Turn your Shell™ into a File Server using Samba, OpenVPN, and Ubuntu

Overview

Samba file server allows computers to share files over a private network using almost any operating system. It will allow you to share files between your laptop, desktop, virtual, or cloud computers no matter macOS or Windows.

You can install a Samba server on any operating system, but for the purposes of this tutorial, we will be using Ubuntu Desktop 20.10.

Since the Samba file server is designed to run on a private network, we will also need to set up a Virtual Private Network for our server so that our endpoint devices are on the same private network.

For the purpose of keeping everything organized, it is advised that all VPN usernames and Samba usernames be identical to prevent any confusion.

Prerequisites

• A dedicated IP address for your Shell™.
• A functional Shell™ with VPN access.

Purchasing a Public IP

Click the link below, and follow the directions to purchase a dedicated IP address for your Shell™.

How to order a dedicated IP address for your Shell™

Setup VPN access to Your Shell™

Click the link below, and follow the directions to set up a VPN connection to your Shell™.

Turn your Shell™ into a VPN Server

Install Samba

Now, to update and install Samba.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install samba

To check that the installation is complete, enter the command whereis samba. The output should look as follows:

samba: /usr/sbin/samba /usr/lib/samba /etc/samba /usr/share/samba /usr/share/man/man7/samba.7.gz /usr/share/man/man8/samba.8.gz

Configure Samba

Create a directory for Samba to share, enter the following and replace systemuser with the username to your home directory:

mkdir /home/systemuser/sambashare

Now to edit Samba's configuration file /etc/samba/smb.conf

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Next, we need to add a description of the share, specify the path to our share, set permissions, and use options.

Add the following lines at the end of the configuration file while replacing systemuser with the directory your sambashare is in:

[sambashare] 
comment = Samba on Ubuntu 
path = /home/username/sambashare 
read only = no 
browsable = yes

ours looks like this:

Include VPN traffic

Also, we must edit the interface directive in the Networking section so that the smb.conf file listens on the VPN's subnet of 10.8.0.0/24. Enter the following:

interfaces = 10.8.0.0/24

and allow users from the VPN network to access the Samba server:

hosts allow = 10.8.0.0/24

The entry should look like this:

Save and exit the nano editor.

For our changes to take effect we must restart the Samba service:

sudo service smbd restart

To check the status of our Samba service, enter:

sudo service smbd status

Allow Samba traffic through your firewall:

sudo ufw allow samba

Adding users to Samba

Samba does not use the system account password, so we need to create one. You must use a username identical to a system account, or else the Samba account will not save. Enter the command below:

sudo smbpasswd -a username

For additional configuration options, read the Samba Server Guide

Connect to Share

To connect to your Samba file server, your client must be connected to your Shell™ via VPN as shown at the end of our VPN tutorial

If you followed our VPN tutorial, the IP address of your Samba share is the same as your VPN interface:

10.8.0.1

Ubuntu

Open the default file manager then click Connect to Server.

In the Server Address field, enter:

smb://vpn-ip-address/sambashare

Click 'Connect' or press 'Enter'

macOS

Open the Finder, click Go > Connect to Server and enter:

smb://vpn-ip-address/sambashare

Windows

In the file manager, enter:

\\vpn-ip-address\sambashare

Enter your Samba credentials at the prompt and you are connected!