Samba Error "Invalid command: net rap share list" SOLVED as such

[muungwana]

you are sharing your home directory? That could complicate things.

try to follow these instructions to create a test share and see if it will work. I wrote these instructions and i know they work so they should work on your system too.

[Hawkeye]

Sorry but I need to shoot away for 6 hrs (work)

Didn't get instructions (if any sent) but understand
This Downloads folder is off my /home/hawkeye/ and can't see that being a problem as it isn't for those on other boxes
I shall create a new folder within the Downloads folder and try sharing that although that is exactly what I was doing with one of the original shares.

I'll report back with new findings ASAP.

Again, many thanks for your time and effort.

[muungwana]

oh, my bad, i forgot to add the link to the instructions, here they are, try not to have a share in your home directory,"/mnt" folder is a safer testing area.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,82772.msg686326.html#msg686326

[Hawkeye]

Sorry - back again and have booted up the other problem 2010 OS this time
Therefore the PCLOS-QUAD will no longer be in the network - replaced with this one PCLOS2010

I have now (again) got access to two folders via smb4k both of which are located at on another partition called "Storage"
mounted via /media/Storage/

\\PCLOS2010\Repositories        Updates
\\PCLOS2010\Shared              Sharing

the other two folders I do not have access to ? and get the error message ?
they are located at /home/hawkeye/ [Share & XTV]

\\PCLOS2010\Share               Share
\\PCLOS2010\XTV                 TVStuff

the 'new' share 'test-share' made at /mnt (as requested) has shown up and is too mountable.

The shared folder 'downloads' across the network on the Laptop ACERPCLOS is still returning the same error?
\\ACERPCLOS                     ACERpclos
>                 \\ACERPCLOS\IPC$                IPC Service (ACERpclos)
>                 \\ACERPCLOS\downloads           dloadfiles

All other nodes across the network are accessible as should be - the PCLOS_SERVER is 2009.2 OS rest are MSOSes.

Everything is replicated across on the ACERPCLOS Laptop -access to same three - error on the other two.

I'm stumped at present and value your input very much - thanks. And I had not meant to give the impression that 2010 is broken (I'm trying to run it on two machines so I'm really interested in getting it running right - then I would be likely to shift my main usage to it then) also I use 2009.2 PCLOS-QUAD 90% of my computing time (it's major yum yum) and I got the bug back in 2007 after receiving an ISO in a PC mag.

[muungwana]

Shares created at "/mnt" works as expected.

Shares created in your home directory do not work and produces that error.

The above gave me a clue and investigated this a little and i found the problem. All folders leading up to the shared folder and including the shared folder must have "other" permission folder execution bit set or that error will be produced and the share wont be mountable.

It is a permission problem.

Home folders have a 700 permissions. Change it to 701 and those shares in your home directory will start to work. Setting the "other" execution bit set on your home directory is a security risk, it is akin to having a room totally dark but leaving the door to the safe wide open. Somebody who knows the geography of the room could go straight to it and have their way with its contents. This is essential security through obscurity and it doesnt always work.

The safe thing to do is to create a share on "/mnt" folder and link it to your home directory for easy access. Another alternative is creating a folder in "/home" folder if the "/home" folder is on a separate partition and you want all your stuff on this partition.

where are those shares in your PCLOS_SERVER(2009) located? Are they in a home directory? what permissions do the home directory have if they are?

If the home directory has a 700 permission and the shares are in a home directory and they work as expected, then there must be a change on recent versions of samba 2010 is using.

[Hawkeye]

Hi muungwana - can't remember re 2009 and where all shares are located - 2010 currently running in that machine
The other 2009 has 3 drives - 1st with OS and home (no shares) - 2nd and 3rd 1Tb each have various shares.

Have just done a
[root@ACERpclos /]# chmod 701 home
[root@ACERpclos /]# chmod 701 home -R
chmod: cannot access `home/hawkeye/.gvfs': Permission denied
[root@ACERpclos /]#

[note back on the laptop]
and the Folder is now accessible (Notice that I had to do the -R) to get it to work and had the Permission denied notice.

I shall re-boot the 2009.2 box and check where those shares are all located and see how many (if any) are directly of /home

Funny though because I'm sure PCC sharing immediately sets up a share point in homes?? It's usually the first item I remove.
Will report back.
Thanks again.

Update - thought would just try to share another folder - setup via PCC (read,write,browse)
In fact made two folders available and getting the same error once again with these.
Back to square one.
Crazy - got a Mac OSX and it won't allow me to share on other partitions or drives (but who cares).
I'm going to re-boot this laptop and re-check available shares and look into the PCLOS-QUAD after booting that.
Till then.

[muungwana]

that ".gvfs" is a gnome's virtual something. That error is harmless.

[Hawkeye]

OK - Re-booted Laptop and PCLOS-QUAD (2009.2)

All shared folders are now mountable from both machines BUT    
there are no files (listed) when I open any of those folders on the ACER (Laptop)??
but I can access all folders and their files being shared from PCLOS-QUAD ?

Same response from the other machines Linux & MS
MS boxes inform me that I probably do not have permission?
On the laptop my user id is 500 whereas on 2009 it's 501 (just in case that has something to do with it?)

Regarding the permissions thingy - afraid the 700 701 500 501 666 etc gives me even greater head aches
What's the bash to view the folder/file attributes showing permissions in dec format? - would be handy for me
I can understand it easier when I see it as -rwx------ (dir/file user group world)
Just about all folders on the 2009 are rwx (I gather that's a 700?) and the majority of files are rw- (600?) some files are rwx.
If that's anything like useful
I'm trying ....
4  = read (r)
2 = write (w)
1 = execute (x)
0 = no permission (-)

To get the permission bits you want, you add up the numbers accordingly. For example, the rwx permissions would be 4+2+1=7, rx would be 4+1=5, and rw would be 4+2=6. Because you set separate permissions for the owner, group, and others, you'll need a three-digit number representing the permissions of all these groups.

Can you tell that I have no hair left to pull now 
and I have just rec'd a replacement GPU via courier so I might just give this a break for a bit (couple of tablets for the head)
I'll be back --- thanks.

[muungwana]

Where are those shares located in "PCLOS-QUAD"? Inside a home directory or out? what is the permission of the home directory they are in if they are in one?

The ACER has shares in a home directory and it is still problematic?

I think we have reached a conclusion that sharing files from home directories lead to complications that can be hard to go around. I do not know yet why this is so and trying to force this could lead to a lot of lost time and you should pursue this only if you have time and want to learn what is going on.

If all you want is to share files peacefully over the network, then i think its best if you share them from "/mnt" folder.

"stat" command usually gives most output without using confusing options the way "ls" demands.

if you want to know properties of a file/folder, just use "stat" followed by a file/folder name.

eg.

"stat $HOME" gives all properties of my home folder and this is the output.

[ink@mtz ~]$ stat $HOME
  File: `/home/ink'
  Size: 4096            Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   directory
Device: 815h/2069d      Inode: 8880690     Links: 124
Access: (0700/drwx------)  Uid: (  500/     ink)   Gid: (  500/     ink)
Access: 2010-11-16 18:53:32.928163875 -0500
Modify: 2010-11-16 18:53:32.244163063 -0500
Change: 2010-11-16 18:53:32.244163063 -0500
[ink@mtz ~]$

folder/file permissions takes precedence over samba permissions. This is now primarily a permission issue.

You can access a shared folder and mount it from the same computer the share is located. If you can mount and access it locally, you can do the same from remote systems. If you cant locally, you probably wont remotely either. The point i am trying to make is that you dont have to go to another computer over the network to check if a share is working correctly or not.

Your understanding of what those permission numbers represent is correct

[Hawkeye]

Thanks muungwana
Yes - it appears that those folders declared as shared that are situated off the /home are indeed the ones giving the problem.
On this desktop (PCLOS2010) my shares are located on another partition (Storage) and are all accessible as should be.
I have found that any shares located off /home are not.
Works out OK on this desktop but I have not created an other partition (due to physical space) on the Laptop.
Shall consider the options (now known) for that machine. Maybe re-size current /home and create a new partition from recovered space.

Anyway, thanks once again for taking the time to pursue these problems with me - brilliant.

Notice that the original post subject > Samba Error "Invalid command: net rap share list" was where this all started and though no longer showing up as a problem (touch wood) I never managed to understand what this error 'really' means?
Shall mark the post solved sort of.

[muungwana]

Your last post is a bit ambiguous(to me) so i am adding this one to clarify and to summary the problem discovered in this thread.

1. Shares that are situated inside home directory are problematic. They can be made to work but it requires hacking default permissions of home folders and thats not a good idea.

2. Best place to host shared folders is not in home directories for a reason mentioned above. Best place in my opinion and to work around point number one is at "/mnt" folder.

3. Probably not a good idea for names of folders leading up to the shared folder and including the shared folder to have a space in it.

4. All folders leading up to the shared folder and including the shared folder must have the execution bit set in the "other" group. This point is what creates problem number one. Default home directories do not have this bit set.

I wonder why this problem wasnt discovered earlier? Not that many here do file sharing? most default to not create their shares in home directories?

I cant reproduce the original error you got cant investigate it, sooner or later, somebody else will open a thread to discuss the error and hopefully that thread with lead to the origin of the error.