Mapping CS Home Directories Using SAMBA (SMB)

Intro to Samba

Samba, as used in the Computer Science Department, is a method of mapping the department's Grad Net user home directories (residing on our Linux-based home directory file server) to Windows, MacOS, and Linux-based computers over the network. Basically, you can map your Linux home directory to, for example, some lettered drive on your Windows system. (The actual protocol used is called SMB, which stands for Server Message Block. You may also see or hear it as the term SMB/CIFS.)

As an example, on our CS Grad Network, a home directory such as /users/mary can be mapped onto a Windows system as drive H: or drive M: or whatever drive letter is available. The drive letter used is arbitrary.

Who Can Use This Capability in CS to Map Their CS Linux Home Directory?

This feature is available to anyone with a CS Grad Net Linux account.

If your Grad Net Linux account was created before July 2018, you might need to follow our password reset procedure before you can use Samba for the first time. If you are unable to map your home directory using the below instructions, you will need to have us reset your password (even if you can log in to our Linux systems without problems).

How to Map Your CS Grad Net Home Linux Directory Using Samba

• Make sure your system resides somewhere on the JHU network. You must have a JHU-based IP (plugged in network, Hopkins Wifi, VPN, etc.)

• If your system is outside of JHU, then you need to first become part of JHU's VPN service.

• On your Windows, Mac, or Linux system, use its appropriate drive mapping command/configuration to map your home directory.
  • The share name will be the same as your Linux account name.

Typically, use the following mapping tools:

Windows

• Run File Explorer

• Choose This PC

• Choose Map Network Drive

• Choose Drive Letter from the drop-down

• Enter \\servername\sharename

MAC

• Click on Finder

• Choose Go

• Choose Connect to Server

• Enter smb://servername/sharename

Linux

Varies depending on your desktop environment. Please search for SMB/SAMBA filesystem mounting techniques for your flavor of Linux.

NOTES:

In each instance of mounting the SMB share, the server name is rtfm.cs.jhu.edu.

e.g. in Windows:

\\rtfm.cs.jhu.edu\mary

(notice the use of back slashes.)

or on mac:

smb://rtfm.cs.jhu.edu/mary

(notice the use of forward slashes.)