the 
Samba service and shares..

For example, I'd start by looking up the parameters below in "man 
smb.conf"..
--------
hosts allow = 127., 192.168.0., 192.168.1., 192.168.2.
hosts deny = 0.0.0.0/0
security = user
map to guest = bad password
guest account = guest
guest ok = yes
private dir = /etc/samba/private
passdb backend = tdbsam
username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
encrypt passwords = yes
username level = 8
password level = 0
----------

Good Luck!
-Ken