File Sharing¶

Configuring a file server with Zentyal¶

Once you have enabled the Domain Controller and File Sharing module (either as a Domain Controller or as an Additional Domain Controller), the server can act as an SMB/CIFS File server.

By default, each LDAP user has a personal /home/<username> directory on the server. If the Domain Controller and File Sharing module is active, this directory will be accessible to the specific user (and only to the user) through SMB/CIFS. Furthermore, if a Windows® client is joined to the domain, this directory will be automounted as the drive H:.

To create a new shared directory, go to File Sharing, Shares tab and click on Add.

Adding a new share

Enabled:

Enabled by default. Leave this box checked if this directory needs to be shared. Uncheck the box to stop sharing.

Share name:

Name of the shared directory users will see.

Share path:

Directory path to be shared. The default directory is within /home/samba/shares, but you can also specify a different directory by selecting File system path.

Comment:

A more detailed description of the shared directory. Eases the management of shared assets.

Guest access:

Enabling this option allows a shared directory to be accessible without authentication. All other access policies associated with this directory will be ignored.

List of shares

Shared directories can be managed by going to Access control. By clicking on Add, you can assign read, read/write or administration permissions to users and groups. If a user is a shared directory administrator, he/she can read, write and delete any files within that directory.

Adding a new ACL (Access Control List)

If you want to store deleted files in a special directory, called Recycle Bin, you can check the Enable recycle bin box from the File Sharing menu, Recycle bin tab. If you do not want to use this for all the shared resources, you can add exceptions using the Resources excluded from Recycle Bin option. Other default settings of this feature, such as the directory name, can be modified from the /etc/zentyal/samba.conf file.

Recycle bin

In case you are using the Commercial Zentyal Edition, it is also possible to enable the Audit mode for the shared resources. Go to File Sharing, Samba settings tab and check the Enable full audit box. This mode allow you to keep a record of all the operations performed on the shared resources in the /var/log/syslog log file.

Enable Audit mode

If you are using a Commercial Zentyal Edition, you have access to the Antivirus configuration, in the left-hand menu, where you can enable virus analysis for your shared files. You can also add exceptions for the folders that do not require virus check. The Antivirus module has to be installed and enabled to use this feature. The check is done in real time when trying to access a file. If an infected file is detected, it will result in an Access denied error.

Antivirus configuration for shared files

As you can see in the screenshot, to prevent access to infected files you need to define the necessary paths in On-Access Scanning. By default, the entire /home path is included, which in turn recursively includes the /home/samba/shares with the Zentyal shared folders. You also have an exclusion rule for /home/admin and an inclusion rule for a path outside /home in order to check the files uploaded by FTP.

Tips for deploying shares¶

As you have already seen, Zentyal gives you the option to deploy your shares in the default directory, or in a folder of your choice. You must keep in mind that if you choose the first option, Zentyal will create the shared folder and configure the permissions. If you choose a custom folder, you will have to create and manually configure the folders.

There are few useful tips for deploying shares:

• A great way to configure your server is to mount a partition of a dedicated disk in the Zentyal default shares path. By choosing this option you achieve maximum flexibility and you can continue taking advantage of Zentyal’s ability to create the shares for you.
• You could use another Ubuntu server and join it to the domain, to later configure Samba for file sharing.
• You could deploy the shares on cloud, on S3 for instance.

Using either of the two latter options mentioned above will reduce the server load. In addition, this is especially useful in scenarios where you have multiple domain controllers.