Uniform Access SMB file service

Accessing your UA account home directory

Your home directory for your account on the following computers is available to be accessed with the SMB protocol.

UA computers

Configure WINS or DNS

For Windows 95, you will first need to configure simba01 to be your WINS server. If your OS supports DNS names in UNC specifications, you will not need to configure WINS. If using DNS, verify that you can resolve the name info-homer.deskfile.washington.edu. That can ordinarily be done with the command nslookup or using a browser and specifying "telnet:info-homer.deskfile.washington.edu".

Specifying the drive mapping on Windows.

For MS DOS, the command to mount the disk is net use, and the command net help use | more shows the command options. For example:

net use * \\jqpublic-homer\jqpublic

The MS DOS command form is suitable for putting in a batch file. A shortcut can be added to the desktop to execute the batch file with the click of the mouse. Another tool for mounting lies is within Windows Explorer. Under the tools menu select map network drive and enter the UNC name for the directory: \\jqpublic-homer\jqpublic

For Windows NT, the mounting supports the use of DNS server names, so you don't need to configure WINS, just configure DNS. For example:

net use * \\jqpublic-homer.deskfile.washington.edu\jqpublic

Mounting on a Linux host

In the commands given below, substitute your login name for user and the UA computer which you login to for cluster. Substitute the directory name for the mount point for mount-point.

For the Linux 2.1.x series, the commands to mount and dismount are:

% smbclient '\\user-cluster.deskfile.washington.edu\user' -c 'mount mount-point -f 644'

% smbumount mount-point

For the Linux 2.0.x series, the commands to mount and dismount are:

% smbmount '\\user-cluster.deskfile.washington.edu\user' mount-point -f 644

% smbumount mount-point

Troubleshooting

Do not waste too much time troubleshooting. From what I've seen so far, if you've followed the previous instructions, it either works or doesn't.

If you still want to try to fix it, there are some things you can try which may shed some light on what is wrong, but probably won't fix anything. If you are familiar with the ping program, you may use that to determine whether the DNS for logon-cluster.deskfile.washington.edu is working and resolves to a reachable IP address. If that works, you can use the find command under the tools menu of Windows Explorer to attempt to resolve the login-cluster WINS name. If that works, telnet to your account and login and change your password; then try the mount again. If you are using NT, NT may well be sending your NT login password instead of your UA account password, no matter what you may be typing in little boxes when prompted. For NT and Windows, you may well need to reboot your computer after any MS password change to ensure that the new one is used by the network software, again regardless of any typing of passwords in boxes you may be doing.


Steve Jones
revised November 1998