Solved -- The box didn't retain my permissiable SELinux environment after a yum update. With a 'sudo setsebool -P samba_enable_home_dirs=1' there was a mighty noise and it started allowing public read-only access to the share.

Someone liked my work (that they help me do) so well, that recently they requested I share the file with everyone on the LAN. I set out to create a publicly readable Samba share for the file. As a user, I issued a 'sudo yum install samba' and soon after started working on the default config file in /etc/samba/smb.conf.

Here's the mix I came up with (which, keep in mind, doesn't work; I could use some help!)

[global]
### for debugging
   log level = 10
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = Samba Server
   security = share
   guest account = nobody
   max log size = 50
   interfaces = lo eth0
   local master = yes
   os level = 99
   domain master = yes
   preferred master = yes

[shared]
   comment = Public Stuff
   path = /home/samba
   guest ok = yes
; keep these defaults in mind
;  browseable = yes

I first modified one of the default names specified in the smb.conf named [public] but after much ado, a colleague suggested that might be reserved so it changed to [shared].

$ testparm -s /etc/samba/smb.conf
Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
Processing section "[shared]"
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE
[global]
        server string = Samba Server
        interfaces = lo, eth0
        security = SHARE
        log level = 10
        max log size = 50
        os level = 1001
        preferred master = Yes
        domain master = Yes

[shared]
        comment = Public Stuff
        path = /home/samba
        guest ok = Yes

Here's how the permissions + ownership look on the server's shared directory.

$ ls -alF /home | grep samba
drwxr-xr-x  2 nobody   nobody   4096 May 22 16:39 samba/

My clients are Samba, Windows XP Home / XP Professional / Vista.

The error message the WinXP Pro machine is giving when browsing to the share or trying to access it via 'net view \\server\shared' or via Start menu -> Run -> \\a.b.c.d\shared is:

" \\Server\shared is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permisssions.

The network path was not found. "

Let me see what kind of LOPSA support we've got!

Thanks.

-- Jonathan (aka ant)