How to Install and Configure Samba SWAT on CentOS 5.5

SWAT is the Samba Web Administration Tool that enable us to configure Samba from Web browser. In this post i will show simple steps to get Samba SWAT running on your CentOS 5.5 server. With SWAT, you can easily manage your samba server without messing with command line. You just need to install xinetd first, and then proceed to install samba-SWAT.

1. Install xinetd

[root@server ~]# yum -y install xinetd
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * addons: ossm.utm.my
 * base: ossm.utm.my
 * epel: mirror01.idc.hinet.net
 * extras: ossm.utm.my
 * updates: ossm.utm.my
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package xinetd.i386 2:2.3.14-10.el5 set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

==========================================================================================
 Package            Arch             Version                       Repository        Size
==========================================================================================
Installing:
 xinetd             i386             2:2.3.14-10.el5               base             124 k

Transaction Summary
==========================================================================================
Install       1 Package(s)
Upgrade       0 Package(s)

Total download size: 124 k
Downloading Packages:
xinetd-2.3.14-10.el5.i386.rpm                                      | 124 kB     00:02
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing     : xinetd                                                             1/1

Installed:
  xinetd.i386 2:2.3.14-10.el5

Complete!

2. Start xinetd

[root@server ~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd start
Starting xinetd:                                           [  OK  ]

3. Install SWAT

[root@server ~]# yum -y install samba-swat
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * addons: ossm.utm.my
 * base: ossm.utm.my
 * epel: mirror01.idc.hinet.net
 * extras: ossm.utm.my
 * updates: ossm.utm.my
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package samba-swat.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: samba = 3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2 for package: samba-swat
--> Running transaction check
---> Package samba.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: samba-common = 3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2 for package: samba
--> Running transaction check
---> Package samba-common.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: libsmbclient = 3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2 for package: samba-common
--> Running transaction check
---> Package libsmbclient.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2 set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

==========================================================================================
 Package               Arch          Version                       Repository        Size
==========================================================================================
Installing:
 samba-swat            i386          3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2           updates          8.2 M
Installing for dependencies:
 samba                 i386          3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2           updates           16 M
Updating for dependencies:
 libsmbclient          i386          3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2           updates          908 k
 samba-common          i386          3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2           updates          6.7 M

Transaction Summary
==========================================================================================
Install       2 Package(s)
Upgrade       2 Package(s)

Total download size: 32 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/4): libsmbclient-3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2.i386.rpm                   | 908 kB     00:16
(2/4): samba-common-3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2.i386.rpm                   | 6.7 MB     02:01
(3/4): samba-swat-3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2.i386.rpm                     | 8.2 MB     02:28
(4/4): samba-3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2.i386.rpm                          |  16 MB     05:11
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                      55 kB/s |  32 MB     09:59
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Updating       : libsmbclient                                                       1/6
  Updating       : samba-common                                                       2/6
  Installing     : samba                                                              3/6
  Installing     : samba-swat                                                         4/6
  Cleanup        : libsmbclient                                                       5/6
  Cleanup        : samba-common                                                       6/6

Installed:
  samba-swat.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2

Dependency Installed:
  samba.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2

Dependency Updated:
  libsmbclient.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2     samba-common.i386 0:3.0.33-3.29.el5_6.2

Complete!

4. Configure swat as below. Change Line 10 and 14 only.

[root@server ~]# vi /etc/xinetd.d/swat

# default: off
# description: SWAT is the Samba Web Admin Tool. Use swat \
#              to configure your Samba server. To use SWAT, \
#              connect to port 901 with your favorite web browser.
service swat
{
        port            = 901
        socket_type     = stream
        wait            = no
        only_from       = 127.0.0.1 192.168.2.0/16
        user            = root
        server          = /usr/sbin/swat
        log_on_failure  += USERID
        disable         = no
}

5. Restart xinetd

[root@server ~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd restart
Stopping xinetd:                                           [  OK  ]
Starting xinetd:                                           [  OK  ]