Trouble with SAMBA

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 924

Trying to share a folder on an internal FAT32 drive.It keeps being READ ONLY, how can I make it full access?

I've "googled" until I'm blue it the face & all the suggestions didn't work. Even using mask. - I have a share to a PREMADE (by fedora 9) folder that works fine but I can't see it (under samba) on my machine where it is. I tried making another folder in the parent folder of this one & got the same READ ONLY crap.

So, what little simple thing (& in sure it is) am I over looking here?

Thanks for any suggestion, (even if they prove not to help)

ernie · Joined: Dec 16, 2002 Posts: 166

I do not believe I fully understand your problem:

You have a FAT32 partition (drive), and you want to share it using samba, but it keeps being READ ONLY.

Is this FAT32 partition on your Linux box or on a Windows computer?

From where is this FAT32 partition READ ONLY (the computer on which it resides, a remote Windows computer, the Linux box)?

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 924

ernie · Joined: Dec 16, 2002 Posts: 166

If you use the KDE desktop environment (as I do here), you can configure file sharing in Kcontrol > Internet & Network > File Sharing (samba must be installed on your system).

If you do not use KDE, you can install the webmin package. The description I get in Kpackage reads as follows:

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 924

OK - Have thought of trying SWAT, I'll have to check that out - BTW: I'm using gnome (see my post on fedora 9)

Thank, I'll post back when I have time to check...

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 924

Check the DOCS on webmin & am a bit confused. Does this connect to MY machine ONLY or does it connect to someone else's on the internet?

I'd thing with "localhost" it would be mine but the doc's seem to read otherwise & I DON'T (for security reasons) want someone else's stuff setting up mine.

Thanks

-----------------------------------------------
Checked into SWAT so I think I may understand what webmin is about but would still like clarification. - Also, from what I gathered it doesn't appear that I'd gain anything by using these & would only add to the security issues.

Any other ideas? - & again thanks for helping.

ernie · Joined: Dec 16, 2002 Posts: 166

Webmin uses ssh to create a secure connection, and is intended to permit secure remote system administration. With that said, the remote user will still have to authenticate (provide root user name and password) to log in.

The 127.0.0.1 IP address indicates the local computer. The localhost host name also indicates the local computer. Your /etc/hosts file should contain a line similar to:

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 924

If I understand this "webmin" thing, I am connecting to my OWN computer either locally or remotely. - OK, I wouldn't have a problem with that. Just didn't want to be connecting to someone ELSE'S computer & having IT do the configuration of MY computer. To me that would be like giving out my root logon to the world.

I DO think that either one of these would make things easier but will it give me the answer to the security problem? - I found some more info on it that I'm gonna try when time permits. I'll post the results & what I did.

BTW: I DO have the samba working just fine on that "linux made folder" so I at least have that & understand how to make samba work at least. Just need to resolve the permissions things.

< getting there, one step at a time>
Thanks for the info

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 924

I ended up having so many issues related to SELINUX that I ended up having to disable it. For some strange reason, all the things the troubleshooter told me to do just didn't change things. Unless I didn't do it right, it SEEMED to do SOMETHING but the errors still persisted. Also, my USB stuff started to complain about mislabelling when I unmounted them. Running in permissive mode still created the annoying popups.
BTW: samba now works all the way as well - as I figured it would...

So I guess my question is, what all will be affected? Are there any REAL security issues? (I have a H/W firewall on my network) & is relabelling really a big deal (I did try that to fix a problem & found it no big deal as far as time goes)

One thing I DON'T want to happen is to change anything on my internal fat32 drive where I won't be able to access it under XP - I use a swap kit on this machine & it is used for "first stage" backups & imaging. I then copy all this to an external USB drive. (redundancy & can grab in case of fire or whatever)

ernie · Joined: Dec 16, 2002 Posts: 166

I am not sure I understand your questions in the last post. I do not use SELinux here and I do not know a great deal about it. I believe in a layered security system. I have a hardware firewall (router) acting as my LAN's Internet gateway. I run the Mandi interactive firewall in conjunction with shorewall as provided by Mandriva (my distribution of choice) to protect my local machine because my router includes a wireless end point. The endpoint is configured for WPA, but I refuse to place my trust in any one security protocol. I work under the assumption that if the white hats can make a good lock, the black hats can find a way to pick it.

As for Samba, my samba share is the guest user accounts home directory (/home/guest) and the only material to be found there is placed there specifically to be shared. The guest account on my system is password protected, and my user account is a member of the guest group so I have read / write access. The guest account can run a WEB browser and most other user level applications with minimal privileges. I run tripwire on my system, and it is configured to check the guest account daily for unauthorized changes. I also use rkhunter (root kit hunter). Paranoid, ain't I?

Finally, I use Mandriva (a Linux distribution) because it is Open Source which means that security vulnerabilities are found and corrected in a time frame usually measured in days rather than weeks or months as is the normal case with proprietary systems. I am vigilant about keeping my system up to date. Mandriva includes a utility that checks for updates several times a day, and puts an icon in my notification tray near the system clock when updates are available so I am not interrupted when I am busy with other work.

There are other things I do to keep my stuff safe, but this should give you a bit of an idea about securing your system. A firewall provides perimeter security, but what if someone gets around it? That is why I use both triwire and rkhunter. These tools alert me if someone manages to get in, then I can take steps to boot them out and keep 'em out.

HTH,