[mdlug] [Tech Support] How to configure public samba share

[Mathew Enders]

list1c30fe42 at bellsouth.net wrote:
> Servers,
> 
> I need to configure a CentOS-5 server such that a pair of directories
> are publicly available to clients of many types.
> At this time, the directories are accessible by http, ftp, and nfs.
> They need to also be available as smb shares.
> 
> I have configured samba such that according to instructions found on
> the CentOS website, and tried many variations.
> So far, if my windows (vm) test client has read only access to the
> directory pair, then it has root read/write access to the whole
> server.
> 
> How should I configure samba to publicly expose two directories and
>    nothing else?
> What samba tutorials would anyone (dis)recommend?
> I have read smb.conf(5), what am I missing?
> 
> 
> With config files as below,
> 
> If I use smbpasswd -a -n nobody,
>    + windows reports the "Vendor *" shares are read-only (as desired),
>    - but / is visible and writeable as share "nobody"
>    + mount.cifs ... -o ro,guest on a linux host
>      can mount the directories
>    + tdbdump reports only nobody in /etc/samba/smbusers
> 
> If I don't use smbpasswd -a -n nobody,
>    - Windows reports access denied.
>    + mount.cifs ... -o ro,guest,security=none on a linux host
>      can mount the directories
>    + smbclient -L ... -N from another linux box lists the correct shares
>    + tdbdump reports empty /etc/samba/smbusers
> 
> 
> 
> Distro: CentOS-5
> 
>      ---- /etc/samba/lmhosts ----
> 127.0.0.1 localhost
>      ---- /etc/samba/lmhosts ----
> 
>      ---- /etc/samba/smbusers ----
> # Unix_name = SMB_name1 SMB_name2 ...
> root = administrator admin
> nobody = guest pcguest smbguest
>      ---- /etc/samba/smbusers ----
> 
>      ---- /etc/samba/published-smb.conf ----
> # ...
> 
> [Vendor Things]
>          comment = vendor things
>          path = /opt/vendor/lib
>          public = yes
>          printable = no
>          browseable = yes
>          guest ok = yes
> 
> [Vendor Documentation]
>          comment = vendor online documentation
>          path = /opt/vendor/doc
>          public = yes
>          printable = no
>          browseable = yes
>          guest ok = yes
>      ---- /etc/samba/published-smb.conf ----
> 
>      ---- /etc/samba/smb.conf ----
> # This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
> # ...
>          workgroup = MYGROUP
>          server string = Samba Server Version %v
> ; ...
> 
> # ----------------------- Standalone Server Options ------------------------
> #
> # Security can be set to user, share(deprecated) or server(deprecated)
> #
> # Backend to store user information in. New installations should
> # use either tdbsam or ldapsam. smbpasswd is available for backwards
> # compatibility. tdbsam requires no further configuration.
> 
>          security = user
>          passdb backend = tdbsam
> 
> # ...
> 
> # ------------------ Printing Options ----------------
> # ...
> # You can choose a non default printing system using the Printing option
> 
>          load printers = yes
>          cups options = raw
> 
> # ...
> 
> #================ Share Definitions ================
> 
> [homes]
>          comment = Home Directories
>          browseable = no
>          writable = yes
> ; ...
> 
> [printers]
>          comment = All Printers
>          path = /var/spool/samba
>          browseable = no
>          guest ok = no
>          writable = no
>          printable = yes
> 
> # ...
> 
> # My public share
> include = /etc/samba/published-smb.conf
>      ---- /etc/samba/smb.conf ----
> 

I do not recognize what you have in the smb.conf as your public share 
but it should look something like this

# A publicly accessible directory, but read only
[public]
    comment = Public Stuff
    path = /home/samba
    public = yes
    read only = yes