Re: Linux and drive mapping to Windows 2003 Server

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Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 01:34:24 GMT

"The Ghost In The Machine" <ewill@sirius.athghost7038suus.net> wrote in
message news:fbmoi2-dvi.ln1@sirius.athghost7038suus.net...
> In comp.os.linux.setup, Zane
> <zane@yahoo.com>
> wrote
> on Sun, 10 Apr 2005 21:09:48 GMT
> <wCg6e.79$JJ2.60@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com>:
>> We have 35 users at our company and we use Windows 2003 Active Directory
>> (Domain Controller) and Exchange 2003.
>>
>> I would like to connect and begin adding RHEL4 (Red Hat 4 Workstations)
>> into
>> the network. Currently, we have about 6 drive mappings for our client
>> machines (XP) pointing to several SHARES on the Domain Controller (also
>> file
>> server).
>>
>> Question:
>> ---------
>>
>> How do I get these same drive mappings in RHEL4 (preferrably)or Linux in
>> general?
>> For example, H: drive = \\SERVER\Home.
>
> RHEL4 (and most, if not all, other Linux distros)
> won't be able to understand "drive mappings" as such,
> as the nomenclature is different. In Unix and in Linux,
> one speaks of mounting volumes. In your particular case,
> you can easily mount what turns out to be a 'smbfs' filesystem,
> if your kernel has the right modules and/or build settings
> (since most "generic" kernels include everything but the
> kitchen sink I for one anticipate no real problems here).
>
> However, you'll need to make a decision: precisely where did you
> want to mount it? For instance, one can create the directory
> /mnt/h (RedHat, like most other distros, has /mnt/floppy
> and /mnt/cdrom, methinks) and then mount the share:
>
> mount -t smbfs //SERVER/SomeShare /mnt/h
>
> Or one can simply create /mnt/someshare and mount it there;
> driveletters are so 80's. :-) Whichever works for your employees.
>
> There are some options which I'd frankly have to research, though.
> It's also not clear how automatic this process can be; the way
> I mount things at $EMPLOYER I have to type in my Windows password.
>
> There is also the issue of who owns the files on the mounted volume.
> I'll have to refer you to the documentation; I've set it up at
> $EMPLOYER but have forgotten the details.
>
> You can partly automate the process, if you like, for the non-home
> shares. Entries in /etc/fstab similar to
>
> //Server/OtherShare /mnt/g smbfs noauto,user 0 0
>
> should work. Other options are also available (e.g. uid=someusername)
> but again I'll have to refer you to the SAMBA docs.
>
> You'll probably want encrypted passwords, too.
>
> Another warning: there are two naming methods between Linux
> and Windows. Linux prefers DNS (although 'nmblookup' does allow
> for the finding of a given user's workstation). Windows has WINS.
> They coexist peacefully enough.
>
>>
>> Btw, my goal is to replace the DC as a File Server with a Samba Server
>> also...not right now, as clien machines are my priority for conversion.
>
> Do it right and no one will notice. :-) (Except perhaps for the
> improved reliability.) There are some gotchas, though, mostly because
> the Linux filesystems tend to be case-sensitive, whereas the
> Windows ones are merely case-preserving; if one creates a file
> named 'Fubar.doc' and accesses it using 'FUBAR.DOC' on a Windows
> system, the Windows system will give you the file, but the
> Linux system may look at you funny, depending on your Samba
> settings.
>
> You can also make that Samba Server export NFS volumes as well.
> I don't know how the two compare efficiency wise; one would hope
> NFS is more efficient. Obviously, though, that gets us out of
> setup-space and more into performance-space -- and is also an
> issue down the road, not right now.
>
>>
>> Thank You.
>>
>
> Good luck. :-)
>
> --
> #191, ewill3@earthlink.net
> It's still legal to go .sigless.

Thank you for your insights and time.

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• In reply to: The Ghost In The Machine: "Re: Linux and drive mapping to Windows 2003 Server"
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