Q: Problems with SMB and file sharing in Lion

Hello, Outsider

> I apologize for the long delay in my response. We are using standard Unix-based ACL permissions managed via Terminal and the Server app.

This should work

> As I said I have very complex permissions due to the nature of our office and I sometimes have to add entirely new sharepoints; I see on SMBup's GUI that it looks like it requires sharepoints to be created in the interface itself.

No. SMBUp lets you create the shares in SMBUp if you wish to. You can also create them by editing the Samba server config file: smb.conf.

> I recall someone saying that you don't even need to do this portion if you've already set up the fileshares in the Server App; this individual seemed to think that once users were created all that needs to be done is simply unchecking AFP and SMB on the shares in the Server App and SMBup (Samba itself  rather) will continue sharing what was already there. Is this correct?

I would be surprised if it is. OS X SMB uses a wholly different way of setting up shares, and samba is unaware of it. Everything that samba does, needs to be done in the samba config.

AFP is unrelated. You can leave AFP enabled and it shouldn't affect anything.

> Again, the environment that I am running the Mac Server in is one that's extremely important to ensure that all of the unknowns have been quantified before deploying any major modifications.

Easiest would be to try it out, I think.

> As a side note, I'm aware that SMBup is simply a GUI for Samba, and using the term "deploy" in my industry (in the ten years I've been doing this thus far) is simply a short term to imply the installation/usage of a new software/hardware implementation. Semantics aside, I appreciate your help greatly.

I've been working in the IT industry for over two decades. I'm aware of the terminology. But it's important for me to have people be extremely clear that the bulk of what they're installing is Samba, to which SMBUp is just a front-end. If you already had samba you could still run SMBUp. The clarification is not about whether the term is correct, but that what you're "deploying" is in reality Samba. You insist that you're trying to have all information clear so I'm making sure that bit of it is also clarified from my side.

It's important because most of the problems people have when installing SMBUp are actually with Samba itself, and unless it's a common problem I already have a FAQ for, I send people over to the Samba help forums for help.

Okay so I've recreated all my users and have gotten everything set up thus far. At this point I believe I only have one more question: do I simply add the top directory of my share (similar to my current Server file sharing setup) and the permissions will retain from the ACLs?

P.S. I just perused the Advanced Server Configuration tool and noticed there was an option for profile acls; how is that different from the group/user ACLs I have currently?

Thanks again.

Daniel

Okay so I've recreated all my users and have gotten everything set up thus far. At this point I believe I only have one more question: do I simply add the top directory of my share (similar to my current Server file sharing setup) and the permissions will retain from the ACLs?

P.S. I just perused the Advanced Server Configuration tool and noticed there was an option for profile acls; how is that different from the group/user ACLs I have currently?

Thanks again.

Daniel

Well after reassigning all of my "Services-only" accounts over to "Local Accounts" in order for samba to play well with them, I've run into a problem that I had no idea would present itself. As I've mentioned previously, our permissions are a bit more complex by necessity, and as such we have some members who are in five or six Server-created groups. Having said that, I know that there aren't any users who belong to more than nine or ten groups total (maximum, including 'staff'), yet SMBup is giving me an error message on the first few members that I tried to create in Samba. The error is stating on every single user thus far (even one I know is only a member of five total groups) that "the user has more than 15 groups assigned to it by Mac OS X...."; for brevity's sake, I'm including an image taken by my phone (unfortunately due to protocols I've put in place for our security, a screen grab was impossible). What is your provided solution to this error? Should I be downloading a newer version of Samba, etc.? Also, I'm not sure that I can even create user accounts from within SMBup, and the ad hoc suggestion does nothing for my permissions given that we have multiple members on multiple groups, and having a single "share user" for an entire group seems asinine considering the implications it would have on file-locking, etc.

Finally, when I test SMBup at home on my PC and two Yosemite machines I was able to connect to each other perfectly fine. However, the moment I put the program and Samba on my Mavericks Server, nothing could connect or even see the computer via NETBIOS. It could have been a setting I may have missed but it was completely nonresponsive to file sharing or network discovery. I understand that SMBup prompts the user that it will shut off Apple's iteration of SMB, but I experienced a complete inability to connect whether the checkmark on Apple's Preferences for File Sharing is on or off (not SMB or AFP, simply the file sharing setting).

Thanks heaps. This was a real help getting my HP M277DW to scan to my Mac. Running Mavericks OS10.9.5. Did the usual file sharing sequence. Then in the browser printer tool I set up the scan folder link using the path:

\\MACBOOKPRO-xxxx\Macintosh%20HD\path\to\folder\

Name of the Mac is from the Network WINS page. DHCP was set to auto IP address.