NFS file sharing

Here’s how you share files between two Linux machines, using NFS.

Installation

• Go to the Synaptic Package Manager
• Find nfs-kernel-server and install

Configuration in machine 1 (where the shared folder is)

• Define the shares you want to provide

sudo vi /etc/exports

• Add your shares to the file

/home/mach1user/Public *(ro,sync)
/home/mach1user/Documents 100.000.00.01(ro,sync,no_subtree_check)
/home/mach1user/Share 100.000.00.01/20(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)

• Make your changes be known

sudo exportfs -a

Configuration in machine 2 (where the shared folder are going to be accessed)

• Create a folder, where the share will be mounted

mkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Public
mkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Documents
mkdir  /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Share

• Mount the shares (the IP is from machine 1)

sudo mount 100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Public /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Public
sudo mount 100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Documents /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Documents
sudo mount 100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Share /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Share

• Make the shares available after rebooting

sudo vi /etc/fstab

• Add to the file (the IP is from machine 1)

100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Public /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Public nfs ro,hard,intr 0 0
100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Documents /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Documents nfs ro,hard,intr 0 0
100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Share /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Share nfs ro,hard,intr 0 0

And that should do it.

Further reading

• Easy-Peasy Ubuntu Linux NFS File Sharing
• Network File System (NFS) : Ubuntu (6.06 / 6.10)

last updated: 01-05-2008

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Apache, PHP and MySQL (updated)

Ok, setting up Apache, PHP and MySQL is super easy. I used this tip from Ubuntu Forum.
I also want to import my site and database from Windows.

Install

• Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager

• Now go to Edit > Mark Packages by Task

• Choose LAMP Server (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP server)

In my case, the Ultimate Edition already had this installed
I just updated Apache, MySQL and PHP using System > Administration > Update Manager.

Now I’m going to install PHPMyAdmin (very useful):

• Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager

• Find by phpmyadmin

• Install

Get database and site from Windows

Ultimate Edition already had this installed as well
I marked it to update though.

Now I need to install my Apache/MySQL/PHP solution I had under Windows.
How difficult (easy) will it be?

• Get from Windows the PHP folder mysite

• Get from Windows the MySQL database folder mydatabase

• In the Terminal (this will open the default Apache site location)

sudo nautilus /var/www

• Now copy the mysite folder here

• In the Terminal (this will open the default MySQL database location)

sudo nautilus /var/lib/mysql

• Now copy the mydatabase folder here

• In the Terminal (this will change your admin password)

sudo mysqladmin -u root password NEWPASSWORD

-- NEWPASSWORD must be the same from your Windows config

• In your favorite browser type

http://localhost/mysite

Still, there’s a problem. The database is read-only. But is easy to fix:

• Go to http://localhost/myphpadmin and login as root
• Select your database in the left pane
• Go to Export
• Select the Add DROP TABLE / DROP VIEW option
• Click the Go button
• Copy the generated script (it includes the insert statements) to your favorite text editor
• Add the following to the script, before the first drop table statement, replacing mydatabase with your database name and save the script

USE mydatabase;

• Delete the mydatabase folder copied from Windows

sudo rm -R /var/lib/mysql/mydatabase/

• In myphpadmin go to the home page (first icon in the left pane)
• Create a New Database with the same name from the previous, mydatabase
• In myphpadmin go to the Query Window (third icon in the left pane)
• In the Query Window go to Import and browse to your script file
• Click the Go button and that’s it, your database is ready to go

Post Update

After upgrading to Hardy Heron I had to reinstall the LAMP server. After the installation, when I accessed my index.php file, Firefox tried to download it.

I had to link the PHP module files to the mods-enabled Apache directory in order to get it going:

• Link the PHP modules do the mods-enabled Apache directory

cd /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/
sudo ln -s ../mods-available/php5.load .
sudo ln -s ../mods-available/php5.conf .

• Restart Apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

• Clean browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+Del in Firefox)

And that was it.

original post: 20-03-2008
last updated: 28-04-2008

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Sharing Files with Windows

For sharing files with Windows you just have to follow this steps:

Got to System > Administration > Shared Folders

• in the Shared Folders tab add the folders you wish to share
• in the General Properties tab type the Workgroup of your Network (as in Windows)

In the Terminal add yourself as a Samba user:

sudo smbpasswd -a yourusername

That’s it. You can now access your shared folder using you Linux user.

Further reading

• Ubuntu Forum post

• Ubuntu Documentation

last updated: 21-03-2008

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