Samba: smbfs works, cifs does not

[James Wilkinson]

Joe Barnett wrote:
> Server config: OpenBSD 3.8 using Samba 3.0.13p0 from ports
> 
> Workstation(s): FC5 and FC4
> 
> When using cifs (FC4 and 5) the resources will mount but I do not have access 
> to the directories.  When using smbfs (FC4) I *do* have access to the 
> directories.  However, root (on the workstation/cifs/FC4 and 5) has all the 
> expected access to the same directories.  The directories in question
> are users homes, and on the server they are given tight permissions
> (0700).
> 
> The directories are mounted at startup:
> 
> mount -t cifs //some/share /mnt/share -o 
> rw,user=joe,password=xxxxxxx,uid=joe,gid=joe
> 
> (all on a single line...)

man mount.cifs says, for both uid and gid:
    This parameter is ignored when the target server supports the CIFS
    Unix extensions.

So what are these CIFS Unix extensions?

Basically, they allow CIFS (initially designed around DOS/Windows-type
filesharing) to handle Unix stuff like device nodes, symlinks, inode
numbers, and group and user IDs. And yes, both Linux 2.6 (as a client)
and recent Samba support these.

I suspect that you're running into issues where the UID *numbers* are
different on the server and on the clients. Unfortunately, there doesn't
seem to be an easy way around changing the UID numbers on the client...

You may want to look again at integrated logins using something like
LDAP.

This is a reasonable starting point for more information:
http://sambaxp.org/uploads/media/08-Jeremy_Allison_-_CIFS_to_the_Desktop.pdf

Hope this helps,

James.

-- 
E-mail address: james | ... and watched Richard Stallman ask one of the
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