Samba is a free and open-source software that allows Unix and Linux systems to share files and printers with Windows systems over a network. In order to allow communication between the systems, certain ports must be open on both the Samba server and the Windows or Linux client systems.
The ports that need to be open for Samba to function properly depend on the version of Samba and the protocols it is using. By default, Samba uses the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol for file and printer sharing. The following ports are used by SMB:
TCP port 139: This is the NetBIOS Session Service port, which is used for establishing a connection between the client and server.
TCP port 445: This is the SMB port, which is used for transferring data between the client and server.
In addition to these ports, Samba may also use the following ports for other purposes:
TCP port 137: This is the NetBIOS Name Service port, which is used for name resolution and browsing.
TCP port 138: This is the NetBIOS Datagram Service port, which is used for sending datagrams between systems.
TCP port 111: This is the Portmapper port, which is used by the Network File System (NFS) protocol to map network service names to port numbers.
To allow Samba to communicate with other systems, these ports must be open on both the Samba server and the client systems. If you are using a firewall on your systems, you may need to configure it to allow traffic on these ports.
It is generally a good idea to limit access to these ports to only the systems that need to access the Samba server. This can help to improve security and prevent unauthorized access to your network resources.