SMB shares

Enabling Samba/SMB in the cluster

By default RSF-1 does not manage SMB shares - the smb.conf file is left to be managed by the system administrator manually on each node in the cluster. To enable the management of the SMB from the webapp and synchronise it across all cluster nodes, navigate to Shares -> SMB and click ENABLE SMB SHARE HANDLING:

You will now be presented with the main SMB shares screen consisting of a number of tabs to handle different aspects of SMB configuration.

Initial SMB configuration

SMB/Samba provides numerous ways to configure authentication and sharing depending upon the environment and the complexity required. This guide documents two commonly used configurations:

• User Authentication - standalone clustered SMB sharing with local user authentication.
• ADS Authentication - member of an Active Directory domain with authentication managed by a domain controller.

Local User Authentication

With local user authentication, cluster users must be created with the SMB support enabled. A user created this way will have the same login name, UID and GID on all nodes in the cluster along with an equivalent Samba user entry to provide the required SMB authentication. See Unix users in this guide for further details.

Configuring Samba Globals for User Authentication

Navigate to Shares -> SMB, select the GLOBALS tab, then select User from the drop down security list and optionally set the desired workgroup name. Click save changes:

ADS Authentication

RSF-1 can also be configured to use Active Directory for user authentication (ADS) when being deployed for use in a Microsoft environment.

In a Microsoft environment users are identified using security identifiers (SIDs). A SID is not just a number, it has a structure and is composed of several values, whereas Unix user and group identifiers consist of just a single number. Therefore a mechanism needs to be chosen to map SIDs to Unix identifiers. Winbind (part of the Samba suite) is capable of performing that mapping using a number of such mechanisms known as Identity Mapping Backends; two of the most commonly used being tdb (Trivial Data Base) and rid (Relative IDentifier).

tdb - The default idmap backend is not advised for an RSF-1 cluster as tdb generates and stores UIDs/GIDs locally on each cluster node, and works on a "first come first served" basis. When allocating UIDs/GIDs it simply uses the next available number with no consideration given to a clustered environment, which can lead to UID/GID mismatches between cluster nodes.

rid - This mechanism is recommended as the idmap backend for a clustered environment. rid implements a read-only API to retrieve account and group information from an Active Directory (AD) Domain Controller (DC) or NT4 primary domain controller (PDC). Therefore using this approach ensures UID/GID continuity on all cluster nodes.

When using the rid backend, a windows SID (for example S-1-5-21-1636233473-1910532501-651140701-1105) is mapped to a UNIX UID/GID by taking the relative identifier part of the SID (the last set of digits - 1105 in the above example) and combining it with a preallocated range of numbers to provide a unique identifier that can be used for the UNIX UID/GID. This preallocated range is configured using the Samba IDMAP entry.

Configuring Samba Globals for ADS Authentication

1. Navigate to Shares -> SMB, select the GLOBALS tab, then select ADS from the drop down security list, set the workgroup and realm name. Click save changes:

   

2. Navigate and open the IDMAP setting section. By default a wildcard entry is preconfigured (this is used by Samba as a catchall and is a required entry). Click +Add and configure an entry for the rid mapping. Enter the same workgroup name used in the security settings and enter the desired range of numbers to use for mapping the IDs. Select a range that starts after the wildcard range and provide enough scope to cover the expected maximum number of windows users in the domain. Click the ✓ to update the mapping table:

   

3. Click SAVE CHANGES. The resulting configuration file (viewable from the CONFIG tab) should look similar to the following:

   [global]
     encrypt passwords = Yes
     idmap config * :    backend = tdb
     idmap config * :    range = 3000-100000
     idmap config HACLAB :    backend = rid
     idmap config HACLAB :    range = 100001-300000
     realm = HACLAB.COM
     security = ADS
     server role = Member Server
     workgroup = HACLAB
   

Samba is now configured to be able use ADS authentication.

Testing ADS authentication (optional)

ADS authentication can be tested by allowing users from the windows domain to login to the Unix cluster hosts. A successful login proves that Samba is able to authenticate using the Windows Domain Controller.

Some additional configuration is required as follows (remember to do this on all nodes in the cluster):

1. Configure winbind authentication for users and groups in the name service switch file /etc/nsswitch.conf. Add winbind as a resolver for users and groups:

   passwd:     files winbind systemd
   group:      files winbind systemd
   

   This tells the operating system to lookup users locally first (/etc/passwd), followed by winbind.

2. Change DNS in /etc/resolv.conf so it refers to the Active Directory server:

   domain haclab.com
   search haclab.com
   nameserver 10.254.254.111
   

3. Join the active directory domain.

   # net ads join -U Administrator
   Password for [HACLAB\Administrator]:
   Using short domain name -- HACLAB
   Joined 'WCALMA1' to dns domain 'haclab.com'
   No DNS domain configured for wcalma1. Unable to perform DNS Update.
   DNS update failed: NT_STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER
   
   # net ads info
   LDAP server: 10.254.254.111
   LDAP server name: ws2022.haclab.com
   Realm: HACLAB.COM
   Bind Path: dc=HACLAB,dc=COM
   LDAP port: 389
   Server time: Fri, 13 Sep 2024 17:07:32 BST
   KDC server: 10.254.254.111
   Server time offset: 1
   Last machine account password change: Fri, 13 Sep 2024 16:57:04 BST
   

4. Restart winbind.

   # systemctl restart winbind
   

5. Query winbind to confirm it is able to query the Active Directory server:

   # wbinfo -U
   HACLAB\administrator
   HACLAB\guest
   HACLAB\krbtgt
   HACLAB\hacuser1
   HACLAB\hacuser2
   

Samba can be further configured to allow AD users to login if so desired. Two further steps are required:

1. Enable auto creation of home directories. For Debian based systems:

   # vi /etc/pam.d/common-session
   # add to the end if you need (auto create a home directory at initial login)
   session optional        pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel umask=077
   

   For RedHat based systems:

   # authselect enable-feature with-mkhomedir
   # systemctl enable --now oddjobd
   

2. Configure a login shell for Samba. Navigate to Shares -> SMB, select the GLOBALS tab, expand the miscellaneous section and set an appropriate login shell for the system:

3. Finally, restart winbind.

   # systemctl restart winbind
   

It should now be possible to login to the Unix servers using AD users.

Clustering an SMB Share

These steps show the process of creating a clustered SMB share.

1. Shares are managed via the SHARES tab. Click +Add to create a new SMB Share

   Available options:

   • Share Name The name of the SMB share
   • Path Path of the folder to be shared, for example /pool1/SMB
   • Valid Users A space separated list of Valid users. When User authentication is in effect these will be Unix Cluster users; for ADS authentication this can be local Unix cluster and Windows domain users.

   

2. Click ✓ when done. The share will now be available and clustered (a Samba reload is automatically applied):

   

3. Advanced share settings can be applied once the share is created by clicking the cog on the left hand side of each individual share:

   

Additional SMB settings

LOCAL CONFIG

This tab is used to apply Samba configuration settings specific to each node rather than all cluster nodes. One example of this is the netbios name which needs to be unique on each node in the Windows Domain.

CONFIG

The tab shows the current Samba configuration for each cluster node; this view includes the globals, shares and local configuration.

STATUS

This tab shows the status of the Samba daemon services that are running. It also allows management of the services per node.