9/6/2016 ConfigurationofAIXFastConnectandSMBFS

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ConfigurationofAIXFastConnectandSMBFS
FollowalongwiththisquickreferenceguidetoconfigureAIXFastConnectandSMBFSonAIXandWindows.

Share:
DivyaVikasisanAIXsupportspecialistforSMBFSandFastConnectsoftware.SheispartofIBMSystemsandTechnologyGroupforIBM
SoftwareLabs,India.DivyahasprovidedactivesupporttocustomersacrosstheworldonSMBFSandFastConnect.Youcanreachherat
divya.vikas@in.ibm.com.

UmaM.ChandoluworksasaDevelopmentSupportSpecialistonAIX.HeiscurrentlytheteamleadoftheAIXSecurityDevelopmentSupport
teamatIBMBangalore.HehasthreeyearsofextensivehandsonexperienceinAIXenvironments,anddemonstratedexpertiseinAIXsystem
administrationandothersubsystems.Hehasexperienceinterfacingwithcustomersandhandlingcustomercriticalsituations.Hehasbeen
recognizedasanIBMdeveloperWorksContributingAuthor.Youcanreachhimatuchandol@in.ibm.com.

PuneetMahajanisanadvancedAIXtechnicalsupportspecialistwithoversevenyearsofexperienceinAIXsystemadministration.Heis
currentlytheteamleadofAIXremotesupportforIndependentSoftwareVendors(ISV)atIBMAustin.Youcanreachhimat
pmahajan@us.ibm.com.

18December2007
AlsoavailableinChineseRussian

Introduction
TheCommonInternetFileSystem(CIFS),alsoknownasServerMessage
Block(SMB),isastandardremotefilesystemaccessprotocoloverthe
Internet,enablinggroupsofuserstoworktogetherandsharedocumentsand
printersacrosstheInternetorwithincorporateintranets.CIFSallowsmultiple
clientstoaccessandupdatethesamefile,whilepreventingconflictswith

sophisticatedfilesharingandlockingsemantics.Italsopermitsaggressivecachingandreadaheadand
writebehindwithoutlossofcachecoherency,therebyincreasingtheperformance,whichisthebackbone
oftoday'ssophisticatedenterprisecomputernetworks.CIFScomplementsHTTPandprovidesmore
sophisticatedfilesharingandfiletransferthanolderprotocols,suchasFTP.

FilesharingbetweenPCoperatingsystems,suchasWindows,iscommonlyimplementedusingtheCIFS
protocol,andfilesharingbetweenAIXsystemshasbeenimplementedusingtheNetworkFileSystem
(NFS)protocol.Sincethesetwoprotocolsbeingnoninteroperable,productslikeAIXFastConnectandAIX
SMBFSallowPCclientstoaccessandsharefilesontheAIXserverandviceversa.

OverviewofAIXFastConnect
AIXFastConnectisserversoftwarethatallowsAIXserverstosharefilesandprinterswithpersonal
computerclientsrunningthefollowingWindowsoperatingsystems:

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WindowsXP
Windows2000
Windows2003
WindowsNT
Windows98Windows

AIXFastConnectprovidesthefollowing:

Arichsetofsecurityfeatures
Highperformance(SendFileAPIsupportandmemorymappedfiles)
Filesafetyspecifications(sothatmultiplemachinescanaccessthesamefilewithoutlockingproblems
andopportunisticlocking)
MaintenanceandadministrationusingtheSystemManagementInterfaceTool(SMIT)
Secureauthenticationtechniques(AIXbaseduserauthentication,NTpassthroughauthentication,
LightweightDirectoryAccessProtocol(LDAP)supportforuserauthentication,Kerberosbased
authentication,andCIFSpasswordencryptionprotocols)

Figure1.AIXFastConnect

Note:AIXFastConnectsupportsAIX5.1andabove.

Installationrequirements
InstallthefollowingfilesetstoconfigureAIXFastConnect:
Figure2.ConfiguringAIXFastConnect

OnlytherootusercanperformtheconfigurationofFastConnectfortheAIXserverhowever,anyusercan
accesstheconfigurationmenu.

StartingtheFastConnectserver
TherearetwowaysinwhichyoucanstarttheFastConnectserver:
1. UsingSMIT
2. Usingthecommandline

UsingSMIT

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1. Entersmitty smb.
Figure3.UsingSMIT

2. SelecttheStart Server.
3. Inthenextscreen,thecommandcompletesanddisplaysthefollowingmessage:
Server servername has started successfully on servername

Usingthecommandline
1. Enternet start /load.
2. Toverify,runthefollowing:
#ps -eaf | grep cifs
root 503820 1 0 Aug 23 - 0:00 /usr/sbin/cifsUserProc
root 565300 1 0 Aug 23 - 0:12 /usr/sbin/cifsServer
root 823380 757910 0 12:55:44 pts/2 0:00 grep cifs

Thesetwoprocesses,associatedwithFastConnect,areresponsiblefortheSMBrequestand
response:

cifsServeristhemainserverdaemonitisamainserverprocessownedbyroot.
cifsUserProcisaclientsessiondaemonthereisonecifsUserProcforeachsession.Foreverynew
requesttotheAIXFastConnectserverfromtheWindowsclient,anewcifsUserProcthreadiscreated.

Definingshares
Therearetwowaysinwhichyoucanaddanewfilesystemshare:
1. UsingSMIT
2. Usingthecommandline

UsingSMIT
1. Enterthefollowingcommand:#smitty smb.
2. SelectServerShares>FileSystems(SharedVolumes)>AddFileSystems(SharedVolumes).
Figure4.Addingfilesystems

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Usingthecommandline
1. Enterthefollowingcommand:
#net share /add /type:f /netname:TEST
/path:/home/divya /desc:"File share test"

Configurationofencryptedpasswordsanddefiningauser
WhentheAIXFastConnectserverisconfiguredforencryptedpasswords,AIXFastConnectattemptsto
authenticateallincomingSMBusernamesandencrypted_passwordloginsagainsttheAIXFastConnect
/etc/cifs/cifsPasswdfile.Thisfile,initializedandmaintainedbythenet usercommand,isadatabaseof
AIXFastConnectusers(andtheirencryptedpasswords).

AllAIXFastConnectusersdefinedbythenet usercommandshouldbeAIXusers.

ThepasswordsoftheFastConnectusersaredistinctfrom(andmightdifferfrom)thestandardAIX
passwordsinthe/etc/security/passwdfile.WhenanAIXuserchangestheirpassword(using
/usr/bin/passwd),theAIXFastConnectpasswordforthatuserdoesnotautomaticallychange.

ToenforceencryptedpasswordsforAIXFastConnect,type:
#net config /encrypt_passwords:2

Toconfigureanewuserforencryptedpasswords,type:
#net user username password /add

Or
#net user username -p /add

The-pflagpromptsforanoechopassword.

Tochangeauser'sencryptedpasswordandalsoupdatethatuser'sAIXpassword,type:
#net user username password /changeaixpwd:yes

Or
#net user username -p /changaixpwd:yes

Oncetheaboveconfigurationsaredone,stopandstarttheserver.

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Tostoptheserverandunloadtheserverdaemon,type:
#net stop /unload

ToloadtheserverdaemonandenablePCclientstoconnect,type:
#net start /load

NowtheFastConnectserverisreadytoallowPCclientstoconnectandaccesstheexportedfileshares.

MappingdrivesfromthePCclients
Typically,PCclientsmustdefinedrivemappingstousetheCIFSexportedfileshares.Thesedrive
mappingscanbedonefromWindowsorfromtheDOScommandprompt.

YoucanusethefollowingmechanismstodefineorundefinemappingsbetweenPCdrivesandCIFSfile
shares.Forthefollowingexamples,assumethattheNetBIOSservernameisindus19.in.ibm.comandthat
filesharestest,test1,isdefined.

ForDOS,enterthefollowing:
DOS> net help (help info for DOS)
DOS>net use F: \\indus19.in.ibm.com\test /user:tstuser tstpass
DOS>net use H: \\indus19.in.ibm.com\test1 (When username and password is not
specified in the command line, then a pop window appear asking for the username
and the password)
DOS> copy F:\oldfile H:\newfile (uses the mapped drives)
DOS> net use F: /delete (delete the mapped network drive)

ForWindows,dothefollowing:
1. IntheMapNetworkDrivedialogbox,selectWindowsExplorer>Tools>MapNetworkDrive,or
rightclickNetworkNeighborhoodandselectMapNetworkDrive.
2. SelectthedrivefromtheDrive:dropdownlist,andthenEnterthepath.Forexample,seeFigure5
below.
Figure5.Mappingdrives

3. ToaccesstheexportedCIFSfilesystemsfromWindows(Y:\),seeFigure6below:
Figure6.AccessingtheexportedCIFSfilesystemsfromWindows

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Herearesomeotherusefulcommands:

Toquerytheserver'soperationalstatus,type:
#net status

Toshowgeneralconfigurationinformation,type:
#net config

Toshowstatisticalinformation(forexample,packetsdelivered),type:
#net statistics

Youcanresetthestatisticscountsbytypingnet statistics /resetonthecommandline.

Toquerythestatusofloggedinusersessions,type:
#net session

TolistallsharescurrentlyexportedbytheCIFSserver,type:
#net share

Tolistallusersconfiguredinthe/etc/cifs/cifsPasswdfile,type:
#net user

Todeleteauserfromtheencryptedpasswordsdatabase,type:
#net user username /delete

OverviewofSMBFS
AIXSMBFSistheclientsoftwarethatallowsAIXserverstomountsharesandexportsfromtheSMB
serverlikeWindowsXP,Windows2003,Windows2000,WindowsNT,orWindows98operatingsystems
intotheAIXVirtualFileSystem(VFS).ThiseliminatestheneedtoinstalltheNFSserversonthePCclients
andtoenhancethefilesharingbetweenSMBserversandAIXthroughtheVFSinterface.

ComponentsthatmakeSMBFS
ThedevicedriverforapseudodeviceThisdriverallowsSMBFStocommunicatewiththeSMBserverin
caseitneedstoinitiateareconnectionorfinishreceivingamultipacketresponsewithouttheneedtostop
allthreadsthatareperformingfileoperations.
ThefilesysteminterfaceThisinterfacesupportsVFSandvnodeoperations.
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TheSMBinterfaceThisinterfacegeneratesandretrievesSMBinformation.

Basicconfiguration
AIXSMBFSrequirestheinstallationofthefollowingfilesets:
Package Description

bos.cifs_fs.rte RuntimeforSMBFS
bos.cifs_fs.smit SMITInterfaceforSMBFS

1. Ontheserverside,sharethefolderthathastobeexportedtoAIX.RightclickonSelectSharingand
Security>SharethisFolder>Permissionstab>CheckallthepermissionsFullcontrol,
Change,andRead>ApplyandOK.
Figure7.Sharingafolder

tstcifsisthesharedfolder,andthesharenameiststcifs.
Figure8.Thesharedfolder

2. Ontheclientside,executethefollowingtomountthesharesofthewindows:
Enterthefollowingtoensurethatthensmb0deviceisintheavailablestate.Thedeviceisapseudo
devicethathelpsSMBFStocommunicatewiththeSMBserver(Windows):

#lsdev -l nsmb0

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Ifthedeviceisnotpresent,run/etc/mkcifs_fs,whichcreatesthensmb0deviceandbringsittothe
availablestate.
Runthefollowingtocreateamountpointandgivethefullpermissiontothemountpoint.

#mkdir /mnt #chmod 777 /mnt

Runthemountcommand:

#mount -v cifs -n (servername)/username/password /(sharename) /(mountpoint)

Figure9.Thesharedfolder

Themainfunctionalityofthemountcommandis:
1. TocreateaSMBIODthread(ItistheparentthreadofSMBFSItisakernelthreadthatcreatesthe
sessionandmanagestheconnection.Italsohelpsinsendingandreceivingtherequestsand
responsesbetweentheserverandtheclient.EverymountperformedonAIXhasacorresponding
smbiodthread.)
2. Toestablishthenetwork(NETBIOS)connectionbetweentheserverandtheclient
3. TocreateaTREECONNECT(directorystructureofWindowsisputinthemountpointofAIXbox)

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