Can I set up NetWare services under Linux?

ME dugan at passwall.com
Wed Aug 1 19:06:35 PDT 2001


On Wed, 1 Aug 2001, Lincoln Peters wrote:
> This computer is running Windows for Workgroups 3.11; I probably should have 
> been more specific about that.  I tried to upgrade it to Win95 a few months 
> ago, but it failed for some strange reason that I don't understand at all (I 
> might have understood it if the error message had not been so cryptic).  If 
> I can find a way to use TCP/IP networking with SMB or NFS, I will.  
> Otherwise, I'll have to find a way to mimic a NetWare server with a Linux 
> box.  If I had a copy of NetWare, I could try to run it using VMWare.  But 
> unless I can find a copy of NetWare that supports Windows for Workgroups 
> 3.11, I'll need to find a way to make it work with Linux servers.

Samba would probably be easier to setup when compared to trying to make
your box a Novel Netware filserving clone and probably offer you more
functionality too.

I am nearly positive that Windows for Workgroups with TCP/IP enabled,
sharing the same network as a Linux box running Samba can be made to
perform filesharing from a Linux/Samba share.

Some things to examine on the windows side:
look for a hosts or lmhosts file and add an entry for the name assigned to
the linux samba fileserver as well as the server's IP address.

Some things to check and try on the server side:
Try disableing the password encryption (just for testing)
  encrypt passwords = no
If things work with that, then try changing it to "yes" and see if it
still works.
Also, you may want to try using a "share" model for security in you
testing
  security = share
Then move to a "user" security model and see if it still works and you
could then gain use of the smbpasswd stuff...

you may also want to set a simple guest share that anyone may
see/read/write just for testing:
# mkdir /tmp/test1
# chmod 777 /tmp/test1
(edit your smb.conf and add this to close to the end:)

[test1]
   comment = Temporary Test
   path = /tmp/test1
   read only = no
   force user = guest
   public = yes

If you have smbd daemonized, then restart the daemon. If it is started
with inetd etc., then just make sure you dont have it running
# ps -auxw | grep smbd | grep -v grep
If none are running and you know it is started in inetd etc, then go back
to the windows for w\orkgroups machine.

If the WfWG has not been rebooted since the hosts/lmhosts file was
changed, then reboot it. After it boots, see that you can ping the server
specified in the hosts/lmhosts file by name and by IP address:

(command.com:)
C:> PING WW.XX.YY.ZZ
(WW, XX, YY, ZZ are all decimal 0-255)
if that works, then test your hosts entry. Assuming yuor linux box is
called "gates"
C:> PING gaes
If that works, then try using the "net" command
C:> NET VIEW
and maybe
C:> NET USE Z: \\gates\temp1
If that last one does not give any errors, then try:
C:> Z:
if you see z "Z:" drive and can see files stored in the /tmp/test1 dir
from the servewr, you have filesharing. :-)

C:> net /?
or perhaps
C:> net ?
may be used. Whichever flag used (/? or ?, I dont recall) may also be
helpful in the sub groups:
C:> net view /?
C:> net use /?


Many items listed in this testing are insecure if left "as-is" and you
will want to try to secure them.
encryption over the net is a good thing if WfWG supports it.
leaving network shares where the guest user may write files to your server
is usually a bad idea and should be eliminated.

Hope this helps,
-ME




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