1<HTML> 2<HEAD> 3<TITLE> Samba meta FAQ: Quick Reference Guides to Samba Documentation</TITLE> 4</HEAD> 5<BODY> 6Previous 7<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-2.html">Next</A> 8<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ.html#toc1">Table of Contents</A> 9<HR> 10<H2><A NAME="s1">1. Quick Reference Guides to Samba Documentation</A></H2> 11 12<P> 13<A NAME="quickref"></A> 14</P> 15<P>We are endeavouring to provide links here to every major class of 16information about Samba or things related to Samba. We cannot list every 17document, but we are aiming for all documents to be at most two 18referrals from those listed here. This needs constant maintaining, so 19please send the author your feedback.</P> 20 21<H2><A NAME="ss1.1">1.1 Samba for the Impatient</A></H2> 22 23<P> 24<A NAME="impatient"></A> 25</P> 26<P>You know you should read the documentation but can't wait to start? What 27you need to do then is follow the instructions in the following 28documents in the order given. This should be enough to get a fairly 29simple site going quickly. If you have any problems, refer back to this 30meta-FAQ and follow the links to find more reading material.</P> 31<P> 32<DL> 33<P> 34<A NAME="ImpGet"></A> 35</P> 36<DT><B>Getting Samba:</B><DD><P>The fastest way to get Samba 37going is and install it is to have an operating system for which the 38Samba team has put together an installation package. To see if your OS 39is included have a look at the directory 40/pub/samba/Binary_Packages/"OS_Vendor" on your nearest 41<A HREF="../MIRRORS">mirror site</A>. If it is included follow the 42installation instructions in the README file there and then do some 43<A HREF="#ImpTest">basic testing</A>. If you are not so fortunate, follow the normal 44<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-2.html#WhereFrom">download instructions</A> and then continue with 45<A HREF="#ImpInst">building and installing Samba</A>.</P> 46<P> 47<A NAME="ImpInst"></A> 48</P> 49<DT><B>Building and Installing Samba:</B><DD><P>At the moment 50there are two kinds of Samba server installs besides the prepackaged 51binaries mentioned in the previous step. You need to decide if you have a 52<A HREF="../UNIX_INSTALL.txt">Unix or close relative</A> or 53<A HREF="Samba-Server-FAQ.html#PortInfo">other supported operating system</A>.</P> 54<P> 55<A NAME="ImpTest"></A> 56</P> 57<DT><B>Basic Testing:</B><DD><P>Try to connect using the 58supplied smbclient command-line program. You need to know the IP 59hostname of your server. A service name must be defined in smb.conf, as 60given in the examples (under many operating systems if there is a 61<F>homes</F> service you can just use a valid username.) Then type 62<CODE>smbclient \\hostname\servicename</CODE> 63Under most Unixes you will need to put the parameters within quotation 64marks. If this works, try connecting from one of the SMB clients you 65were planning to use with Samba.</P> 66<P> 67<A NAME="ImpDebug"></A> 68</P> 69<DT><B>Debug sequence:</B><DD><P>If you think you have completed the 70previous step and things aren't working properly work through 71<A HREF="../DIAGNOSIS.txt">the diagnosis recipe.</A></P> 72<P> 73<A NAME="ImpExp"></A> 74</P> 75<DT><B>Exporting files to SMB clients:</B><DD><P>You should read the manual pages 76for smb.conf, but here is a 77<A HREF="Samba-Server-FAQ.html#Exporting">quick answer guide.</A></P> 78<P> 79<A NAME="ImpControl"></A> 80</P> 81<DT><B>Controlling user access:</B><DD><P>the quickest and dirtiest way of sharing 82resources is to use 83<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-4.html#ShareModeSecurity">share level security.</A> If you want to spend more time and have a proper username 84and password database you must read the paragraph on 85<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-4.html#DomainModeSecurity">domain mode security.</A> If you want 86encryption (eg you are using Windows NT clients) follow the 87<A HREF="Samba-Server-FAQ.html#SMBEncryptionSteps">SMB encryption instructions.</A></P> 88<P> 89<A NAME="ImpBrowse"></A> 90</P> 91<DT><B>Browsing:</B><DD><P>if you are happy to type in "\\samba-server\sharename" 92at the client end then do not read any further. Otherwise you need to 93understand the 94browsing terminology</A> 95and read 96<A HREF="Samba-Server-FAQ.html#NameBrowsing">Samba-Server-FAQ.html#NameBrowsing</A>. </P> 97<P> 98<A NAME="ImpPrint"></A> 99</P> 100<DT><B>Printing:</B><DD><P>See the 101<A HREF="Samba-Server-FAQ.html#Printing">printing quick answer guide.</A></P> 102 103</DL> 104</P> 105<P>If you have got everything working to this point, you can expect Samba 106to be stable and secure: these are its greatest strengths. However Samba 107has a great deal to offer and to go further you must do some more 108reading. Speed and security optimisations, printer accounting, network 109logons, roving profiles, browsing across multiple subnets and so on are 110all covered either in this document or in those it refers to.</P> 111 112 113<H2><A NAME="ss1.2">1.2 All Samba Documentation</A></H2> 114 115<P> 116<A NAME="AllDocs"></A> 117</P> 118<P> 119<UL> 120<LI> Meta-FAQ. This is the mother of all documents, and is the one you 121are reading now. The latest version is always at 122<A HREF="http://samba.org/[.....]">http://samba.org/[.....]</A> but there is probably a much 123nearer 124<A HREF="../MIRRORS">mirror site</A> which you should use 125instead. 126</LI> 127<LI> 128<A HREF="Samba-Server-FAQ.html">Samba-Server-FAQ.html</A> is the best starting point for 129information about server-side issues. Includes configuration tips and 130pointers for Samba on particular operating systems (with 40 to choose 131from...) 132</LI> 133<LI> 134<A HREF="Samba-Client-FAQ.html">Samba-Client-FAQ.html</A> is the best starting point for 135information about client-side issues, includes a list of all clients 136that are known to work with Samba. 137</LI> 138<LI> 139<A HREF="samba-man-index.html">manual pages</A> contains 140descriptions of and links to all the Samba manual pages, in Unix man and 141postscript format. 142</LI> 143<LI> 144<A HREF="samba-txt-index.html">samba-txt-index.html</A> has descriptions of and links to 145a large number of text files have been contributed to samba covering 146many topics. These are gradually being absorbed into the FAQs and HOWTOs 147but in the meantime you might find helpful answers here. 148</LI> 149<LI> 150</LI> 151</UL> 152</P> 153 154 155<HR> 156Previous 157<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-2.html">Next</A> 158<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ.html#toc1">Table of Contents</A> 159</BODY> 160</HTML> 161