Problem with sharing for MAC - SMB - MAC OSX to Windows 2003

  • Thread starter Thread starter boe
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boe

Hello,

I have a Windows 2003 server with all the latest patches. I have many mac
workstations all running OSX 10.3.

If I create a new share and select only MAC - the mac clients can't see the
share with SMB if I select both Windows and MAC they can see it. Is there a
way to make a share only for macs without having to create the Windows
share?

If I create a share with a space in the name - e.g. put here, the PCs can
see it but no the macs. I can't do put_here either or long names beyond 11
or so characters. Are there any options? We have to use MACs so don't
bother suggesting I toss the macs and we aren't ready for OS 10.4 which may
resolve that issue.
 
Hi boe!

My comments are inline with yours.


boe said:
If I create a new share and select only MAC - the mac clients can't see the
share with SMB if I select both Windows and MAC they can see it. Is there a
way to make a share only for macs without having to create the Windows
share?
Click to expand...

Mac "volumes" are shared via AFP and Windows "shares" are shared via
SMB. They're basically two different types of server shares but they are
not the same thing.

Your server has no clue as to what type of machine it connecting to it
until after the connection is made. It only knows the protocol that the
client is using (AFP or SMB). You can't create a Mac only SMB volume
that Windows clients can't get to. This should be controlled by
permissions of the users logging in to the server.

To share only to Macs, create a Mac volume and have your Macs connect
via AFP. They'll use a connect string similar to "afp://serverName" or
"afp://serverIPAddress". Windows clients don't use AFP and will not see
these Mac volumes.
If I create a share with a space in the name - e.g. put here, the PCs can
see it but no the macs. I can't do put_here either or long names beyond 11
or so characters. Are there any options? We have to use MACs so don't
bother suggesting I toss the macs and we aren't ready for OS 10.4 which may
resolve that issue.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if Mac OS X 10.4 changed this, but earlier versions of Mac
OS X had a version of SMB that was not compatible with spaces in the
share names. Server best practices suggest never using spaces in share
names to begin with.

Hope this helps! bill
 
Thanks - what is the advantage of AFP vs. SMB - I thought I read AFP was
going away but I could be mistaken.
 
boe said:
Thanks - what is the advantage of AFP vs. SMB - I thought I read AFP was
going away but I could be mistaken.
Click to expand...


AFP shows no signs of going away and SMB shows no signs of replacing it.
These are just two different filing protocols developed by two different
companies (Apple and Microsoft).

Macs have used AFP since their earlier file sharing years. Windows has
used CIFS (and SMB is the UNIX version of CIFS).

For added compatibility, Apple has included the capability for Macs to
use both protocols but AFP remains the more common file sharing protocol.

Where possible I suggest using AFP simply because it is 100% compatible
with Macs and their files. SMB has had to be adapted for Mac OS X and
while it works, it's newer technology for the Mac and has been tweaked
to accommodate the Mac file structure. (For example, resource forks and
data forks must be split and stored separately on servers when connected
via SMB.)

Hope this helps! bill
 
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