comparing HP-UX cifs with LINUX samba

[senthil_kumar_1]

I want to compare HP-UX cifs with linux samba.


1) To mount a cifs share.
in Hp-ux:
#mount -F cifs server:/sahare /mount_point -o user=username,password=password

in linux

#mount -t cifs server_ipaddress:/sahare /mount_point -o user=username,password=password

question in hp-ux, can we mention cifs share like "//server_ipaddress/sharename" but here i mentioned "server_ipaddress:/sahare"


2) are follwoing both for same purpose?

In hp-ux

#smbclient -L localhost -U%


in linux

# smbclient -L localhost -N


3) to connect samba shares?
in hp-ux

#cifslogin //server_ipaddress/sharename -U username%password

in linux

#smbclient //server_ipaddress/sharename -U username%password

are above both for same purpose?


pls clarify my each question.

[Marco A. · Accepted solution]

Question 1.
1) To mount a cifs share.

question in hp-ux, can we mention cifs share like "//server_ipaddress/sharename" but here i mentioned "server_ipaddress:/sahare"

A. No, you cannot.
The mount command must be used as the man page shows, even if you are trying to mount a cifs, cdfs, or whatever you want to mount.
In linux you specify this as -t of type, and the type on hpux is specififed by the -F

Question 2.

2) are follwoing both for same purpose?

The usage of the smbclient is generic and the same for both systems, if you look at the man page you will see the differences between both, but you can use the same options in hpux or linux with this command.

Question 3

3) to connect samba shares?
in hp-ux

#cifslogin //server_ipaddress/sharename -U username%password

in linux

#smbclient //server_ipaddress/sharename -U username%password

are above both for same purpose?
Yes, they are doing exactly the same thing.

Another thing is that you have to use the cifs commands on hpux, and the smb commands on linux

I recommend you the http://www.die.net/ for the linux man pages and the Man pages section of the docs.hp.com for hp-ux, you can find the CIFS book righ there.

Regards, hope this helps.

Marco,

[Heironimus]

HP CIFS Server is an HP-packaged Samba build, so anything that's part of it will be almost identical (including smbclient). However, mounting of remote CIFS shares as local filesystems is completely different between the HP CIFS Client and Linux cifs.

HP CIFS Client is based on Sharity. Mounting a share makes it available, but individual users that need to access the share must authenticate to the remote server using cifslogin. Refer to HP's documentation on the HP CIFS Client for full details.

Linux uses the Linux-specific kernel cifs driver. Mounting specifies the credentials, and everything on the machine operates on the share with those credentials. Because its operation is fundamentally different from the HP client, Linux has no equivalent to cifslogin. See the man page for mount.cifs for more options.

So, for your questions:

1. Your HP mount should not specify user/pass as mount options, but you do need the NFS-like server:/share syntax. Your Linux mount should use //server/share instead of server:/share.

2. They should do the same thing, both commands probably work on both platforms, but in most cases -N is the correct way to do that. The -N option tells smbclient not to prompt for a password, I think -U% tells smbclient to use a null user/pass, and both will probably try to connect to the server as guest.

3. cifslogin and smbclient are largely unrelated. smbclient is Samba's interactive, ftp-like cifs client. cifslogin is Sharity's command for authenticating a user to a remote server for access to mounted shares.

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi Heironimus

pls explain me purpose of "cifslogin" command.

and what is the command used in HP-UX for connecting cifs shares like FTP like we are doing in linux using "smbclient" command.

[Eric Raeburn]

> pls explain me purpose of "cifslogin"
> command.

Only 'root' can mount a remote CIFS share. Then, users on the client must be authenticated by the CIFS server before they can access that share. That is what cifslogin accomplishes. This is exactly analogous to mapping a network drive on a Windows PC client to a share on a Windows server: the user is required to enter an account name and a password. This is a requirement of the CIFS protocol--in order to access the share, each user must be authenticated (logged in) by the server or its domain controller. So 'root' does the mount (via "cifsmount" or "mount -F cifs ..."), then each user who wants to access the share does "cifslogin".


> and what is the command used in HP-UX for
> connecting cifs shares like FTP like we are
> doing in linux using "smbclient" command.

As Hieronimus stated earlier: "HP CIFS Server is an HP-packaged Samba build, so anything that's part of it will be almost identical (including smbclient)." So you can install the HP CIFS Server bundle (it's likely already on your system), and use smbclient on HP-UX just as you do on Linux. Alternatively, you could run an ftp server on the remote system and access it from HP-UX via ftp.


One other point. Above it is suggested that cifslogin can accept user credentials in the form "-U user%password". That is not the case. The password is specified as "-P password". Note also that if the password is not given on the command line, cifslogin prompts interactively for it.


-Eric

[Ganesan R]

Hi Senthilkumar,

>>>pls explain me purpose of "cifslogin" command<<<

It is explained here...

http://docs.hp.com/en/B8724-90044/ch05s03.html

http://docs.hp.com/en/B8724-90044/ch03s02.html

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

My understanding has always been that CIFS for HP-UX is a Samba code port and compile.

HP is currently using a recent 3.0.x Samba release for the Samba compile, it dubs CIFS.

You might find this link interesting:
http://osdir.com/ml/os.solaris.opensolaris.storage.general/2008-02/msg00151.html

No or little difference?


Main difference.

http://www.iancharnas.com/docs/projects/sambatalk-advanced/1.html

I've always used the two interchangably. The only notable difference I've seen is the name of the commands and some slight syntax errors. I have never used this mount format:
-U username%password

Alawys used -U username -P password or used a credentials file to hide the login information so it not be left in a script or /etc/fstab

SEP