5 - File Sharing

Abstract

File sharing is an important feature of the desktop. This chapter emphasizes on ways of accessing file shares using Common Internet File System (CIFS), Apple-Talk, and Network File System (NFS) from the Linux desktop. It reviews reading and writing different CD-ROM and hard disk formats. Furthermore, the chapter discusses standalone Linux, Wine, and VMware solutions used to solve file-sharing problems. CIFS shares are accessed using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which is implemented using the Samba package on Linux. SMB enables the sharing of files, printers, and serial ports. The KDE and Gnome desktops contain tools to mount CIFS shares directly by specifying a URL in its simplest form. NFS shares however, are the mainstream of network file sharing on Linux. Authentication is not a concern for these file systems, since the authentication model is at the system level and not at the user level. The user access is governed by the standard Linux permissions. Mounts using NFS require mount points and root access to perform any mounts. The various CD-ROM formats are easily accessed using the mount command that depends on whether the system has been hardened or not.