Setting up Samba software

If the Infor SCE WM server is running on a UNIX operating system, one of the options for label printing is to install Samba on the UNIX system, configure Samba to share out the folder containing the label files, and then map a driver letter on the Loftware machine to the shared folder. An alternative is to turn on the FTP option in the server. If using Samba is your preferred option, this section provides a brief explanation of installing and configuring the Samba software.

Samba software is in the open source domain and can be freely downloaded from www.samba.org. You can either download the source code and compile it yourself for your operating system, or simply download the compiled binaries for the UNIX operating system version you are running. The download includes documentation on installing and configuring the software. The installation is a simple process.

Samba has extensive capabilities and can be used for more than sharing out a UNIX directory to a Windows system. Depending on how you are using Samba, the Samba software configuration can be either simple or complex. For the purpose of sharing out a UNIX directory, the configuration is simple and needs to be completed as defined below.

Samba software is configured by modifying the smb.conf file located in the lib folder. The smb.conf file requires these values.

  • [global]
    • workgroup = UNIXWRKGRP
    • guest account = guest
    • log file = /large/samba/log
    • os level = 99
    • preferred master = Yes
    • domain master = Yes
    • wins server = 10.33.32.20
    • valid users = kthomas, adamm
    • hosts allow = 10.33.103., 10.33.100., 127.
  • [MySharedFolder1]
    • path = /user1/folder1
    • read only = No
    • guest ok = Yes
  • [MySharedFolder2]
    • path = /user1/folder2
    • read only = No
    • guest ok = Yes

In this sample configuration, the two directories on the UNIX machine /user1/folder1 and /user1/folder2 are shared with a Windows network as MySharedFolder1 and MySharedFolder2 respectively. The configuration parameters in the global section apply to all the shared UNIX directories. For a detailed explanation of these parameters, refer to the documentation that is included with the Samba software, specifically the /Samba/3.0.20b/swat/help/manpages/smb.conf.5.html file.

The users that are specified within valid users parameter must be valid UNIX users and must also be registered with Samba in Samba's encrypted user/password database. This can be completed using the smbpasswd program located in Samba's bin directory. When a Windows user tries to access the shared UNIX directories for the first time, the user is prompted for a userID/password combination. The credentials provided are authenticated against this database. For example, if you wanted to allow UNIX user steve to access shares from a client system, you use this command:

# <path to samba>/samba/bin/smbpasswd -a steve

  • New SMB password:
  • Retype new SMB password:

Added user steve.

Two Samba processes, smbd and nmbd, must be running for Samba to work. The processes can be started with these commands.

# <path to samba>/samba/bin/smbd -D

# <path to samba>/samba/bin/nmbd -D

Since the Windows machine running the Loftware print server must be able to map a drive letter to the shared UNIX directories, you can create a new UNIX user called loftware and register the user with Samba's user/password database through the smbpasswd program. You can then use this logon and password as credentials to map a drive from the Loftware machine to the shared directories. Alternatively, you can register an existing UNIX user with Samba and use the credentials to map a drive from the Loftware machine to the shared directories.