This solution will work with any Lawson-supported version of Unix. Specifically, this document references IBM AIX v4.3.3 and SAMBA 2.0.

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1 Using SAMBA for Integrating into the Lawson Environment by John Henley, Decision Analytics August 2001 Summary A frequent complaint heard among Lawson Insight Unix clients is the difficulty of moving files between their PCs and the Lawson server. You can use a variety of FTP utilities (yes, including the Lawson supplied FTP, and the ugly-but-reliable DOS FTP!) to move files. Each one is different and most require IT training, configuration and support. A much more effective method is to make the server directories available as network file shares on your network. For example, IBM offers an AIX product called Fast Connect for just this purpose, but is an additional cost. You can also share the directories as NFS (Network File Share) mount points, but that requires NFS client software to be installed on each PC. A free server-based product called SAMBA may be just the ticket. Read on, and discover some of its capabilities, and learn how it can be used to integrate your Lawson Unix servers into your Windows PC environment. Lawson & SAMBA Version This solution will work with any Lawson-supported version of Unix. Specifically, this document references IBM AIX v4.3.3 and SAMBA 2.0. What is SAMBA? How do I get it? The very short answer is that it is a server-installed version of the SMB protocol used on the Windows platform for file and printer sharing. The starting point for information on SAMBA is: Binary or Source? You can download either a source code version of SAMBA or a precompiled package, which is compiled for your particular hardware platform. Both the source and the binary versions come with a variety of documentation, in text, HTML, and PDF formats. Note that while installing a binary distribution can save you a fair amount of trouble and time, there are a couple of issues that you should keep in mind when deciding whether to use the binary or compile the source yourself: The precompiled binary packages can lag behind the latest version of the source code software. In this document, the source version is 2.2, while the binary precompiled version is 2.0; this can be important, particularly since version 2.2 can integrate with Windows 2000 Activity Directory for security/authentication. If you use a precompiled binary, you will need to ensure that you have the correct operating system libraries required by the executables. Be sure to check on special requirements for the operating system you are using. The precompiled binary distributions come with preset values about the target platform, such as default directories and configuration option values. Again, check the documentation and the makefile included in the source directory to see which directives and variables were used when the binary was compiled. In some cases, these will not be appropriate for your situation. A few configuration items can be reset with command-line options at runtime instead of at compile time. For example, if your binary tries to place any log, lock, or status files in the "wrong" place (for example, in /usr/local ), you can override this without recompiling. Copyright 2001, Decision Analytics. All rights reserved. Page 1

2 Most importantly, using the Samba source requires an ANSI C compiler. If you are on a platform with a non-ansi compiler, such as the cc compiler on SunOS version 4, you'll have to install an ANSI-compliant compiler such as gcc before you can continue. See for gcc compilers. For this document, I choose to install a precompiled binary package, on the IBM AIX platform. I downloaded Visit to see the available platforms. Installing SAMBA Download binary package from: Uploaded SAMBA_aix exe using FTP (remember to set the BIN option!) to your Unix Server. In this particular example, I uploaded to /u05/download. chmod 777 SAMBA_aix exe to make it executable Executed SAMBA_aix exe. This created AIXspecific installation files (depending on the Unix platform, you ll see different installation methods). Used the AIX SMIT management tool to install: Copyright 2001, Decision Analytics. All rights reserved. Page 2

3 Configure SAMBA The SAMBA executables and configuration files are installed in various directories, depending on your platform, and whether you used the source or binary installation method. In this instance, various files are located in the following directories: /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /var/samba After installation, the following minimal configuration is required: Create a short script, as /etc/startsmb, to start the SAMBA servers: #!/bin/sh /usr/local/bin/smbd -D /usr/local/bin/nmbd -D Add /etc/startsmb to your Unix startup file (in the case of AIX, I added it to /etc/inittab) Add your site-specific options to /usr/local/samba.conf: [global] # workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name workgroup = DANALYTICS # server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field server string = Decision Analytics AIX Server # This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict # connections to machines which are on your local network. The # following example restricts access to two C class networks and # the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see # the smb.conf man page hosts allow = # Security mode security = server # Use password server option only with security = server password server = skunk Start SAMBA, eg.: $. /etc/startsmb Copyright 2001, Decision Analytics. All rights reserved. Page 3

4 Sharing Unix Directories as Windows File Shares Add file shares to /usr/local/samba.conf: After you have added shares to smb.conf, restart SAMBA, e.g.: $. /etc/startsmb [lawprint] comment = Lawson Print Files path = /u04/lawson/lawson/print valid users = lawtr723 jdh public = no writable = yes printable = no create mask = 0765 From your Windows PC, you should now be able to see and navigate the file shares from Windows: Where Do I Go From Here? This simple example show how you can quickly add seamless file sharing between your Unix server and Windows PCs. In addition, you can use SAMBA for printer sharing between platforms, and can even access your Windows network servers from your Unix servers! Obviously, security is an important consideration, and needs to be carefully implemented. But it is much easier in the SAMBA environment, since it, unlike FTP and NFS, integrates with the Windows NT security model. You should consider SAMBA 2.2 if you are using Windows 2000 and Active Directory in your enterprise. Further Reading Samba: Integrating UNIX and Windows by John D. Blair, ISBN SAMS Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours by Gerald Carter and Richard Sharpe, ISBN Samba: Unix & NT Internetworking by James DeRoest, ISBN Copyright 2001, Decision Analytics. All rights reserved. Page 4

5 John Henley has over 15 years of consulting experience in the IT industry--spanning multiple industries, including healthcare, government contracting and professional services. He holds an undergraduate Business Administration degree from James Madison University and a Masters in Information Systems from George Mason University. He worked for one of the largest software companies in the world before founding Decision Analytics in Decision Analytics, based in Arlington, Virginia, provides technology consulting and software development services, with a primary focus on Lawson Insight products. Reach John via at john.henley@danalytics.com Copyright 2001, Decision Analytics. All rights reserved. Decision Analytics and the Decision Analytics diamond logo are the trademarks of Decision Analytics North John Marshall Drive Arlington, Virginia Tel: (703) Fax: (703) LAWSON INSIGHT is a registered trademark of Lawson Software. Other company and product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.