Can't See Shares on Other Machines, from HDA

[outriding]

Server OS: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (desktop with GUI)
Amahi: Platform: 6.3.0
Clients: Two Windows PC's with Vista Business; one Western Digital NAS box.
Router: DD-WRT running on a WRT-54GL

Hello:

I'm a lifelong windows user but new to linux. New to servers too; this my first attempt to roll my own.

Just getting started. Installation of Ubuntu and Amahi was smooth. DHCP is carried out by my DD-WRT router. It points to the hda for DNS, and those functions seem to be working correctly. All thirteen steps of the (very cool!) Amahi interactive network troubleshooter produce the right results.

But one thing puzzles me, and I want to understand what's going on before I move forward.

When I 'explore' my network from my hda host machine:

* the Nautilus explorer sees the other members of the WORKGROUP but can't open them. (The other members are two windows pc's and a linux NAS.) For example, if I attempt to 'open' any of them there's a long delay, then finally Nautilus throws up a message saying "Unable to Mount Location: Failed to Retrieve Share List from Server".

* Likewise, running 'smbtree' from CLI produces a listing of the other machines in the WORKGROUP, but doesn't show any of their Shares.

Is this proper behavior?? Is the hda machine not supposed to be able to see the shares of the other hosts in the Workgroup?

BTW, I found that the hda machine will see those shares if I hack its smb.conf file. Specifically, if I add:

name resolve order = bcast

But that smb.conf file is managed by "Amahi Configuration", which apparently doesn't want any 'name resolve order' setting in that file. It wasn't included in the initial setup, and it vanishes whenever Amahi updates the file. So I assume the server isn't supposed to be using that bcast mechanism.

BTW, the hda shares are visible and useable from the two windows PC's in the Workgroup.

So ... I'm just trying to understand what is normal or proper behavior for the server machine. Is it not necessary for it see the shares of the WORKGROUP members? Or do I have something wrong somewhere on my system?

Many thanks for any explanation or advice!

Jeff

[bigfoot65]

When I 'explore' my network from my hda host machine:

* the Nautilus explorer sees the other members of the WORKGROUP but can't open them. (The other members are two windows pc's and a linux NAS.) For example, if I attempt to 'open' any of them there's a long delay, then finally Nautilus throws up a message saying "Unable to Mount Location: Failed to Retrieve Share List from Server".

* Likewise, running 'smbtree' from CLI produces a listing of the other machines in the WORKGROUP, but doesn't show any of their Shares.

Is this proper behavior?? Is the hda machine not supposed to be able to see the shares of the other hosts in the Workgroup?

I believe that is correct. I am no expert, but I believe the HDA is meant to be seen, but not necessarily access other machines without some modification. You can find guidance in the wiki for that part.

http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Shares_troubleshooting

BTW, I found that the hda machine will see those shares if I hack its smb.conf file. Specifically, if I add:

name resolve order = bcast

But that smb.conf file is managed by "Amahi Configuration", which apparently doesn't want any 'name resolve order' setting in that file. It wasn't included in the initial setup, and it vanishes whenever Amahi updates the file. So I assume the server isn't supposed to be using that bcast mechanism.

To modify the smb.conf file, it's best to use the Shares Extra Parameters.

http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Share_Extra_Parameters

Hope this helps.

[outriding]

Thanks for your reply, Bigfoot65!

The 'Shares Troubleshooting' wiki doesn't really discuss accessing workgroup shares *from* the hda. It's about accessing the hda from the other hosts.

Thanks for pointing out the 'Share Extra Parameters' tool. I haven't tried using it yet, but if I understand correctly it will add parameter(s) to a particular share section in the smb.conf file, i.e. to the [Docs] section or the [Music] section, etc.

Can it somehow be used to add a parameter to the [global] section? That's where the 'name resolve order' parameter belongs.

Thanks!

[outriding]

To anyone reading this post: I'm wondering whether the behavior described in my original post is normal, or whether it indicates something wrong with my setup.

So it would be helpful if someone else tried to duplicate it on their system. It's just a quick check using Ubuntu/Nautilus from the hda, to test whether or not the shares on other network machines can be accessed. On my system they can't. The host names appear, but attempting to 'open' any of them fails.

Maybe that's normal behaviour for a network server; I don't know. If so, I can stop worrying about it and move on.

Or, if anyone has some expertise in this area and can just explain whether a server should or shouldn't be able to access the shares on other WORKGROUP members, that would be fantastic.

Thanks!
Jeff

[bigfoot65]

In my experience, shares on other systems cannot be accessed. I could be wrong, but most use their HDA as central storage and access files from their with their clients.

Can't say if I have heard of many trying to access shares from other machines using the HDA. Seems kinda backwards to me. I would expect the server to be the central point and all clients accessing files from it.

Just my .02 cents.