So you have a Linux desktop or server and want to share files and/or printers to your Windows PCs or Macs. Luckily, all three operating systems support SMB so let’s use that. With Samba you can share files and printers on your home network and protect your shares with a username and password.

Install

First, fire up a terminal window and install the Samba server and GUI Configuration Tool:

sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba

Once finished the configuration tool can be found under System > Administration > Samba

Settings

Adding a new user.

Make sure the workgroup matches that of your Windows PCs by going to Preferences > Server Settings. If you are using Windows 7 or Vista, it’s “workgroup” (and Samba should already be set to that). If XP, it’s usually “mshome”.

Create a username and password to secure the shares by going to Preferences > Samba Users and click on “Add User.” Add as many users as you need.

Unix Username: Pick the linux user account
Windows Username / Samba Password: The Windows username and samba password will be used for authentication when accessing the share.

Shares

Time to add a share. Click the “+” button.

Adding a new share.

Directory: This is the directory which you want to share.
Share Name: The share name will be the name that will appear when you browse the server.
Description: This will not be shown over the network and is just for organization.
Writable: Check if you want to be able to write to the folder.
Visible: When checked, the share will be visible to users who browse the server. If unchecked, it will not be visible but is still accessible explicitly.

In the Access tab, set permissions by checking the users who may access this share.

Accessing the Share

Back in Windows, access the samba server by opening an Explorer window and entering in the address bar:

\\[ip address of the samba server]

To access a hidden share:

\\[ip address of the samba server]\[hidden share name]

When opening a share for the first time, Windows may prompt for a username and password. Just enter the username and password created earlier.

And now you have a fully functioning Samba server.

Note: The GUI config tool is pretty basic. More advanced options can be set in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. If this is edited, you can restart Samba server without rebooting:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Let’s begin…

Install Packages

First, install the required packages by typing the following into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install apache2 php5 libapache2-mod-php5 mysql-server libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql phpmyadmin

This will install Apache, PHP, MySQL, their respective modules, and phpMyAdmin. Enter your preferred root password for mySQL when prompted and choose apache2 to be automatically configured.

If you’d like, you can test whether if Apache is working properly by going to http://localhost/ in your web browser.

Letting Other Computers on the Same Network Connect (Optional)

Optionally, if you want computers on the same network to connect to the server you may want to edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf by invoking the command:

sudo gedit /etc/mysql/my.cnf

Then, replace the following line with your own IP address.

bind-address = 127.0.0.1

Configuring

To enable PHP and MySQL to work together, edit the php.ini file:

sudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Then un-comment the following line. Save and close the file.

;extension = mysql.so

Accessing PHPMyAdmin

Edit the Apache configuration file:

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Add the following line to the bottom of the file. Save and close.

Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf

Restart Apache.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Testing PHP

Create and edit a file called testphp.php in your /var/www/ folder:

sudo gedit /var/www/testphp.php

Insert the following text inside that file and save:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Go back to your web browser and navigate to:

http://localhost/testphp.php

The PHP page should display. If a download window appears instead, something went wrong. Try reinstalling php5 and libapache2-mod-php5.

Testing phpMyAdmin

Navigate your web browser to:

http://localhost/phpmyadmin/

If the phpMyAdmin login page displays, then…

You are done. That wasn’t so hard.

Now that you have LAMP running, why not try some applications? To manage your server remotely, it would probably be a good idea to install SSH.

Note: The root directory of your web server is /var/www/

Source: HowtoForge, Highub