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Samba Access

Samba is a Linux server that provides remote filesystem access using SMB/CIFS protocol and is most commonly used by UFRC clients for drive mapping to HiPerGator filesystems from their Microsoft Windows, MacOS, and Linux desktops.

You must be on the UF Network

Samba access is only available while on the University of Florida network. You must be on campus or connected to the UF VPN to mount HiPerGator filesystems as network drive shares.

Blue storage migration

UFIT Research Computing is deploying a new Blue storage system and migrating folders over to the new system group-by-group.

  • If your group's folder has been migrated, the network drive server name for /blue is \\smb.rc.ufl.edu.
  • If your group's folder has NOT been migrated, the network drive server name for /blue is \\exasmb.rc.ufl.edu.

For more information on Blue Storage migration, including how to know if your storage has been migrated, see our Blue Storage Migration FAQ.

The network drive server name for /orange is exasmb.rc.ufl.edu

The network drive server name for /home is cifs.rc.ufl.edu.

Mapping Drive Shares

Note: for automatically mounted filesystem paths like /blue/group or /orange/project use the full path when mounting a samba share to initiate the automounting. e.g. on Windows type the full path into the Windows Explorer Path bar - \\exasmb.rc.ufl.edu\orange\mygroup\mydir.

Restricted HITRUST Directories

HITRUST directories will not be mapped via SMB protocol.

To connect from Windows

  1. Open the File Explorer to "This PC" and select "Map Network Drive". Click the menu icon on the toolbar, then select "Map Network Drive"
  2. Select a drive letter
  3. Enter either:
    • For /blue: see Blue Migration warning above
    • For /orange: \\exasmb.rc.ufl.edu
    • For /home: \\cifs.rc.ufl.edu\home\username (replacing username with your username)

  4. If you are not logged with UFAD credentials (i.e. are using a local Windows account), check the "Connect using different credentials" box.

    After clicking Finish, enter your GatorLink proceeded with "UFAD\": e.g. UFAD\username - For example, user "jsmith" would enter UFAD\jsmith

Warning

If contents of the Samba folders change after the connection is established, you may need to click on the refresh button in Windows Explorer or press 'F5' to see the changes.

Note

Check out the How-To Video: SSH from Windows

  1. Bring the Finder to the front
  2. Select "Connect to Server..." from the "Go" menu or press Command+K
  3. Enter either:
    • For /blue: see Blue Migration warning above
    • For /orange: smb://exasmb.rc.ufl.edu
    • For /home: smb://cifs.rc.ufl.edu/home/username (replacing username with your username)
  4. Click "+" button to add to favorites (optional)
  5. Connect (use GatorLink user name and password)

Warning

There is a known issue with the CIFS client in Mac Finder. The Finder software in current version of MacOS does not have a refresh button to update contents for any changes after the connection is established and disconnecting/reconnecting does not refresh CIFS contents either. A manual solution to force refreshing in Mac Finder can be found on the web 1, 2.

Note

Check out the How-To Video: SSH from MacOS

GNOME Desktop

Click on a "Places" Menu at the top-left corner of the screen. Select the "Connect to Server..." option to open a dialog where you can select the service type, server, etc. Fill out the dialog as shown below:

  1. Service type: Windows Share
  2. For "Server", enter either:
    • For /blue: see Blue Migration warning above
    • For /orange: exasmb.rc.ufl.edu
    • For /home: cifs.rc.ufl.edu/home/username (replacing username with your username)
  3. Domain: UFAD
  4. Username: your GatorLink username
  5. Password: your GatorLink password

Command Line

To mount from the Linux shell prompt, install the cifs-utils package (yum or apt-get) and run

sudo mount -t cifs -v -o user=<Username>,domain=ufad,sec=ntlmssp <remote share>/<group> <local mount>

where <Username> is your GatorLink username, <remote share> is the remote folder you wish to mount, <group> is the group directory you wish to access, and <local mount> is the local directory on which to mount the remote share (i.e. directory). For '/home', <remote share> will be //cifs.rc.ufl.edu/home.

You will be asked to enter your GatorLink password.

If the SMB dialect 3.0 does not work with an older Linux system please try vers=2.1.

Examples

  • /blue

    mount -t cifs -v -o user=joe.smith,domain=ufad,sec=ntlmssp,vers=3.0 //smb.rc.ufl.edu/blue/smith /mnt/blue/smith

  • /orange

    mount -t cifs -v -o user=joe.smith,domain=ufad,sec=ntlmssp,vers=3.0 //exasmb.rc.ufl.edu/orange/smith /mnt/orange/smith

  • /home

    mount -t cifs -v -o user=joe.smith,domain=ufad,sec=ntlmssp,vers=3.0 //cifs.rc.ufl.edu/home/jsmith /mnt/home