Samba Connector

The Samba connector allows Galene.AI to index files stored on SMB/CIFS network shares (Windows file shares, NAS devices, Samba servers). It uses the SMB 2.x/3.x protocol with NTLMv2 authentication.

Prerequisites

Before creating a Samba connector, ensure:

• A reachable SMB server (hostname or IP address)
• A service account with read access to the target share
• Port 445 open between the Galene.AI platform and the SMB server

Preparing the SMB Share

1. Create a dedicated service account on the SMB server or Active Directory domain
2. Grant read permissions to the service account on the target share
   • On Windows: right-click the share folder → Properties → Sharing → add the account with Read access
   • On Samba/Linux: add the user and set read only = yes in smb.conf
3. Verify connectivity from a test machine on the same network.
4. Note the configuration details you'll need:
   • Host (hostname or IP) and port (default 445)
   • Share name
   • Domain or workgroup (default WORKGROUP)
   • Username and password of the service account

Configuration

General

Field	Required	Default	Description
Title	Yes	—	A descriptive name for your connector
Description	No	—	Optional description of the connector's purpose

Connection

Field	Required	Default	Description
Host	Yes	—	Hostname or IP of the SMB server (e.g. smb.example.com or 192.168.1.100)
Port	Yes	445	SMB port
Share Name	Yes	—	Name of the SMB share to sync (e.g. shared_docs)
Path Prefix	No	—	Subdirectory within the share to limit the sync scope (e.g. documents/knowledge)

Authentication

Field	Required	Description
Username	Yes	SMB username. Accepts DOMAIN\user or user@domain.local format
Password	Yes	Service account password.
Domain	No	Active Directory domain (e.g. CORP or domain.local). Leave empty for workgroup environments

Authentication always uses NTLMv2. For non-domain environments, the workgroup defaults to WORKGROUP.

Security

Use Encryption (default: enabled) — enables SMB-level encryption. Recommended for SMB 3.x servers. Disable only if the server does not support it.

Access Control

Choose who can query this connector:

• Organization-wide — all members of the organization have access.
• Role-based — access is restricted to specific roles. Select the allowed roles from the list.

How Sync Works

1. Initial sync — the connector recursively scans the entire share (or path prefix) and ingests all discovered files.
2. Incremental sync — subsequent runs detect changes using last-modified timestamps. Only new or updated files are re-ingested.

Supported file types: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, CSV, JSON, XML, HTML, and common image formats.

Testing the Connection

After saving the connector, use the Test Connection button to verify connectivity. The test checks:

• Reachability of the SMB server on the configured host and port
• Authentication with the provided credentials
• Access to the specified share

A discovery test is also available to retrieve a sample list of files from the share.

note

The Test Connection button is only available after the connector has been saved for the first time.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
Connection refused on port 445	Firewall blocking SMB traffic
Authentication failure	Wrong credentials, locked account, or NTLMv2 not accepted
Share not found	Incorrect share name — verify with net view \\<host>
No files discovered	Path prefix does not exist or the account lacks read permissions
Encryption error	Server does not support SMB 3.x encryption — disable the option