Centos – what does “chcon -t samba_share_t /path/to/share” do

centossamba

I am setting up a samba share and two shares that are identical one is accessible and one is not. Wile looking into what might solve the problem I saw this command. I can not find what it does though.

What does "chcon -t samba_share_t /path/to/share" do?

To elaborate on this question why would I ever need to run this command on one share but not the other. Both shares were created the same, same user and same computer.

Best Answer

It changes the SELinux context of the specified path to samba_share_t. This would be necessary if you have SELinux in enforcing mode on your system and the path being referred to was not previously designated as a Samba share (via SELinux labeling).

Related Solutions

Linux – Default username for Samba share that is not the user name on the client system

You might be using share-level security (security = share) in your smb.conf file. In share-level security, Samba uses the share name as the username for the connection and does not ask for a username in the protocol. This is basically how Window 98 worked. You probably want security = user and you will need a proper smbpasswd file as well as Samba can't use the normal UNIX password database (/etc/passwd or /etc/shadow). Use smbpasswd -a lfm to add a new user for lfm and set it's password, set security = user in smb.conf and restart Samba.

Smbclient fails with message ‘protocol negotiation failed: NT_STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES’, what does it mean and how to fix it

Problem

In the client

sudo mount -t cifs -o uid=user,gid=user,username=user,password=password //192.168.0.100/shared /mnt/smb
mount: Cannot allocate memory

smbclient -L pc -U user%password
protocol negotiation failed: NT_STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES

dmesg | tail
…
[49474.230547] CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -12

Solution

Restarting LanmanServer can solve the problem

In the server

net stop LanmanServer /y && net start LanmanServer
These workstations have sessions on this server:

192.168.0.100
These workstations have sessions with open files on this server:

192.168.0.100
The following services are dependent on the Server service.
Stopping the Server service will also stop these services.

   HomeGroup Listener
   Computer Browser

The HomeGroup Listener service is stopping.
The HomeGroup Listener service was stopped successfully.

The Computer Browser service is stopping..
The Computer Browser service was stopped successfully.

The Server service is stopping.
The Server service was stopped successfully.

The Server service is starting.
The Server service was started successfully.

net start Browser
The requested service has already been started.

net start HomeGroupListener
The HomeGroup Listener service is starting.
The HomeGroup Listener service was started successfully.

After this smbclient in the client doesn't return an error

smbclient -L pc -U user%password
Domain=[PC] OS=[Windows 7 Ultimate 7601 Service Pack 1] Server=[Windows 7 Ultimate 6.1]
…

Client

The client is

cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 13.04 \n \l

sudo dmidecode | grep -A2 "Base Board"
   Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
   Product Name: 440BX Desktop Reference Platform

Server

The server is

ver
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

dmidecode | grep -A2 "Base Board"
   Manufacturer: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
   Product Name: P8Z77-M PRO