How to run Samba in Docker on Google Compute Engine instance

Configure the firewall

1. Go to Firewall Rules.
2. Click Create Firewall Rule.
   • Name: default-allow-smb
   • Target tags: smb-server
   • Source IP ranges: 0.0.0.0/0
   • Specified protocols and ports: tcp:445
   • Click Create.
3. Add smb-server tag to your GCE instance

Configure the Docker instance

Thanks @stanback for this awesome Samba container making this all possible. Just follow the instructions on the container page to configure it up. Here’s what my smb.conf file looks like (I use the username me instead carol.):

[global]
  workgroup = WORKGROUP
  server string = %h server (Samba, Alpine)
  security = user
  map to guest = Bad User
  encrypt passwords = yes
  load printers = no
  printing = bsd
  printcap name = /dev/null
  disable spoolss = yes
  disable netbios = yes
  server role = standalone
  server services = -dns, -nbt
  smb ports = 445
  ;name resolve order = hosts
  ;log level = 3
  create mask = 0664
  directory mask = 0775
  veto files = /.DS_Store/
  nt acl support = no
  inherit acls = yes
  ea support = yes
  vfs objects = catia fruit streams_xattr recycle
  acl_xattr:ignore system acls = yes
  recycle:repository = .recycle
  recycle:keeptree = yes
  recycle:versions = yes

[projects]
  path = /shares/projects
  comment = Projects
  browseable = yes
  writable = yes
  valid users = me

[public]
  path = /shares/public
  comment = Public
  browseable = yes
  read only = yes
  write list = me
  guest ok = yes

And here’s what my docker-compose.yml looks like:

version: "3.7"
services:
  samba:
    container_name: samba
    image: stanback/alpine-samba
    ports:
      - "445:445"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/smb.conf:/etc/samba/smb.conf
      - $PWD/shares/public:/shares/public
      - $PWD/shares/projects:/shares/projects
    restart: always

Start it up.

docker-compose up

And set up the Samba user.

docker exec -it samba adduser -s /sbin/nologin -h /home/samba -H -D me
docker exec -it samba smbpasswd -a me

Now you should be able to mount it with your SMB client!