1.11. Enabling users to share directories on a Samba server

Procedure

1. Create the local example group, if it does not exist:

   # groupadd example

2. Prepare the directory for Samba to store the user share definitions and set its permissions properly. For example:

   1. Create the directory:

      # mkdir -p /var/lib/samba/usershares/

   2. Set write permissions for the example group:

      # chgrp example /var/lib/samba/usershares/
      # chmod 1770 /var/lib/samba/usershares/

   3. Set the sticky bit to prevent users to rename or delete files stored by other users in this directory.

3. Edit the /etc/samba/smb.conf file and add the following to the [global] section:

   1. Set the path to the directory you configured to store the user share definitions. For example:

      usershare path = /var/lib/samba/usershares/

   2. Set how many user shares Samba allows to be created on this server. For example:

      usershare max shares = 100

      If you use the default of 0 for the usershare max shares parameter, user shares are disabled.

   3. Optional: Set a list of absolute directory paths. For example, to configure that Samba only allows to share subdirectories of the /data and /srv directory to be shared, set:

      usershare prefix allow list = /data /srv

   For a list of further user share-related parameters you can set, see the USERSHARES section in the smb.conf(5) man page on your system.

4. Verify the /etc/samba/smb.conf file:

   # testparm

5. Reload the Samba configuration:

   # smbcontrol all reload-config

   Users are now able to create user shares.

Procedure

1. To display all user shares created by any user:

   $ net usershare info -l
   [share_1]
   path=/srv/samba/
   comment=
   usershare_acl=Everyone:R,host_name\user:F,
   guest_ok=y
   ...

   To list only shares created by the user who runs the command, omit the -l parameter.

2. To display only the information about specific shares, pass the share name or wild cards to the command. For example, to display the information about shares whose name starts with share_:

   $ net usershare info -l share_* 

Procedure

1. To list the shares created by any user:

   $ net usershare list -l
   share_1
   share_2
   ...

   To list only shares created by the user who runs the command, omit the -l parameter.

2. To list only specific shares, pass the share name or wild cards to the command. For example, to list only shares whose name starts with share_:

   $ net usershare list -l share_*