Setting Up Samba on Proxmox A Detailed Guide

Introduction

Samba is a powerful and flexible tool that enables file sharing between Linux and Windows systems. In this guide, I will walk through the detailed steps to install and configure Samba on a Proxmox server.

Step 1: Identify and Prepare the Storage Drive

Before setting up Samba, we need a dedicated storage partition where shared files will be stored.

1. List Available Storage Devices:

   lsblk

   This command lists all the block devices (storage drives) connected to the server. It helps us identify the correct disk to use.

2. Check the Partition’s UUID:

   blkid /dev/sdb1

   This command displays the UUID (Unique Identifier) of the partition /dev/sdb1, which will be useful for mounting the drive persistently.

3. Format the Partition with EXT4 Filesystem:

   mkfs.ext4 -L Storage /dev/sdb1

   This formats the partition with the EXT4 file system and labels it as Storage.

4. Create a Mount Point:

   mkdir -p /mnt/storage

   This command creates a directory where we will mount the storage drive.

5. Mount the Partition:

   mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/storage

   This mounts the newly formatted partition to the /mnt/storage directory.

Step 2: Configure Persistent Mounting

To ensure that the partition is mounted automatically at boot, we need to add an entry to /etc/fstab.

1. Edit fstab:

   nano /etc/fstab

   Add the following line to the file:

   UUID=01c126f6-5a2a-46b8-9f1b-475720978b8f  /mnt/storage  ext4  defaults,noatime  0  0

   Replace the UUID with the actual UUID of the partition found using the blkid command.

2. Apply the Changes:

   mount -a

   This mounts all the filesystems defined in /etc/fstab.

Step 3: Install Samba

Now, we install the Samba package to enable file sharing.

apt update && apt install samba

This command updates the package list and installs Samba.
If you have error check (this)[https://shadynagy.com/how-to-fix-proxmox-update-errors-step-by-step-guide/].

Step 4: Configure Samba

1. Edit Samba Configuration File:

   nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

   Add the following section at the end of the file:

   [Storage]
     path = /mnt/storage
     writable = yes
     browseable = yes
     guest ok = no
     valid users = smbuser

   • path = /mnt/storage: Specifies the shared directory.
   • writable = yes: Allows writing files to the share.
   • browseable = yes: Makes the share visible on the network.
   • guest ok = no: Prevents guest access.
   • valid users = smbuser: Restricts access to the user smbuser.

Step 5: Start and Enable Samba Services

We need to enable and start the Samba services to ensure it runs automatically on boot.

systemctl enable smbd nmbd
systemctl start smbd nmbd

• smbd: Handles file sharing services.
• nmbd: Manages network name resolution.

Step 6: Create a Samba User

A Samba user is required for authentication.

1. Create a New User:

   useradd -m -s /bin/bash smbuser

   This command creates a new user named smbuser.

2. Set a Password for the User:

   passwd smbuser

3. Add the User to Samba:

   smbpasswd -a smbuser

   This command sets a Samba-specific password for smbuser.

Step 7: Set Permissions

We need to grant the user permission to access the storage directory.

chown -R smbuser:smbuser /mnt/storage

This command changes the ownership of /mnt/storage to smbuser.

Step 8: Restart Samba Services

To apply all changes, restart the Samba services:

systemctl restart smbd nmbd

To verify that Samba is running correctly, check its status:

systemctl status smbd nmbd

Conclusion

Now, the Samba server is up and running. You can access the shared folder from a Windows machine by entering \\your-server-ip\Storage MAC (smb://your-server-ip/Storage) in the File Explorer.
This guide ensures that the configuration is persistent across reboots, secure, and accessible only to authorized users.

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