[kwlug-disc] first in a series of simple samba questions

[Robert P. J. Day]

  as a followup to my earlier post, i've been asked to put together a
*very* simple beginner-level intro to samba (on suse 11,
specifically), which suggests i better figure this stuff out myself.
so i decided to make it immensely hands-on, and show how, from a
default SLES (suse linux enterprise server) 11 install, one could,
slowly and methodically, bring samba to life, one step at a time, and
use samba-related commands to test progress at each step.  (other
distros would be just as easy, this is just the one i've been asked to
use.)

  this will all be done on a fairly fresh suse 11 enterprise server
install, no fancy configuration, hostname "sles11", smb.conf file as
it was installed, the first part being:

[global]
        workgroup = WORKGROUP
        printing = cups
        printcap name = cups
        printcap cache time = 750
        cups options = raw
        map to guest = Bad User
        include = /etc/samba/dhcp.conf
        logon path = \\%L\profiles\.msprofile
        logon home = \\%L\%U\.9xprofile
        logon drive = P:
        usershare allow guests = Yes

and this is what i mean by slow and methodical.  without starting
*anything*, how much am i allowed to verify about the samba setup on
this host?  i can first show the samba-related packages that were
installed -- easy enough.  readers might want to know what each
package is for and what's in it.

  anything else?  actually, without even starting smbd or nmbd, i can
use "testparm" to validate the smb.conf file:

# testparm
Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
Processing section "[homes]"
Processing section "[profiles]"
Processing section "[users]"
Processing section "[groups]"
Processing section "[printers]"
Processing section "[print$]"
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE
Press enter to see a dump of your service definitions
...

  see what i mean?  in stage 1, show how to examine and validate the
alleged setup without even starting it.  anything else that can be
done while we're here?

  more coming shortly.

rday

p.s.  i'm going to be posting verbosely on this topic today so feel
free to play along. :-)

--

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

        Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry.

Web page:                                          http://crashcourse.ca
Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
========================================================================