[CS-FSLUG] local lan file sharing

[Josiah Ritchie]

On Thu, 2005-01-27 at 11:56 -0500, Frank Bax wrote:
> At the office, a new Kyocera KM-3035 was installed last week - this is a 
> fast network printer/fax/copier/scanner all-in-one unit.  There is a 
> scan-to-pc option (imagine scanning multiple pages as fast as a 
> photocopier) that only works with a Windows client.  It's a small office, 
> and security is not a big concern, so yesterday I setup the Windows client 
> on a selected workstation to deposit the scans on a samba server 
> (OpenBSD).  This allows all windows clients to pick up scanned documents in 
> the same place.  I plan to write a script which deletes scans after some 
> hard-coded time period (a month or two).  The office has a few Linux 
> workstations (Mandrake 9.1).  What's the best way for these Linux 
> workstations to access the scanner files deposited on OpenBSD system?  Do I 
> access them via the samba share that Windows clients use, or is there 
> another alternative?  If you suggest an option, please include some 
> pros/cons.  I have done some access to samba shares from Linux/OpenBSD 
> before, but it has always been a script that does the mount, some file 
> transfers, then unmount.  I've never had a share "open" for extended 
> periods.  Tim's recent issues with unmounting a share that got disconnected 
> has me cautious about how to proceed.  If a permanent mount point is needed 
> it will need to be in every users home directory, because users of these 
> Linux machines don't know anything else.

I'd probably solve this by popping it into what we call the
"CampusDrive" that is available for everyone and then have it ln'd to
their home directory. It might be better though to setup the win machine
to map their home directory to H:\ and tell them to save it to H:\ thus
negating the risk of people wiping out others files.

Security is better in the second option. Getting people familiar with a
common area is good too and has the potential of solving some major
annoyances before they start. Part of this is a just setting up a
system.

Ours is 3-tiered system. (I got tired of managing a mess of constantly
changing shares and so made it this way.) First is home directories.
Only the owner has access. Second is group directories of which only
certain groups have access. Usually on a department level I have groups.
Then I have the CampusDrive that is open to anyone logged onto the
network. I deviate from this rarely and only by displayed need (not
want).

This leaves security in place because users know what is going on and
should have a good idea of who has access to what areas. It also creates
a lot of simplicity that wasn't in place prior (due to the haphzard
system). Consequently, I have a lot less issues with file sharing.
(Well, I also changed to a Linux/SAMBA server from an NT based one at
the same time.)

Once that is setup and users know what to expect, as much as is
possible, then you have a solid place to make things like this fit.

I guess I'm saying look at the problem from a bit higher up so you can
see the whole problem over time. And, they won't like it at first but
its your job to make it work so they need to trust you. :-) If you got
Linux on there, that probably isn't a problem.

JSR/