I would like to use Samba to provide file and print sharing to a win98 machine on my home LAN. The gateway to the internet is a linksys router, to which both computers are connected via ethernet. Both machines receive their local IP addresses through DHCP -- though it appears that these addresses never change. Is there any reason why I would need to run my own DNS? Or will a proper configuration of /etc/hosts, and the analogous file on the win machine, be enough? Wouldn't running a DNS server be overkill on such a peewee network? Or does the presence of the router make this necessary? Though I have two books about Samba and some general Linux texts such as Running Linux and Making Linux Work: Essential Tips & Techniques, all are maddeningly vague concerning exactly what one has to do to configure such a system. For example, if I do not run a DNS, what has to be in /etc/hosts (do I need to point to the gateway there), and what should the routing table look like on the linux machine? Distro is SuSE 8.0.

now, I may not be able to answer all your questions, but I can give you my experience. Although Ive never tried to share folders or drives with Linux, I have read a windows 98 machines drive with no issues. Im running RedHat 7.3, a Lynksys Router with NAT firewall, and all IP's are assigned via DHCP (working on the 192.168.1.x system). I was getting frustrated so I searched around and found a utility that searches out and mounts all networked drives. Like I said, that was a while ago and I never tried to share any Linux folders... oh, and I have a domain and a host name set up on my router setup... but I dont think that its necessary to do that. I know this doesnt answer much, but its my experience.

Ok...let's start with one thing first. DNS-this is completely up to you. You do not have to run a DNS server if you don't want to. Setting up your own DNS server can just make your browsing experience faster by not having to query your ISP's DNS server. Your Host file is a simple way to setup simple name resolution locally on that machine. This makes it easier to attach to local or external machines, but it only pertains to the machine that contains the host table. I usually set mine up so that I don't have to type in IP addresses all of the time. Using DHCP...normally your IP address will not change on your internal network. But there are times it can. For instance if you router reboots, your internal IP addresses could change. I for one would just static your IP address. This way you don't have to worry about changing your host table every time an address changes. Also, this limits the amount of additional traffic on your network. Granted 2 machines wont product very much. Now I know this is getting long but, SAMBA will allow you to create file share, printer shares, and allow you to connect to your windows machine and printer if you have one. Try taking a look at the utility SWAT for an easy browser based configuration tool. You can find it at the SAMBA home page. Good Luck and have fun!

We have the same setup that you do. You can visit our web site at http://www.mygamecompany.com/Linux/Installation/Suse8.0/index.htm to see how we configured our systems.