iAtkos SMB File Sharing Bug?

I ran into a strange problem with SMB file sharing on my AAO iAtkos v5 install. I don't know if it's a side effect of something I did when installing or if it's present in all iAtkos installs. In any case, I figured I'd document it here in case anyone else runs into it.

The symptom is that with SMB file sharing enabled, the AAO becomes visible to Windows machines on the same network, but all attempts to connect and see the shares fail to authenticate. The same is true if you try to get access using smbclient on a Linux box.

The fix (in my case) was to go into the terminal and edit the file /etc/smb.conf. Towards the bottom of that file (right before the "printers" section) was the following:

Code:

    ; Pull in system-wide preference settings. These are managed by
    ; synchronize-preferences tool.
    include = /var/run/smb.conf

However, on my big G5 the location for the "include" is "/var/db/smb.conf". After making that change and rebooting, SMB file sharing worked perfectly and I could authenticate and see my shares on all the other machines on my network.

Since editing files in the terminal isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea, here's a one-liner that will take care of it for you:

Code:

$ sudo sed -i .bak -e "s/var\/run/var\/db/" /etc/smb.conf

Note that this saves a copy of your original smb.conf file as /etc/smb.conf.bak so if anything goes wrong you can put the original back.

 

Someone might have goofed. /var/run/ should normally contain only pids, sockets, and addresses.
On a dual 10.4/10.5 G4 I have in 10.5 the global file /var/db/smb.conf and a local /etc/smb.conf.
I don't think I ever ran smb in 10.4, but there's a /etc/smb.conf and nothing in /var/

Edit: /etc/smb.conf on a genuine Mac refers to /var/db/smb.conf so don't ask me how it changed...

 

Thanks Kopsis for starting this thread.
Was having the exact same problem and used the outlined sudo command. My PC sees the Mac now but I cannot log into it. I;m inclined to blame Windows7 for my woes but perhaps it's another issue on the Mac side.
Is it normal (in this or any of these distributions) for the packet readings to show "0" all the time? Thats what I have when looking at the Network Utility or Activity Monitor. Even doing a speedtest- even while streaming video from the PC.
May just try a complete reinstall at some point but appreciate any light you (or anyone) may be able to shed on that particular matter. Thanks again.....

 

It's hard to determine "normal" with a sample size of one But I can say that on my iAtkos 5i install the packet counters in Activity Monitor always read "0" when connected via the wired ethernet port. No WiFi here at the office so I don't know if the same is true when using the WLAN interface.

If you suspect Windows 7 is the culprit, you might try booting a Linux LiveCD image in that machine. Then use 'smbclient' or one of the GUI tools to see if Linux can connect. Sometimes the "-d9" debug output from 'smbclient' can be very helpful in troubleshooting these kinds of problems.

 

Yeah the live cd was going to be the next step. Didn't bother trying though as I'm not very fond of Windows7 thus far. Put Vista back on that machine and shares are now working back and forth.
Time to figure out the other issue now.
Thanks again Kopsis.....