7.1: Overview of Samba/iX

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• Microsoft Windows NT
• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows for Workgroups

Introduction to Samba

Features of Samba/iX

Benefits of Using Samba/iX

• The remote MPE/iX based POSIX filesystem can be browsed as shared/services from PC clients.
• Remote files can be operated on as if they are stored locally.
• Samba/iX acts as translator between the different file systems for file names and attributes and provides security based on user authentication.
• Samba/iX can support the use of long file names by Windows 95 and Windows NT workstation PC clients.
• Samba/iX provides seamless interoperability between common desktop operating systems, popular PC applications, and HP 3000 through Microsoft network.

Major Components of Samba/iX

• SMBD: This is the server that can provide most SMB services.
  The SMB protocol section in the Samba/iX configuration file "SMB.CONF", describes the role of SMB. The HP 3000 running SMBD will act as a File and Print server for the clients using the SMB protocol. This is compatible with the LanManager protocol, and can service LanManager clients.
  These clients include Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95 and Windows NT.
  A session is created whenever a client requests one. Each client gets a child process for each session. This copy then services all connections made by the client during that session. When all connections from its client are closed, the copy of the server for that client terminates.
• NMBD: This is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS Name Service Requests on TCP port 137, like those sent by LanManager clients.
  NMBD also controls browsing (viewing the resources available on a Windows network is called browsing). When they start up, LanManager compatible clients such as Windows 95/Windows NT, may wish to locate a LanManager server. That is, they wish to know what IP address a specified host is using.
  This program simply listens for such requests, and if its own name is specified, it will respond with the IP address of the host on which it is running. Its "own name" is by default the name of the host on which it is running.
• SMBCLIENT: The SMBCLIENT is a client that can "talk" to an SMB server.
  When this program is run on the HP 3000, it will be acting as a client. It is a command line program and offers an interface similar to that of the FTP program. Operations include things like "getting" files from the server to the local machine, "putting" files from the local machine to the server, retrieving directory information from the server, etc.
• SMB.CONF: The SMB.CONF file is a configuration file of the Samba/iX suite which contains runtime configuration information for both SMBD and NMBD.
  This file consists of sections and parameters. Each section in the configuration file corresponds to a service. The special sections are [global], [homes] and [printers]. The [global] section is used to set global configuration options that apply to the server as a whole. The [homes] section is designed to grant access to all users home directories and the entries in [printers] section correspond to the print services of the Samba/iX server.
• TESTPARM: This is a test program to validate the contents of the SMB.CONF configuration file.
  If this program reports no problems, you can use the configuration file with confidence that SMBD will successfully load the configuration file.
• TESTPRNS: This tool checks whether the printer name is valid for the services provided by SMBD.

SMB Protocol

Example of SMB Conversation

Figure 7-3 "SMB NegProt Connection" demonstrates the process of connecting to a file space service. The SMB Negotiat Protocol command (NegProt) is used to decide on a protocol extension to be used with the server. The client sends a SMB NegProt to the server. This will list the protocol dialects/protocol extensions that it understands. The server responds with the index of the dialect that it wants to use, or 0xFFFF if none of the dialects were acceptable.Dialects newer than the Core and CorePlus protocols supply information in the NegProt response to indicate their capabilities such as max buffer size. The six important protocol extensions of SMB are Core, CorePlus, LAN Manager 1.0, LM 2.0, and NT LM 0.12 and CIFS 1.0.

Figure 7-3 SMB NegProt Connection

Once a protocol has been established, the client can proceed to logon to the server. Client now sends a SMB Session Setup command (SesssetupX), see Figure 7-4 "SMB Sesssetup Connection". The response indicates whether the username password pair is valid, and if so, can provide additional information. One of the very important aspects of the response is a User ID value that must be submitted with all the subsequent SMBs sent to the server. This is used for user authentication.

Figure 7-4 SMB Sesssetup Connection

After the client has logged in, then proceeds to connect to the file tree by sending a SMB Tree Connect command (TconX) to the server, see Figure 7-5 "SMB TconX Connection";. Here TconX stands for tree connect. The client sends a Tcon or SMB TconX specifying the network name of the share that they wish to connect to, and if all is well, the server responds with a TID that the client will use in all future SMBs relating to that share.

Figure 7-5 SMB TconX Connection

After connecting to a tree, the client can now open a file with an open SMB, followed by reading it with read SMBs, writing it with write SMBs, and closing it with close SMBs.