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Re: Samba or NFS--tangent



On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 12:58 AM, Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> wrote:
> On 06/03/2011 11:28 PM, William Hopkins wrote:
>>
>> On 06/03/11 at 10:02pm, Ron Johnson wrote:
>>>
>>> On 06/03/2011 11:43 AM, John A. Sullivan III wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>>>
>>>> NFS is by far simpler to use in pure Linux environment, Samba is for
>>>> Windows networks. NFS has no passwords, just install it with apt-get,
>>>> and declare /etc/exports in the server, and mount the shares in the
>>>> clients /etc/fstab. That's all it takes.
>>>>
>>> Fine for home environments, but shouldn't an office environment use
>>> LDAP for coordinated UID/GID sharing?
>>
> /snip/
>
> Not to steal the thread, but those who read this probably are the best to
> advise me.  I know nothing about networking, but I would like to set up
> a peer-to-peer network among a Windows 7 and two Linux machines, one of
> which can also be booted to XP. (If one absolutely *must* be a "master" it
> must
> be the Windows 7 machine.)  I assume I would use samba.  I don't need any
> security--all the machines are mine, here in the house with me, and I live
> alone.
> What I need is words of one syllable on how to do it.  Is there a "Networks
> For
> Dummies" for me somewhere?
>
> Thanx--doug

Most modern computers can, very reasonably, use dhcp to automatically
be configured inside a local network and be able to reach the rest of
the computers or the Intenet(tm). I'll assume you've already got your
local wireless gateway or "cable router" or "dsl modem" or whatever
doing that.

First step, make sure you can see the Internet safely from inside your
local network. That makes sure you're up and connected. I'm also
assuming the IP addresses you're getting are "non-routable" addresses
behind a NAT gateway: you can look them up with your network
configuration tools. For someone like you unfamiliar with the
internals on Linux, you might actually benefit from using the
"NetworkManager" tools on your Linux boxes. Verify that the addresses
are non-routable, for safety: they'll typically look something like
"192.168.1.101". That "192.168" to start means "don't tell people on
the Internet about this, hide behind a NAT gateway.)

Second step. Tell your gateway to set up DHCP reservations: this
stabilizes what IP address each machine gets, so you can hit the same
address again and make things work. You can alternatively set up your
network configuration smanually, but DHCP can be very handy.

Third step. Pick one machine as a file server, say, one Linux box.
That will tell you what file sharing protocols are available: Samba to
share to Windows, and NFS to share with Linux and some Windows boxes,
work reasonably well. Pick *ONE* file server, don't try to do this
with all 3 machines or you'll enter a configuration rats nest.

Mount your file shares from the server box. Use the now stable IP
addresses: you can use host names if you set up a DNS server for
yourself or a put host names in each machines /etc/hosts file, but for
only 3 boxes, you don't need it.


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