1 .TH SMB.CONF 5 smb.conf smb.conf
3 smb.conf \- configuration file for smbd
9 file is a configuration file for the Samba suite.
12 contains runtime configuration information for the
16 program provides LanManager-like services to clients
17 using the SMB protocol.
19 The file consists of sections and parameters. A section begins with the
20 name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
21 section begins. Sections contain parameters of the form 'name = value'.
23 The file is line-based - that is, each newline-terminated line represents
24 either a comment, a section name or a parameter.
26 Section and parameter names are not case sensitive.
28 Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before
29 or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal
30 whitespace in section and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and
31 trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace
32 within a parameter value is retained verbatim.
34 Any line beginning with a semicolon is ignored, as are lines containing
37 Any line ending in a \e is "continued" on the next line in the
38 customary UNIX fashion.
40 The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string
41 (no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or
42 true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved
43 in string values. Some items such as create modes are numeric.
44 .SH SERVICE DESCRIPTIONS
45 Each section in the configuration file describes a service. The section name
46 is the service name and the parameters within the section define the service's
49 There are three special sections, [global], [homes] and [printers], which are
50 described under 'special sections'. The following notes apply to ordinary
53 A service consists of a directory to which access is being given plus a
54 description of the access rights which are granted to the user of the
55 service. Some housekeeping options are also specifiable.
57 Services are either filespace services (used by the client as an extension of
58 their native file systems) or printable services (used by the client to access
59 print services on the host running the server).
61 Services may be guest services, in which case no password is required to
62 access them. A specified guest account is used to define access privileges
65 Services other than guest services will require a password to access
66 them. The client provides the username. As many clients only provide
67 passwords and not usernames, you may specify a list of usernames to
68 check against the password using the "user=" option in the service
71 Note that the access rights granted by the server are masked by the access
72 rights granted to the specified or guest user by the host system. The
73 server does not grant more access than the host system grants.
75 The following sample section defines a file space service. The user has write
76 access to the path /home/bar. The service is accessed via the service name
83 The following sample section defines a printable service. The service is
84 readonly, but printable. That is, the only write access permitted is via
85 calls to open, write to and close a spool file. The 'guest ok' parameter
86 means access will be permitted as the default guest user (specified elsewhere):
89 path = /usr/spool/public
95 .SS The [global] section
97 Parameters in this section apply to the server as a whole, or are defaults
98 for services which do not specifically define certain items. See the notes
99 under 'Parameters' for more information.
102 .SS The [homes] section
104 If a section called 'homes' is included in the configuration file, services
105 connecting clients to their home directories can be created on the fly by the
108 When the connection request is made, the existing services are scanned. If a
109 match is found, it is used. If no match is found, the requested service name is
110 treated as a user name and looked up in the local passwords file. If the
111 name exists and the correct password has been given, a service is created
112 by cloning the [homes] section.
114 Some modifications are then made to the newly created section:
117 The service name is changed from 'homes' to the located username
119 If no path was given, the path is set to the user's home directory.
122 If you decide to use a path= line in your [homes] section then you may
123 find it useful to use the %S macro. For example path=/data/pchome/%S
124 would be useful if you have different home directories for your PCs
125 than for UNIX access.
127 This is a fast and simple way to give a large number of clients access to
128 their home directories with a minimum of fuss.
130 A similar process occurs if the requested service name is "homes", except that
131 the service name is not changed to that of the requesting user. This method
132 of using the [homes] section works well if different users share a client PC.
134 The [homes] section can specify all the parameters a normal service section
135 can specify, though some make more sense than others. The following is a
136 typical and suitable [homes] section:
144 If guest access is specified in the [homes] section, all home directories will
145 be accessible to all clients
146 .B without a password.
147 In the very unlikely event
148 that this is actually desirable, it would be wise to also specify read only
153 Note that the browseable flag for auto home directories will be
154 inherited from the global browseable flag, not the [homes] browseable
155 flag. This is useful as it means setting browseable=no in the [homes]
156 section will hide the [homes] service but make any auto home
159 .SS The [printers] section
161 This section works like [homes], but for printers.
163 If a [printers] section occurs in the configuration file, users are able
164 to connect to any printer specified in the local host's printcap file.
166 When a connection request is made, the existing services are scanned. If a
167 match is found, it is used. If no match is found, but a [homes] section
168 exists, it is used as described above. Otherwise, the requested service name is
169 treated as a printer name and the appropriate printcap file is scanned to
170 see if the requested service name is a valid printer name. If a match is
171 found, a new service is created by cloning the [printers] section.
173 A few modifications are then made to the newly created section:
176 The service name is set to the located printer name
178 If no printer name was given, the printer name is set to the located printer
181 If the service does not permit guest access and no username was given, the
182 username is set to the located printer name.
185 Note that the [printers] service MUST be printable - if you specify otherwise,
186 the server will refuse to load the configuration file.
188 Typically the path specified would be that of a world-writable spool directory
189 with the sticky bit set on it. A typical [printers] entry would look like this:
192 path = /usr/spool/public
197 All aliases given for a printer in the printcap file are legitimate printer
198 names as far as the server is concerned. If your printing subsystem doesn't
199 work like that, you will have to set up a pseudo-printcap. This is a file
200 consisting of one or more lines like this:
202 alias|alias|alias|alias...
204 Each alias should be an acceptable printer name for your printing
205 subsystem. In the [global] section, specify the new file as your printcap.
206 The server will then only recognise names found in your pseudo-printcap,
207 which of course can contain whatever aliases you like. The same technique
208 could be used simply to limit access to a subset of your local printers.
210 An alias, by the way, is defined as any component of the first entry of a
211 printcap record. Records are separated by newlines, components (if there are
212 more than one) are separated by vertical bar symbols ("|").
215 Parameters define the specific attributes of services.
217 Some parameters are specific to the [global] section (eg., security).
218 Some parameters are usable in all sections (eg., create mode). All others are
219 permissible only in normal sections. For the purposes of the following
220 descriptions the [homes] and [printers] sections will be considered normal.
221 The letter 'G' in parentheses indicates that a parameter is specific to the
222 [global] section. The letter 'S' indicates that a parameter can be
223 specified in a service specific section. Note that all S parameters
224 can also be specified in the [global] section - in which case they
225 will define the default behaviour for all services.
227 Parameters are arranged here in alphabetical order - this may not create
228 best bedfellows, but at least you can find them! Where there are synonyms,
229 the preferred synonym is described, others refer to the preferred synonym.
231 .SS VARIABLE SUBSTITUTIONS
233 Many of the strings that are settable in the config file can take
234 substitutions. For example the option "path = /tmp/%u" would be
235 interpreted as "path = /tmp/john" if the user connected with the
238 These substitutions are mostly noted in the descriptions below, but
239 there are some general substitutions which apply whenever they might be
242 %S = the name of the current service, if any
244 %P = the root directory of the current service, if any
246 %u = user name of the current service, if any
248 %g = primary group name of %u
250 %U = session user name (the user name that the client wanted, not
251 necessarily the same as the one they got)
253 %G = primary group name of %U
255 %H = the home directory of the user given by %u
257 %v = the Samba version
259 %h = the hostname that Samba is running on
261 %m = the netbios name of the client machine (very useful)
263 %L = the netbios name of the server. This allows you to change your
264 config based on what the client calls you. Your server can have a "dual
267 %M = the internet name of the client machine
269 %d = The process id of the current server process
271 %a = the architecture of the remote machine. Only some are recognised,
272 and those may not be 100% reliable. It currently recognises Samba,
273 WfWg, WinNT and Win95. Anything else will be known as "UNKNOWN". If it
274 gets it wrong then sending me a level 3 log should allow me to fix it.
276 %I = The IP address of the client machine
278 %T = the current date and time
280 There are some quite creative things that can be done with these
281 substitutions and other smb.conf options.
285 Samba supports "name mangling" so that DOS and Windows clients can use
286 files that don't conform to the 8.3 format. It can also be set to adjust
287 the case of 8.3 format filenames.
289 There are several options that control the way mangling is performed,
290 and they are grouped here rather than listed separately. For the
291 defaults look at the output of the testparm program.
293 All of these options can be set separately for each service (or
294 globally, of course).
298 "mangle case = yes/no" controls if names that have characters that
299 aren't of the "default" case are mangled. For example, if this is yes
300 then a name like "Mail" would be mangled. Default no.
302 "case sensitive = yes/no" controls whether filenames are case
303 sensitive. If they aren't then Samba must do a filename search and
304 match on passed names. Default no.
306 "default case = upper/lower" controls what the default case is for new
307 filenames. Default lower.
309 "preserve case = yes/no" controls if new files are created with the
310 case that the client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default"
313 "short preserve case = yes/no" controls if new files which conform to 8.3
314 syntax, that is all in upper case and of suitable length, are created
315 upper case, or if they are forced to be the "default" case. This option can
316 be use with "preserve case = yes" to permit long filenames to retain their
317 case, while short names are lowered. Default no.
319 .SS COMPLETE LIST OF GLOBAL PARAMETERS
321 Here is a list of all global parameters. See the section of each
322 parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms.
478 .SS COMPLETE LIST OF SERVICE PARAMETERS
480 Here is a list of all service parameters. See the section of each
481 parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms.
487 alternate permissions
641 .SS EXPLANATION OF EACH PARAMETER
646 This is a list of users who will be granted administrative privileges
647 on the share. This means that they will do all file operations as the
650 You should use this option very carefully, as any user in this list
651 will be able to do anything they like on the share, irrespective of
660 .SS auto services (G)
661 This is a list of services that you want to be automatically added to
662 the browse lists. This is most useful for homes and printers services
663 that would otherwise not be visible.
665 Note that if you just want all printers in your printcap file loaded
666 then the "load printers" option is easier.
672 auto services = fred lp colorlp
675 A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts allow'.
677 This parameter is a comma delimited set of hosts which are permitted to access
678 a services. If specified in the [global] section, matching hosts will be
679 allowed access to any service that does not specifically exclude them from
680 access. Specific services my have their own list, which override those
681 specified in the [global] section.
683 You can specify the hosts by name or IP number. For example, you could
684 restrict access to only the hosts on a Class C subnet with something like
685 "allow hosts = 150.203.5.". The full syntax of the list is described in
687 .BR hosts_access (5).
689 You can also specify hosts by network/netmask pairs and by netgroup
690 names if your system supports netgroups. The EXCEPT keyword can also
691 be used to limit a wildcard list. The following examples may provide
694 Example 1: allow all IPs in 150.203.*.* except one
696 hosts allow = 150.203. EXCEPT 150.203.6.66
698 Example 2: allow hosts that match the given network/netmask
700 hosts allow = 150.203.15.0/255.255.255.0
702 Example 3: allow a couple of hosts
704 hosts allow = lapland, arvidsjaur
706 Example 4: allow only hosts in netgroup "foonet" or localhost, but
707 deny access from one particular host
709 hosts allow = @foonet, localhost
712 Note that access still requires suitable user-level passwords.
716 for a way of testing your host access to see if it
717 does what you expect.
720 none (i.e., all hosts permitted access)
723 allow hosts = 150.203.5. myhost.mynet.edu.au
725 .SS alternate permissions (S)
727 This option affects the way the "read only" DOS attribute is produced
728 for UNIX files. If this is false then the read only bit is set for
729 files on writeable shares which the user cannot write to.
731 If this is true then it is set for files whos user write bit is not set.
733 The latter behaviour is useful for when users copy files from each
734 others directories, and use a file manager that preserves
735 permissions. Without this option they may get annoyed as all copied
736 files will have the "read only" bit set.
739 alternate permissions = no
742 alternate permissions = yes
745 This parameter lets you 'turn off' a service. If 'available = no', then
746 ALL attempts to connect to the service will fail. Such failures are logged.
754 This controls whether this share is seen in the list of available
755 shares in a net view and in the browse list.
763 This controls whether the smbd will serve a browse list to a client
764 doing a NetServerEnum call. Normally set to true. You should never
770 .SS case sensitive (G)
771 See the discussion on NAME MANGLING.
773 .SS case sig names (G)
776 .SS character set (G)
777 This allows a smbd to map incoming characters from a DOS 850 Code page
778 to either a Western European (ISO8859-1) or Easter European (ISO8859-2)
779 code page. Normally not set, meaning no filename translation is done.
787 character set = iso8859-1
789 .SS client code page (G)
790 Currently (Samba 1.9.17 and above) this may be set to one of two
791 values, 850 or 437. It specifies the base DOS code page that the
792 clients accessing Samba are using. To determine this, open a DOS
793 command prompt and type the command "chcp". This will output the
794 code page. The default for USA MS-DOS, Windows 95, and Windows NT
795 releases is code page 437. The default for western european
796 releases of the above operating systems is code page 850.
798 This parameter co-operates with the "valid chars" parameter in
799 determining what characters are valid in filenames and how
800 capitalization is done. It has been added as a convenience for
801 clients whose code page is either 437 or 850 so a convoluted
802 "valid chars" string does not have to be determined. If you
803 set both this parameter and the "valid chars" parameter the
804 "client code page" parameter MUST be set before the "valid chars"
805 in the smb.conf file. The "valid chars" string will then augment
806 the character settings in the "client code page" parameter.
808 If "client code page" is set to a value other than 850 or 437
809 it will default to 850.
811 See also : "valid chars".
815 client code page = 850
819 client code page = 437
822 This is a text field that is seen when a client does a net view to
823 list what shares are available. It will also be used when browsing is
830 comment = Fred's Files
834 This allows you to override the config file to use, instead of the
835 default (usually smb.conf). There is a chicken and egg problem here as
836 this option is set in the config file!
838 For this reason, if the name of the config file has changed when the
839 parameters are loaded then it will reload them from the new config
842 This option takes the usual substitutions, which can be very useful.
844 If the config file doesn't exist then it won't be loaded (allowing
845 you to special case the config files of just a few clients).
848 config file = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m
851 This parameter allows you to 'clone' service entries. The specified
852 service is simply duplicated under the current service's name. Any
853 parameters specified in the current section will override those in the
854 section being copied.
856 This feature lets you set up a 'template' service and create similar
857 services easily. Note that the service being copied must occur earlier
858 in the configuration file than the service doing the copying.
866 A synonym for this parameter is 'create mode'.
868 This parameter is the octal modes which are used when converting DOS modes
871 When a file is created, the neccessary permissions are calculated
872 according to the mapping from DOS modes to UNIX permissions, and
873 the resulting UNIX mode is then bit-wise 'AND'ed with this parameter.
874 This parameter may be thought of as a bit-wise MASK for the UNIX
875 modes of a file. Any bit *not* set here will be removed from the
876 modes set on a file when it is created.
878 The default value of this parameter removes the 'user' execute
879 bit and the 'group' and 'other' write and execute bits from the
882 Following this Samba will bit-wise 'OR' the UNIX mode created from
883 this parameter with the value of the "force create mode" parameter
884 which is set to 0700 by default. This causes the 'user' read, write
885 and execute bits to be set for every file created. You must have at
886 least 'user' read, write and execute bits set for Samba to work properly.
888 For Samba 1.9.17 and above this parameter no longer affects directory
889 modes. See the parameter 'directory mode' for details.
891 See also the "force create mode" parameter for forcing particular
892 mode bits to be set on created files.
893 See also the "directory mode" paramter for masking mode bits on created
906 The value of the parameter (a decimal integer) represents the number of
907 minutes of inactivity before a connection is considered dead, and it
908 is disconnected. The deadtime only takes effect if the number of open files
911 This is useful to stop a server's resources being exhausted by a large
912 number of inactive connections.
914 Most clients have an auto-reconnect feature when a connection is broken so
915 in most cases this parameter should be transparent to users.
917 Using this parameter with a timeout of a few minutes is recommended
920 A deadtime of zero indicates that no auto-disconnection should be performed.
928 The value of the parameter (an integer) allows the debug level
929 (logging level) to be specified in the
931 file. This is to give
932 greater flexibility in the configuration of the system.
934 The default will be the debug level specified on the command line.
943 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" Also note the addition of "short
946 .SS default service (G)
947 A synonym for this parameter is 'default'.
949 This parameter specifies the name of a service which will be connected to
950 if the service actually requested cannot be found. Note that the square
951 brackets are NOT given in the parameter value (see example below).
953 There is no default value for this parameter. If this parameter is not given,
954 attempting to connect to a nonexistent service results in an error.
956 Typically the default service would be a public, read-only service.
958 Also note that as of 1.9.14 the apparent service name will be changed to
959 equal that of the requested service, this is very useful as it allows
960 you to use macros like %S to make a wildcard service.
962 Note also that any _ characters in the name of the service used in the
963 default service will get mapped to a /. This allows for interesting
968 default service = pub
974 .SS delete readonly (S)
975 This parameter allows readonly files to be deleted. This is not normal DOS
976 semantics, but is allowed by UNIX.
978 This option may be useful for running applications such as rcs, where UNIX
979 file ownership prevents changing file permissions, and DOS semantics prevent
980 deletion of a read only file.
986 delete readonly = Yes
988 A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts deny'.
990 The opposite of 'allow hosts' - hosts listed here are NOT permitted
991 access to services unless the specific services have their own lists to
992 override this one. Where the lists conflict, the 'allow' list takes precedence.
995 none (i.e., no hosts specifically excluded)
998 deny hosts = 150.203.4. badhost.mynet.edu.au
999 .SS dfree command (G)
1000 The dfree command setting should only be used on systems where a
1001 problem occurs with the internal disk space calculations. This has
1002 been known to happen with Ultrix, but may occur with other operating
1003 systems. The symptom that was seen was an error of "Abort Retry
1004 Ignore" at the end of each directory listing.
1006 This setting allows the replacement of the internal routines to
1007 calculate the total disk space and amount available with an external
1008 routine. The example below gives a possible script that might fulfill
1011 The external program will be passed a single parameter indicating a
1012 directory in the filesystem being queried. This will typically consist
1013 of the string "./". The script should return two integers in ascii. The
1014 first should be the total disk space in blocks, and the second should
1015 be the number of available blocks. An optional third return value
1016 can give the block size in bytes. The default blocksize is 1024 bytes.
1018 Note: Your script should NOT be setuid or setgid and should be owned by
1019 (and writable only by) root!
1022 By default internal routines for determining the disk capacity
1023 and remaining space will be used.
1026 dfree command = /usr/local/samba/bin/dfree
1028 Where the script dfree (which must be made executable) could be
1032 df $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $2" "$4}'
1035 or perhaps (on Sys V)
1039 /usr/bin/df -k $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $3" "$5}'
1042 Note that you may have to replace the command names with full
1043 path names on some systems.
1048 .SS directory mask (S)
1049 A synonym for this parameter is 'directory mode'.
1051 This parameter is the octal modes which are used when converting DOS modes
1052 to UNIX modes when creating UNIX directories.
1054 When a directory is created, the neccessary permissions are calculated
1055 according to the mapping from DOS modes to UNIX permissions, and
1056 the resulting UNIX mode is then bit-wise 'AND'ed with this parameter.
1057 This parameter may be thought of as a bit-wise MASK for the UNIX
1058 modes of a directory. Any bit *not* set here will be removed from the
1059 modes set on a directory when it is created.
1061 The default value of this parameter removes the 'group' and 'other'
1062 write bits from the UNIX mode.
1064 Following this Samba will bit-wise 'OR' the UNIX mode created from
1065 this parameter with the value of the "force directory mode" parameter.
1066 This parameter is set to 000 by default (ie. no extra mode bits are added).
1068 See the "force directory mode" parameter to cause particular mode
1069 bits to always be set on created directories.
1071 See also the "create mode" parameter for masking mode bits on created
1075 directory mask = 0755
1078 directory mask = 0775
1079 .SS directory mode (S)
1082 .SS domain controller (G)
1084 Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the machine to refer domain
1085 logons from Win95 machines to. You should never need to set this parameter.
1090 .SS domain master (G)
1092 Enable WAN-wide browse list collation. Local master browsers on
1093 broadcast-isolated subnets will give samba their local browse lists, and
1094 ask for a complete copy of the browse list for the whole wide area network.
1095 Browser clients will then contact their local master browser, and will
1096 receive the domain-wide browse list, instead of just the list for their
1097 broadcast-isolated subnet.
1102 .SS dont descend (S)
1103 There are certain directories on some systems (eg., the /proc tree under
1104 Linux) that are either not of interest to clients or are infinitely deep
1105 (recursive). This parameter allows you to specify a comma-delimited list
1106 of directories that the server should always show as empty.
1108 Note that Samba can be very fussy about the exact format of the "dont
1109 descend" entries. For example you may need "./proc" instead of just
1110 "/proc". Experimentation is the best policy :-)
1113 none (i.e., all directories are OK to descend)
1116 dont descend = /proc,/dev
1118 .SS encrypt passwords (G)
1120 This boolean controls whether encrypted passwords will be negotiated
1121 with the client. Note that this option has no effect if you haven't
1122 compiled in the necessary des libraries and encryption code. It
1127 This is an alias for preexec
1129 .SS fake oplocks (S)
1131 Oplocks are the way that SMB clients get permission from a server to
1132 locally cache file operations. If a server grants an oplock
1133 (opportunistic lock) then the client is free to assume that it is the
1134 only one accessing the file and it will aggressively cache file
1135 data. With some oplock types the client may even cache file open/close
1136 operations. This can give enormous performance benefits.
1138 Samba does not support opportunistic locks because they are very
1139 difficult to do under Unix. Samba can fake them, however, by granting
1140 a oplock whenever a client asks for one. This is controlled using the
1141 smb.conf option "fake oplocks". If you set "fake oplocks = yes" then
1142 you are telling the client that it may aggressively cache the file
1145 By enabling this option on all read-only shares or shares that you know
1146 will only be accessed from one client at a time you will see a big
1147 performance improvement on many operations. If you enable this option
1148 on shares where multiple clients may be accessing the files read-write
1149 at the same time you can get data corruption. Use this option
1152 This option is disabled by default.
1154 .SS force create mode (S)
1155 This parameter specifies a set of UNIX mode bit permissions that
1156 will *always* be set on a file created by Samba. This is done
1157 by bitwise 'OR'ing these bits onto the mode bits of a file that
1158 is being created. The default for this parameter is (in octel)
1159 0700 as files must have at least 'user' read/write/execute bits
1160 set for Samba to work correctly. This operation is done after
1161 the mode mask in the parameter "create mask" is applied.
1163 See also the parameter "create mask" for details on masking mode
1164 bits on created files.
1167 force create mode = 0700
1170 force create mode = 0755
1172 would force all created files to have read and execute permissions
1173 set for 'group' and 'other' as well as the read/write/execute bits
1176 .SS force directory mode (S)
1177 This parameter specifies a set of UNIX mode bit permissions that
1178 will *always* be set on a directory created by Samba. This is done
1179 by bitwise 'OR'ing these bits onto the mode bits of a directory that
1180 is being created. The default for this parameter is (in octel)
1181 0000 which will not add any extra permission bits to a created
1182 directory. This operation is done after the mode mask in the parameter
1183 "directory mask" is applied.
1185 See also the parameter "directory mask" for details on masking mode
1186 bits on created directories.
1189 force directory mode = 000
1192 force directory mode = 0755
1194 would force all created directories to have read and execute permissions
1195 set for 'group' and 'other' as well as the read/write/execute bits
1199 This specifies a group name that all connections to this service
1200 should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files.
1206 force group = agroup
1209 This specifies a user name that all connections to this service
1210 should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files. You should
1211 also use it carefully as using it incorrectly can cause security
1214 This user name only gets used once a connection is established. Thus
1215 clients still need to connect as a valid user and supply a valid
1216 password. Once connected, all file operations will be performed as the
1217 "forced user", not matter what username the client connected as.
1226 This is a tuning option. When this is enabled a cacheing algorithm will
1227 be used to reduce the time taken for getwd() calls. This can have a
1228 significant impact on performance, especially when widelinks is False.
1237 This is an alias for "force group" and is only kept for compatibility
1238 with old versions of Samba. It may be removed in future versions.
1240 .SS guest account (S)
1241 This is a username which will be used for access to services which are
1242 specified as 'guest ok' (see below). Whatever privileges this user has
1243 will be available to any client connecting to the guest
1244 service. Typically this user will exist in the password file, but will
1245 not have a valid login. If a username is specified in a given service,
1246 the specified username overrides this one.
1248 One some systems the account "nobody" may not be able to print. Use
1249 another account in this case. You should test this by trying to log in
1250 as your guest user (perhaps by using the "su \-" command) and trying to
1254 Note that as of version 1.9 of Samba this option may be set
1255 differently for each service.
1258 specified at compile time
1261 guest account = nobody
1266 If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then only guest connections to the
1267 service are permitted. This parameter will have no affect if "guest ok" or
1268 "public" is not set for the service.
1270 See the section below on user/password validation for more information about
1278 .SS hide dot files (S)
1279 This is a boolean parameter that controls whether files starting with
1280 a dot appear as hidden files.
1283 hide dot files = yes
1288 If "nis homedir" is true, this parameter specifies the NIS (or YP) map
1289 from which the server for the user's home directory should be extracted.
1290 At present, only the Sun auto.home map format is understood. The form of
1293 username server:/some/file/system
1295 and the program will extract the servername from before the first ':'.
1296 There should probably be a better parsing system that copes with different
1297 map formats and also Amd (another automounter) maps.
1299 NB: The -DNETGROUP option is required in the Makefile for option to work
1300 and on some architectures the line -lrpcsvc needs to be added to the
1301 LIBSM variable. This is required for Solaris 2, FreeBSD and HPUX.
1303 See also "nis homedir"
1306 homedir map = auto.home
1309 homedir map = amd.homedir
1318 If this global parameter is a non-null string, it specifies the name of
1319 a file to read for the names of hosts and users who will be allowed access
1320 without specifying a password.
1322 This is not be confused with
1324 which is about hosts access to services and is more useful for guest services.
1326 may be useful for NT clients which will not supply passwords to samba.
1328 NOTE: The use of hosts.equiv can be a major security hole. This is
1329 because you are trusting the PC to supply the correct username. It is
1330 very easy to get a PC to supply a false username. I recommend that the
1331 hosts.equiv option be only used if you really know what you are doing,
1332 or perhaps on a home network where you trust your wife and kids :-)
1335 No host equivalences
1338 hosts equiv = /etc/hosts.equiv
1342 This allows you to include one config file inside another. The file is
1343 included literally, as though typed in place.
1345 It takes the standard substitutions, except %u, %P and %S
1349 This option allows you to setup multiple network interfaces, so that
1350 Samba can properly handle browsing on all interfaces.
1352 The option takes a list of ip/netmask pairs. The netmask may either be
1353 a bitmask, or a bitlength.
1355 For example, the following line:
1357 interfaces = 192.168.2.10/24 192.168.3.10/24
1359 would configure two network interfaces with IP addresses 192.168.2.10
1360 and 192.168.3.10. The netmasks of both interfaces would be set to
1363 You could produce an equivalent result by using:
1365 interfaces = 192.168.2.10/255.255.255.0 192.168.3.10/255.255.255.0
1367 if you prefer that format.
1369 If this option is not set then Samba will attempt to find a primary
1370 interface, but won't attempt to configure more than one interface.
1372 .SS invalid users (S)
1373 This is a list of users that should not be allowed to login to this
1374 service. This is really a "paranoid" check to absolutely ensure an
1375 improper setting does not breach your security.
1377 A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group.
1379 The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the
1382 See also "valid users"
1388 invalid users = root fred admin @wheel
1391 The value of the parameter (an integer) represents the number of seconds
1392 between 'keepalive' packets. If this parameter is zero, no keepalive packets
1393 will be sent. Keepalive packets, if sent, allow the server to tell whether a
1394 client is still present and responding.
1396 Keepalives should, in general, not be needed if the socket being used
1397 has the SO_KEEPALIVE attribute set on it (see "socket
1398 options"). Basically you should only use this option if you strike
1406 .SS load printers (G)
1407 A boolean variable that controls whether all printers in the printcap
1408 will be loaded for browsing by default.
1416 .SS local master (G)
1417 This option allows the nmbd to become a local master browser on a
1418 subnet. If set to False then nmbd will not attempt to become a local
1419 master browser on a subnet and will also lose in all browsing elections.
1420 By default this value is set to true. Setting this value to true doesn't
1421 mean that Samba will become the local master browser on a subnet, just
1422 that the nmbd will participate in elections for local master browser.
1427 .SS lock directory (G)
1428 This option specifies the directory where lock files will be placed.
1429 The lock files are used to implement the "max connections" option.
1432 lock directory = /tmp/samba
1435 lock directory = /usr/local/samba/var/locks
1437 This controls whether or not locking will be performed by the server in
1438 response to lock requests from the client.
1440 If "locking = no", all lock and unlock requests will appear to succeed and
1441 all lock queries will indicate that the queried lock is clear.
1443 If "locking = yes", real locking will be performed by the server.
1445 This option may be particularly useful for read-only filesystems which
1446 do not need locking (such as cdrom drives).
1448 Be careful about disabling locking either globally or in a specific
1449 service, as lack of locking may result in data corruption.
1459 This options allows you to override the name of the Samba log file
1460 (also known as the debug file).
1462 This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have
1463 separate log files for each user or machine.
1466 log file = /usr/local/samba/var/log.%m
1473 This parameter specifies the home directory where roaming profiles
1474 (USER.DAT / USER.MAN files) are stored.
1476 This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have
1477 separate logon scripts for each user or machine. It also specifies
1478 the directory from which the "desktop", "start menu", "nethood" and
1479 "programs" folders, and their contents, are loaded and displayed
1480 on your Windows 95 client.
1482 The share and the path must be readable by the user for the preferences
1483 and directories to be loaded onto the Windows 95 client. The share
1484 must be writeable when the logs in for the first time, in order that
1485 the Windows 95 client can create the user.dat and other directories.
1487 Thereafter, the directories and any of contents can, if required,
1488 be made read-only. It is not adviseable that the USER.DAT file be made
1489 read-only - rename it to USER.MAN to achieve the desired effect
1490 (a MANdatory profile).
1493 logon path = \\\\%L\\%U
1496 logon path = \\\\PROFILESERVER\\HOME_DIR\\%U
1498 .SS logon script (G)
1500 This parameter specifies the batch file (.bat) or NT command file (.cmd)
1501 to be downloaded and run on a machine when a user successfully logs in.
1502 The file must contain the DOS style cr/lf line endings. Using a DOS-style
1503 editor to create the file is recommended.
1505 The script must be a relative path to the [netlogon] service. If the
1506 [netlogon] service specifies a path of /usr/local/samba/netlogon, and
1507 logon script = STARTUP.BAT, then file that will be downloaded is:
1509 .B /usr/local/samba/netlogon/STARTUP.BAT
1511 The contents of the batch file is entirely your choice. A suggested
1512 command would be to add NET TIME \\\\SERVER /SET /YES, to force every
1513 machine to synchronise clocks with the same time server. Another use
1514 would be to add NET USE U: \\\\SERVER\\UTILS for commonly used utilities,
1515 or NET USE Q: \\\\SERVER\\ISO9001_QA.
1517 Note that it is particularly important not to allow write access to
1518 the [netlogon] share, or to grant users write permission on the
1519 batch files in a secure environment, as this would allow the batch
1520 files to be arbitrarily modified.
1523 This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have
1524 separate logon scripts for each user or machine.
1527 logon script = scripts/%U.bat
1529 .SS lppause command (S)
1530 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1531 order to stop printing or spooling a specific print job.
1533 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and
1534 job number to pause the print job. Currently I don't know of any print
1535 spooler system that can do this with a simple option, except for the PPR
1536 system from Trinity College (ppr\-dist.trincoll.edu/pub/ppr). One way
1537 of implementing this is by using job priorities, where jobs having a too
1538 low priority won't be sent to the printer. See also the
1542 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1543 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1544 On HPUX (see printing=hpux), if the -p%p option is added to the lpq
1545 command, the job will show up with the correct status, i.e. if the job
1546 priority is lower than the set fence priority it will have the PAUSED
1547 status, whereas if the priority is equal or higher it will have the
1548 SPOOLED or PRINTING status.
1550 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lppause
1551 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1554 Currently no default value is given to this string
1556 .B Example for HPUX:
1557 lppause command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p0
1559 .SS lpq cache time (G)
1561 This controls how long lpq info will be cached for to prevent the lpq
1562 command being called too often. A separate cache is kept for each
1563 variation of the lpq command used by the system, so if you use
1564 different lpq commands for different users then they won't share cache
1567 The cache files are stored in /tmp/lpq.xxxx where xxxx is a hash
1568 of the lpq command in use.
1570 The default is 10 seconds, meaning that the cached results of a
1571 previous identical lpq command will be used if the cached data is less
1572 than 10 seconds old. A large value may be advisable if your lpq
1573 command is very slow.
1575 A value of 0 will disable cacheing completely.
1584 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1585 order to obtain "lpq"-style printer status information.
1587 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name
1588 as its only parameter and outputs printer status information.
1590 Currently six styles of printer status information are supported; BSD,
1591 SYSV, AIX, HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You
1592 control which type is expected using the "printing =" option.
1594 Some clients (notably Windows for Workgroups) may not correctly send the
1595 connection number for the printer they are requesting status information
1596 about. To get around this, the server reports on the first printer service
1597 connected to by the client. This only happens if the connection number sent
1600 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. Otherwise
1601 it is placed at the end of the command.
1603 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpq
1604 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1607 depends on the setting of "printing ="
1610 lpq command = /usr/bin/lpq %p
1612 .SS lpresume command (S)
1613 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1614 order to restart or continue printing or spooling a specific print job.
1616 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and
1617 job number to resume the print job. See also the lppause command.
1619 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1620 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1622 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpresume
1623 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1626 Currently no default value is given to this string
1628 .B Example for HPUX:
1629 lpresume command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p2
1631 .SS lprm command (S)
1632 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1633 order to delete a print job.
1635 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name
1636 and job number, and deletes the print job.
1638 Currently seven styles of printer control are supported; BSD, SYSV, AIX
1639 HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You control
1640 which type is expected using the "printing =" option.
1642 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1643 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1645 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lprm
1646 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1649 depends on the setting of "printing ="
1652 lprm command = /usr/bin/lprm -P%p %j
1655 lprm command = /usr/bin/cancel %p-%j
1657 .SS magic output (S)
1658 This parameter specifies the name of a file which will contain output
1659 created by a magic script (see
1663 Warning: If two clients use the same magic script in the same directory the
1664 output file content is undefined.
1666 magic output = <magic script name>.out
1669 magic output = myfile.txt
1670 .SS magic script (S)
1671 This parameter specifies the name of a file which, if opened, will be
1672 executed by the server when the file is closed. This allows a UNIX script
1673 to be sent to the Samba host and executed on behalf of the connected user.
1675 Scripts executed in this way will be deleted upon completion, permissions
1678 If the script generates output, output will be sent to the file specified by
1681 parameter (see above).
1683 Note that some shells are unable to interpret scripts containing
1684 carriage-return-linefeed instead of linefeed as the end-of-line
1685 marker. Magic scripts must be executable "as is" on the host, which
1686 for some hosts and some shells will require filtering at the DOS end.
1688 Magic scripts are EXPERIMENTAL and should NOT be relied upon.
1691 None. Magic scripts disabled.
1694 magic script = user.csh
1698 See the section on "NAME MANGLING"
1701 This is for those who want to directly map UNIX file names which are
1702 not representable on DOS. The mangling of names is not always what is
1703 needed. In particular you may have documents with file extensions
1704 that differ between DOS and UNIX. For example, under UNIX it is common
1705 to use .html for HTML files, whereas under DOS .htm is more commonly
1708 So to map 'html' to 'htm' you put:
1710 mangled map = (*.html *.htm)
1712 One very useful case is to remove the annoying ;1 off the ends of
1713 filenames on some CDROMS (only visible under some UNIXes). To do this
1714 use a map of (*;1 *)
1720 mangled map = (*;1 *)
1722 .SS mangled names (S)
1723 This controls whether non-DOS names under UNIX should be mapped to
1724 DOS-compatible names ("mangled") and made visible, or whether non-DOS names
1725 should simply be ignored.
1727 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for details on how to control the
1730 If mangling is used then the mangling algorithm is as follows:
1732 - the first (up to) five alphanumeric characters before the rightmost dot of
1733 the filename are preserved, forced to upper case, and appear as the first (up
1734 to) five characters of the mangled name.
1736 - a tilde ("~") is appended to the first part of the mangled name, followed
1737 by a two-character unique sequence, based on the original root name
1738 (i.e., the original filename minus its final extension). The final
1739 extension is included in the hash calculation only if it contains any upper
1740 case characters or is longer than three characters.
1742 Note that the character to use may be specified using the "mangling
1743 char" option, if you don't like ~.
1745 - the first three alphanumeric characters of the final extension are preserved,
1746 forced to upper case and appear as the extension of the mangled name. The
1747 final extension is defined as that part of the original filename after the
1748 rightmost dot. If there are no dots in the filename, the mangled name will
1749 have no extension (except in the case of hidden files - see below).
1751 - files whose UNIX name begins with a dot will be presented as DOS hidden
1752 files. The mangled name will be created as for other filenames, but with the
1753 leading dot removed and "___" as its extension regardless of actual original
1754 extension (that's three underscores).
1757 The two-digit hash value consists of upper case alphanumeric characters.
1759 This algorithm can cause name collisions only if files in a directory share
1760 the same first five alphanumeric characters. The probability of such a clash
1763 The name mangling (if enabled) allows a file to be copied between UNIX
1764 directories from DOS while retaining the long UNIX filename. UNIX files can
1765 be renamed to a new extension from DOS and will retain the same basename.
1766 Mangled names do not change between sessions.
1773 .SS mangling char (S)
1774 This controls what character is used as the "magic" character in name
1775 mangling. The default is a ~ but this may interfere with some
1776 software. Use this option to set it to whatever you prefer.
1784 .SS mangled stack (G)
1785 This parameter controls the number of mangled names that should be cached in
1788 This stack is a list of recently mangled base names (extensions are only
1789 maintained if they are longer than 3 characters or contains upper case
1792 The larger this value, the more likely it is that mangled names can be
1793 successfully converted to correct long UNIX names. However, large stack
1794 sizes will slow most directory access. Smaller stacks save memory in the
1795 server (each stack element costs 256 bytes).
1797 It is not possible to absolutely guarantee correct long file names, so
1798 be prepared for some surprises!
1807 This controls whether the DOS archive attribute should be mapped to UNIX
1808 execute bits. The DOS archive bit is set when a file has been modified
1809 since its last backup. One motivation for this option it to keep Samba/your
1810 PC from making any file it touches from becoming executable under UNIX.
1811 This can be quite annoying for shared source code, documents, etc...
1820 This controls whether DOS style hidden files should be mapped to UNIX
1829 This controls whether DOS style system files should be mapped to UNIX
1837 .SS max connections (S)
1838 This option allows the number of simultaneous connections to a
1839 service to be limited. If "max connections" is greater than 0 then
1840 connections will be refused if this number of connections to the
1841 service are already open. A value of zero mean an unlimited number of
1842 connections may be made.
1844 Record lock files are used to implement this feature. The lock files
1845 will be stored in the directory specified by the "lock directory" option.
1851 max connections = 10
1853 .SS max disk size (G)
1854 This option allows you to put an upper limit on the apparent size of
1855 disks. If you set this option to 100 then all shares will appear to be
1856 not larger than 100 MB in size.
1858 Note that this option does not limit the amount of data you can put on
1859 the disk. In the above case you could still store much more than 100
1860 MB on the disk, but if a client ever asks for the amount of free disk
1861 space or the total disk size then the result will be bounded by the
1862 amount specified in "max disk size".
1864 This option is primarily useful to work around bugs in some pieces of
1865 software that can't handle very large disks, particularly disks over
1868 A "max disk size" of 0 means no limit.
1874 max disk size = 1000
1876 .SS max log size (G)
1878 This option (an integer in kilobytes) specifies the max size the log
1879 file should grow to. Samba periodically checks the size and if it is
1880 exceeded it will rename the file, adding a .old extension.
1882 A size of 0 means no limit.
1892 This option controls the maximum number of outstanding simultaneous SMB
1893 operations that samba tells the client it will allow. You should never need
1894 to set this parameter.
1901 A synonym for this parameter is 'packet size'.
1905 This option tells nmbd what the default 'time to live' of NetBIOS
1906 names should be (in seconds). You should never need to change this parameter.
1912 This option controls the maximum packet size that will be negotiated
1913 by Samba. The default is 65535, which is the maximum. In some cases
1914 you may find you get better performance with a smaller value. A value
1915 below 2048 is likely to cause problems.
1923 .SS message command (G)
1925 This specifies what command to run when the server receives a WinPopup
1928 This would normally be a command that would deliver the message
1929 somehow. How this is to be done is up to your imagination.
1933 message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' &
1935 This delivers the message using xedit, then removes it
1936 afterwards. NOTE THAT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS COMMAND RETURN
1937 IMMEDIATELY. That's why I have the & on the end. If it doesn't return
1938 immediately then your PCs may freeze when sending messages (they
1939 should recover after 30secs, hopefully).
1941 All messages are delivered as the global guest user. The command takes
1942 the standard substitutions, although %u won't work (%U may be better
1945 Apart from the standard substitutions, some additional ones apply. In
1948 %s = the filename containing the message
1950 %t = the destination that the message was sent to (probably the server
1953 %f = who the message is from
1955 You could make this command send mail, or whatever else takes your
1956 fancy. Please let me know of any really interesting ideas you have.
1958 Here's a way of sending the messages as mail to root:
1960 message command = /bin/mail -s 'message from %f on %m' root < %s; rm %s
1962 If you don't have a message command then the message won't be
1963 delivered and Samba will tell the sender there was an
1964 error. Unfortunately WfWg totally ignores the error code and carries
1965 on regardless, saying that the message was delivered.
1967 If you want to silently delete it then try "message command = rm %s".
1969 For the really adventurous, try something like this:
1971 message command = csh -c 'csh < %s |& /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient \e
1974 this would execute the command as a script on the server, then give
1975 them the result in a WinPopup message. Note that this could cause a
1976 loop if you send a message from the server using smbclient! You better
1977 wrap the above in a script that checks for this :-)
1983 message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' &
1985 .SS min print space (S)
1987 This sets the minimum amount of free disk space that must be available
1988 before a user will be able to spool a print job. It is specified in
1989 kilobytes. The default is 0, which means no limit.
1995 min print space = 2000
1997 .SS netbios name (G)
1999 This sets the NetBIOS name by which a Samba server is known. By
2000 default it is the same as the first component of the host's DNS name.
2003 Get the home share server from a NIS (or YP) map. For unix systems that
2004 use an automounter, the user's home directory will often be mounted on
2005 a workstation on demand from a remote server. When the Samba logon server
2006 is not the actual home directory server, two network hops are required
2007 to access the home directory and this can be very slow especially with
2008 writing via Samba to an NFS mounted directory. This option allows samba
2009 to return the home share as being on a different server to the logon
2010 server and as long as a samba daemon is running on the home directory
2011 server, it will be mounted on the Samba client directly from the directory
2012 server. When Samba is returning the home share to the client, it will
2013 consult the NIS (or YP) map specified in "homedir map" and return the
2014 server listed there.
2022 .SS null passwords (G)
2023 Allow or disallow access to accounts that have null passwords.
2029 null passwords = yes
2032 A synonym for this command is 'guest only'.
2035 This is a boolean option that controls whether connections with
2036 usernames not in the user= list will be allowed. By default this
2037 option is disabled so a client can supply a username to be used by
2040 Note that this also means Samba won't try to deduce usernames from the
2041 service name. This can be annoying for the [homes] section. To get
2042 around this you could use "user = %S" which means your "user" list
2043 will be just the service name, which for home directories is the name
2053 This integer value controls what level Samba advertises itself as for
2054 browse elections. See BROWSING.txt for details.
2057 The maximum transmit packet size during a raw read. This option is no
2058 longer implemented as of version 1.7.00, and is kept only so old
2059 configuration files do not become invalid.
2062 This string controls the "chat" conversation that takes places
2063 between smbd and the local password changing program to change the
2064 users password. The string describes a sequence of response-receive
2065 pairs that smbd uses to determine what to send to the passwd program
2066 and what to expect back. If the expected output is not received then
2067 the password is not changed.
2069 This chat sequence is often quite site specific, depending on what
2070 local methods are used for password control (such as NIS+ etc).
2072 The string can contain the macros %o and %n which are substituted for
2073 the old and new passwords respectively. It can also contain the
2074 standard macros \en \er \et and \es to give line-feed, carriage-return,
2077 The string can also contain a * which matches any sequence of
2080 Double quotes can be used to collect strings with spaces in them into
2083 If the send string in any part of the chat sequence is a fullstop "."
2084 then no string is sent. Similarly, is the expect string is a fullstop
2085 then no string is expected.
2088 passwd chat = "*Enter OLD password*" %o\en "*Enter NEW password*" %n\en \e
2089 "*Reenter NEW password*" %n\en "*Password changed*"
2093 passwd chat = *old*password* %o\en *new*password* %n\en *new*password* %n\en *changed*
2095 .SS passwd program (G)
2096 The name of a program that can be used to set user passwords.
2098 This is only necessary if you have enabled remote password changing at
2099 compile time. Any occurrences of %u will be replaced with the user
2102 Also note that many passwd programs insist in "reasonable" passwords,
2103 such as a minimum length, or the inclusion of mixed case chars and
2104 digits. This can pose a problem as some clients (such as Windows for
2105 Workgroups) uppercase the password before sending it.
2108 passwd program = /bin/passwd
2111 passwd program = /sbin/passwd %u
2113 .SS password level (G)
2114 Some client/server combinations have difficulty with mixed-case passwords.
2115 One offending client is Windows for Workgroups, which for some reason forces
2116 passwords to upper case when using the LANMAN1 protocol, but leaves them alone
2117 when using COREPLUS!
2119 This parameter defines the maximum number of characters that may be upper case
2122 For example, say the password given was "FRED". If
2124 is set to 1 (one), the following combinations would be tried if "FRED" failed:
2125 "Fred", "fred", "fRed", "frEd", "freD". If
2126 .B password level was set to 2 (two), the following combinations would also be
2127 tried: "FRed", "FrEd", "FreD", "fREd", "fReD", "frED". And so on.
2129 The higher value this parameter is set to the more likely it is that a mixed
2130 case password will be matched against a single case password. However, you
2131 should be aware that use of this parameter reduces security and increases the
2132 time taken to process a new connection.
2134 A value of zero will cause only two attempts to be made - the password as is
2135 and the password in all-lower case.
2137 If you find the connections are taking too long with this option then
2138 you probably have a slow crypt() routine. Samba now comes with a fast
2139 "ufc crypt" that you can select in the Makefile. You should also make
2140 sure the PASSWORD_LENGTH option is correct for your system in local.h
2141 and includes.h. On most systems only the first 8 chars of a password
2142 are significant so PASSWORD_LENGTH should be 8, but on some longer
2143 passwords are significant. The includes.h file tries to select the
2144 right length for your system.
2152 .SS password server (G)
2154 By specifying the name of another SMB server (such as a WinNT box)
2155 with this option, and using "security = server" you can get Samba to
2156 do all its username/password validation via a remote server.
2158 This options sets the name of the password server to use. It must be a
2159 netbios name, so if the machine's netbios name is different from its
2160 internet name then you may have to add its netbios name to
2163 The password server much be a machine capable of using the "LM1.2X002"
2164 or the "LM NT 0.12" protocol, and it must be in user level security
2167 NOTE: Using a password server means your UNIX box (running Samba) is
2168 only as secure as your password server. DO NOT CHOOSE A PASSWORD
2169 SERVER THAT YOU DON'T COMPLETELY TRUST.
2171 Never point a Samba server at itself for password serving. This will
2172 cause a loop and could lock up your Samba server!
2174 The name of the password server takes the standard substitutions, but
2175 probably the only useful one is %m, which means the Samba server will
2176 use the incoming client as the password server. If you use this then
2177 you better trust your clients, and you better restrict them with hosts
2180 If you list several hosts in the "password server" option then smbd
2181 will try each in turn till it finds one that responds. This is useful
2182 in case your primary server goes down.
2185 A synonym for this parameter is 'directory'.
2187 This parameter specifies a directory to which the user of the service is to
2188 be given access. In the case of printable services, this is where print data
2189 will spool prior to being submitted to the host for printing.
2191 For a printable service offering guest access, the service should be readonly
2192 and the path should be world-writable and have the sticky bit set. This is not
2193 mandatory of course, but you probably won't get the results you expect if you
2196 Any occurrences of %u in the path will be replaced with the username
2197 that the client is connecting as. Any occurrences of %m will be
2198 replaced by the name of the machine they are connecting from. These
2199 replacements are very useful for setting up pseudo home directories
2202 Note that this path will be based on 'root dir' if one was specified.
2211 This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is
2212 disconnected. It takes the usual substitutions. The command may be run
2213 as the root on some systems.
2215 An interesting example may be do unmount server resources:
2217 postexec = /etc/umount /cdrom
2222 none (no command executed)
2225 postexec = echo \e"%u disconnected from %S from %m (%I)\e" >> /tmp/log
2228 This parameter forces a printer to interpret the print files as
2229 postscript. This is done by adding a %! to the start of print output.
2231 This is most useful when you have lots of PCs that persist in putting
2232 a control-D at the start of print jobs, which then confuses your
2243 This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is
2244 connected to. It takes the usual substitutions.
2246 An interesting example is to send the users a welcome message every
2247 time they log in. Maybe a message of the day? Here is an example:
2249 preexec = csh -c 'echo \e"Welcome to %S!\e" | \e
2250 /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient -M %m -I %I' &
2252 Of course, this could get annoying after a while :-)
2257 none (no command executed)
2260 preexec = echo \e"%u connected to %S from %m (%I)\e" >> /tmp/log
2262 .SS preferred master (G)
2263 This boolean parameter controls if Samba is a preferred master browser
2265 If this is set to true, on startup, samba will force an election,
2266 and it will have a slight advantage in winning the election.
2267 It is recommended that this parameter is used in conjunction
2268 with domain master = yes, so that samba can guarantee becoming
2271 Use this option with caution, because if there are several hosts
2272 (whether samba servers, Windows 95 or NT) that are preferred master
2273 browsers on the same subnet, they will each periodically and continuously
2274 attempt to become the local master browser. This will result in
2275 unnecessary broadcast traffic and reduced browsing capabilities.
2281 preferred master = no
2284 This is an alias for "auto services"
2286 .SS preserve case (S)
2288 This controls if new filenames are created with the case that the
2289 client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case.
2294 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.
2296 .SS print command (S)
2297 After a print job has finished spooling to a service, this command will be
2298 used via a system() call to process the spool file. Typically the command
2299 specified will submit the spool file to the host's printing subsystem, but
2300 there is no requirement that this be the case. The server will not remove the
2301 spool file, so whatever command you specify should remove the spool file when
2302 it has been processed, otherwise you will need to manually remove old spool
2305 The print command is simply a text string. It will be used verbatim,
2306 with two exceptions: All occurrences of "%s" will be replaced by the
2307 appropriate spool file name, and all occurrences of "%p" will be
2308 replaced by the appropriate printer name. The spool file name is
2309 generated automatically by the server, the printer name is discussed
2312 The full path name will be used for the filename if %s is not preceded
2313 by a /. If you don't like this (it can stuff up some lpq output) then
2314 use %f instead. Any occurrences of %f get replaced by the spool
2315 filename without the full path at the front.
2317 The print command MUST contain at least one occurrence of "%s" or %f -
2318 the "%p" is optional. At the time a job is submitted, if no printer
2319 name is supplied the "%p" will be silently removed from the printer
2322 If specified in the [global] section, the print command given will be used
2323 for any printable service that does not have its own print command specified.
2325 If there is neither a specified print command for a printable service nor a
2326 global print command, spool files will be created but not processed and (most
2327 importantly) not removed.
2329 Note that printing may fail on some UNIXes from the "nobody"
2330 account. If this happens then create an alternative guest account that
2331 can print and set the "guest account" in the [global] section.
2333 You can form quite complex print commands by realising that they are
2334 just passed to a shell. For example the following will log a print
2335 job, print the file, then remove it. Note that ; is the usual
2336 separator for command in shell scripts.
2338 print command = echo Printing %s >> /tmp/print.log; lpr -P %p %s; rm %s
2340 You may have to vary this command considerably depending on how you
2341 normally print files on your system.
2344 print command = lpr -r -P %p %s
2347 print command = /usr/local/samba/bin/myprintscript %p %s
2352 A synonym for this parameter is 'print ok'.
2354 If this parameter is 'yes', then clients may open, write to and submit spool
2355 files on the directory specified for the service.
2357 Note that a printable service will ALWAYS allow writing to the service path
2358 (user privileges permitting) via the spooling of print data. The 'read only'
2359 parameter controls only non-printing access to the resource.
2367 .SS printcap name (G)
2368 This parameter may be used to override the compiled-in default printcap
2369 name used by the server (usually /etc/printcap). See the discussion of the
2370 [printers] section above for reasons why you might want to do this.
2372 For those of you without a printcap (say on SysV) you can just create a
2373 minimal file that looks like a printcap and set "printcap name =" in
2374 [global] to point at it.
2376 A minimal printcap file would look something like this:
2388 where the | separates aliases of a printer. The fact that the second
2389 alias has a space in it gives a hint to Samba that it's a comment.
2391 NOTE: Under AIX the default printcap name is "/etc/qconfig". Samba
2392 will assume the file is in AIX "qconfig" format if the string
2393 "/qconfig" appears in the printcap filename.
2396 printcap name = /etc/printcap
2399 printcap name = /etc/myprintcap
2401 A synonym for this parameter is 'printer name'.
2403 This parameter specifies the name of the printer to which print jobs spooled
2404 through a printable service will be sent.
2406 If specified in the [global] section, the printer name given will be used
2407 for any printable service that does not have its own printer name specified.
2410 none (but may be 'lp' on many systems)
2413 printer name = laserwriter
2415 .SS printer driver (S)
2416 This option allows you to control the string that clients receive when
2417 they ask the server for the printer driver associated with a
2418 printer. If you are using Windows95 or WindowsNT then you can use this
2419 to automate the setup of printers on your system.
2421 You need to set this parameter to the exact string (case sensitive)
2422 that describes the appropriate printer driver for your system.
2423 If you don't know the exact string to use then you should first try
2424 with no "printer driver" option set and the client will give you a
2425 list of printer drivers. The appropriate strings are shown in a
2426 scrollbox after you have chosen the printer manufacturer.
2429 printer driver = HP LaserJet 4L
2431 .SS printer name (S)
2436 This parameters controls how printer status information is interpreted
2437 on your system, and also affects the default values for the "print
2438 command", "lpq command" and "lprm command".
2440 Currently six printing styles are supported. They are "printing =
2441 bsd", "printing = sysv", "printing = hpux", "printing = aix",
2442 "printing = qnx" and "printing = plp".
2444 To see what the defaults are for the other print commands when using
2445 these three options use the "testparm" program.
2449 The value of the parameter (a string) is the highest protocol level that will
2450 be supported by the server.
2452 Possible values are CORE, COREPLUS, LANMAN1, LANMAN2 and NT1. The relative
2453 merits of each are discussed in the README file.
2455 Normally this option should not be set as the automatic negotiation
2456 phase in the SMB protocol takes care of choosing the appropriate protocol.
2464 A synonym for this parameter is 'guest ok'.
2466 If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then no password is required
2467 to connect to the service. Privileges will be those of the guest
2470 See the section below on user/password validation for more information about
2479 This is a list of users that are given read-only access to a
2480 service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will
2481 not be given write access, no matter what the "read only" option
2482 is set to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax.
2484 See also the "write list" option
2490 read list = mary, @students
2497 Note that this is an inverted synonym for writable and write ok.
2498 .SS read prediction (G)
2499 This options enables or disables the read prediction code used to
2500 speed up reads from the server. When enabled the server will try to
2501 pre-read data from the last accessed file that was opened read-only
2502 while waiting for packets.
2505 read prediction = False
2508 read prediction = True
2510 This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw reads when
2511 transferring data to clients.
2513 If enabled, raw reads allow reads of 65535 bytes in one packet. This
2514 typically provides a major performance benefit.
2516 However, some clients either negotiate the allowable block size incorrectly
2517 or are incapable of supporting larger block sizes, and for these clients you
2518 may need to disable raw reads.
2520 In general this parameter should be viewed as a system tuning tool and left
2521 severely alone. See also
2531 The option "read size" affects the overlap of disk reads/writes with
2532 network reads/writes. If the amount of data being transferred in
2533 several of the SMB commands (currently SMBwrite, SMBwriteX and
2534 SMBreadbraw) is larger than this value then the server begins writing
2535 the data before it has received the whole packet from the network, or
2536 in the case of SMBreadbraw, it begins writing to the network before
2537 all the data has been read from disk.
2539 This overlapping works best when the speeds of disk and network access
2540 are similar, having very little effect when the speed of one is much
2541 greater than the other.
2543 The default value is 2048, but very little experimentation has been
2544 done yet to determine the optimal value, and it is likely that the best
2545 value will vary greatly between systems anyway. A value over 65536 is
2546 pointless and will cause you to allocate memory unnecessarily.
2554 .SS remote announce (G)
2556 This option allows you to setup nmbd to periodically announce itself
2557 to arbitrary IP addresses with an arbitrary workgroup name.
2559 This is useful if you want your Samba server to appear in a remote
2560 workgroup for which the normal browse propagation rules don't
2561 work. The remote workgroup can be anywhere that you can send IP
2566 remote announce = 192.168.2.255/SERVERS 192.168.4.255/STAFF
2568 the above line would cause nmbd to announce itself to the two given IP
2569 addresses using the given workgroup names. If you leave out the
2570 workgroup name then the one given in the "workgroup" option is used
2573 The IP addresses you choose would normally be the broadcast addresses
2574 of the remote networks, but can also be the IP addresses of known
2575 browse masters if your network config is that stable.
2577 This option replaces similar functionality from the nmbd lmhosts file.
2581 This options controls whether Samba will allow a previously validated
2582 username/password pair to be used to attach to a share. Thus if you
2583 connect to \e\eserver\eshare1 then to \e\eserver\eshare2 it won't
2584 automatically allow the client to request connection to the second
2585 share as the same username as the first without a password.
2587 If "revalidate" is True then the client will be denied automatic
2588 access as the same username.
2602 .SS root directory (G)
2603 Synonyms for this parameter are 'root dir' and 'root'.
2605 The server will chroot() to this directory on startup. This is not
2606 strictly necessary for secure operation. Even without it the server
2607 will deny access to files not in one of the service entries. It may
2608 also check for, and deny access to, soft links to other parts of the
2609 filesystem, or attempts to use .. in file names to access other
2610 directories (depending on the setting of the "wide links" parameter).
2612 Adding a "root dir" entry other than "/" adds an extra level of security,
2613 but at a price. It absolutely ensures that no access is given to files not
2614 in the sub-tree specified in the "root dir" option, *including* some files
2615 needed for complete operation of the server. To maintain full operability
2616 of the server you will need to mirror some system files into the "root dir"
2617 tree. In particular you will need to mirror /etc/passwd (or a subset of it),
2618 and any binaries or configuration files needed for printing (if required).
2619 The set of files that must be mirrored is operating system dependent.
2625 root directory = /homes/smb
2626 .SS root postexec (S)
2628 This is the same as postexec except that the command is run as
2629 root. This is useful for unmounting filesystems (such as cdroms) after
2630 a connection is closed.
2632 .SS root preexec (S)
2634 This is the same as preexec except that the command is run as
2635 root. This is useful for mounting filesystems (such as cdroms) before
2636 a connection is finalised.
2639 This option affects how clients respond to Samba.
2641 The option sets the "security mode bit" in replies to protocol negotiations
2642 to turn share level security on or off. Clients decide based on this bit
2643 whether (and how) to transfer user and password information to the server.
2645 The default is "security=SHARE", mainly because that was the only
2646 option at one stage.
2648 The alternatives are "security = user" or "security = server".
2650 If your PCs use usernames that are the same as their usernames on the
2651 UNIX machine then you will want to use "security = user". If you
2652 mostly use usernames that don't exist on the UNIX box then use
2655 There is a bug in WfWg that may affect your decision. When in user
2656 level security a WfWg client will totally ignore the password you type
2657 in the "connect drive" dialog box. This makes it very difficult (if
2658 not impossible) to connect to a Samba service as anyone except the
2659 user that you are logged into WfWg as.
2661 If you use "security = server" then Samba will try to validate the
2662 username/password by passing it to another SMB server, such as an NT
2663 box. If this fails it will revert to "security = USER".
2665 See the "password server" option for more details.
2672 .SS server string (G)
2673 This controls what string will show up in the printer comment box in
2674 print manager and next to the IPC connection in "net view". It can be
2675 any string that you wish to show to your users.
2677 It also sets what will appear in browse lists next to the machine name.
2679 A %v will be replaced with the Samba version number.
2681 A %h will be replaced with the hostname.
2684 server string = Samba %v
2687 server string = University of GNUs Samba Server
2689 .SS set directory (S)
2690 If 'set directory = no', then users of the service may not use the setdir
2691 command to change directory.
2693 The setdir command is only implemented in the Digital Pathworks client. See the
2694 Pathworks documentation for details.
2702 .SS shared file entries (G)
2703 This parameter is only useful when Samba has been compiled with FAST_SHARE_MODES.
2704 It specifies the number of hash bucket entries used for share file locking.
2705 You should never change this parameter unless you have studied the source
2706 and know what you are doing.
2709 shared file entries = 113
2711 .SS shared mem size (G)
2712 This parameter is only useful when Samba has been compiled with FAST_SHARE_MODES.
2713 It specifies the size of the shared memory (in bytes) to use between smbd
2714 processes. You should never change this parameter unless you have studied
2715 the source and know what you are doing.
2718 shared mem size = 102400
2720 .SS smb passwd file (G)
2721 This option sets the path to the encrypted smbpasswd file. This is a *VERY
2722 DANGEROUS OPTION* if the smb.conf is user writable. By default the path
2723 to the smbpasswd file is compiled into Samba.
2726 This sets the full path to the smbrun binary. This defaults to the
2727 value in the Makefile.
2729 You must get this path right for many services to work correctly.
2735 smbrun = /usr/local/samba/bin/smbrun
2739 This enables or disables the honouring of the "share modes" during a
2740 file open. These modes are used by clients to gain exclusive read or
2741 write access to a file.
2743 These open modes are not directly supported by UNIX, so they are
2744 simulated using lock files in the "lock directory". The "lock
2745 directory" specified in smb.conf must be readable by all users.
2747 The share modes that are enabled by this option are DENY_DOS,
2748 DENY_ALL, DENY_READ, DENY_WRITE, DENY_NONE and DENY_FCB.
2750 Enabling this option gives full share compatibility but may cost a bit
2751 of processing time on the UNIX server. They are enabled by default.
2759 .SS short preserve case (S)
2761 This controls if new short filenames are created with the case that
2762 the client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case.
2765 short preserve case = no
2767 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.
2769 .SS socket address (G)
2771 This option allows you to control what address Samba will listen for
2772 connections on. This is used to support multiple virtual interfaces on
2773 the one server, each with a different configuration.
2775 By default samba will accept connections on any address.
2778 socket address = 192.168.2.20
2780 .SS socket options (G)
2781 This option (which can also be invoked with the -O command line
2782 option) allows you to set socket options to be used when talking with
2785 Socket options are controls on the networking layer of the operating
2786 systems which allow the connection to be tuned.
2788 This option will typically be used to tune your Samba server for
2789 optimal performance for your local network. There is no way that Samba
2790 can know what the optimal parameters are for your net, so you must
2791 experiment and choose them yourself. I strongly suggest you read the
2792 appropriate documentation for your operating system first (perhaps
2793 "man setsockopt" will help).
2795 You may find that on some systems Samba will say "Unknown socket
2796 option" when you supply an option. This means you either mis-typed it
2797 or you need to add an include file to includes.h for your OS. If the
2798 latter is the case please send the patch to me
2799 (samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au).
2801 Any of the supported socket options may be combined in any way you
2802 like, as long as your OS allows it.
2804 This is the list of socket options currently settable using this
2827 Those marked with a * take an integer argument. The others can
2828 optionally take a 1 or 0 argument to enable or disable the option, by
2829 default they will be enabled if you don't specify 1 or 0.
2831 To specify an argument use the syntax SOME_OPTION=VALUE for example
2832 SO_SNDBUF=8192. Note that you must not have any spaces before or after
2835 If you are on a local network then a sensible option might be
2837 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY
2839 If you have an almost unloaded local network and you don't mind a lot
2840 of extra CPU usage in the server then you could try
2842 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY
2844 If you are on a wide area network then perhaps try setting
2847 Note that several of the options may cause your Samba server to fail
2848 completely. Use these options with caution!
2854 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY
2860 This enables or disables logging of connections to a status file that
2866 won't be able to tell you what
2867 connections are active.
2875 .SS strict locking (S)
2876 This is a boolean that controls the handling of file locking in the
2877 server. When this is set to yes the server will check every read and
2878 write access for file locks, and deny access if locks exist. This can
2879 be slow on some systems.
2881 When strict locking is "no" the server does file lock checks only when
2882 the client explicitly asks for them.
2884 Well behaved clients always ask for lock checks when it is important,
2885 so in the vast majority of cases "strict locking = no" is preferable.
2891 strict locking = yes
2894 This is a boolean that controls whether to strip trailing dots off
2895 filenames. This helps with some CDROMs that have filenames ending in a
2898 NOTE: This option is now obsolete, and may be removed in future. You
2899 should use the "mangled map" option instead as it is much more
2903 This parameter maps how Samba debug messages are logged onto the
2904 system syslog logging levels. Samba debug level zero maps onto
2905 syslog LOG_ERR, debug level one maps onto LOG_WARNING, debug
2906 level two maps to LOG_NOTICE, debug level three maps onto LOG_INFO.
2907 The paramter sets the threshold for doing the mapping, all Samba
2908 debug messages above this threashold are mapped to syslog LOG_DEBUG
2916 If this parameter is set then Samba debug messages are logged into
2917 the system syslog only, and not to the debug log files.
2924 This is a boolean parameter that controls whether writes will always
2925 be written to stable storage before the write call returns. If this is
2926 false then the server will be guided by the client's request in each
2927 write call (clients can set a bit indicating that a particular write
2928 should be synchronous). If this is true then every write will be
2929 followed by a fsync() call to ensure the data is written to disk.
2938 This parameter is a setting in minutes to add to the normal GMT to
2939 local time conversion. This is useful if you are serving a lot of PCs
2940 that have incorrect daylight saving time handling.
2949 This parameter determines if nmbd advertises itself as a time server
2950 to Windows clients. The default is False.
2958 .SS unix realname (G)
2959 This boolean parameter when set causes samba to supply the real name field
2960 from the unix password file to the client. This is useful for setting up
2961 mail clients and WWW browsers on systems used by more than one person.
2973 A synonym for this parameter is 'user'.
2975 Multiple users may be specified in a comma-delimited list, in which case the
2976 supplied password will be tested against each username in turn (left to right).
2978 The username= line is needed only when the PC is unable to supply its own
2979 username. This is the case for the coreplus protocol or where your
2980 users have different WfWg usernames to UNIX usernames. In both these
2981 cases you may also be better using the \e\eserver\eshare%user syntax
2984 The username= line is not a great solution in many cases as it means Samba
2985 will try to validate the supplied password against each of the
2986 usernames in the username= line in turn. This is slow and a bad idea for
2987 lots of users in case of duplicate passwords. You may get timeouts or
2988 security breaches using this parameter unwisely.
2990 Samba relies on the underlying UNIX security. This parameter does not
2991 restrict who can login, it just offers hints to the Samba server as to
2992 what usernames might correspond to the supplied password. Users can
2993 login as whoever they please and they will be able to do no more
2994 damage than if they started a telnet session. The daemon runs as the
2995 user that they log in as, so they cannot do anything that user cannot
2998 To restrict a service to a particular set of users you can use the
2999 "valid users=" line.
3001 If any of the usernames begin with a @ then the name will be looked up
3002 in the groups file and will expand to a list of all users in the group
3003 of that name. Note that searching though a groups file can take quite
3004 some time, and some clients may time out during the search.
3006 See the section below on username/password validation for more information
3007 on how this parameter determines access to the services.
3010 The guest account if a guest service, else the name of the service.
3014 username = fred, mary, jack, jane, @users, @pcgroup
3016 .SS username map (G)
3018 This option allows you to to specify a file containing a mapping of
3019 usernames from the clients to the server. This can be used for several
3020 purposes. The most common is to map usernames that users use on DOS or
3021 Windows machines to those that the UNIX box uses. The other is to map
3022 multiple users to a single username so that they can more easily share
3025 The map file is parsed line by line. Each line should contain a single
3026 UNIX username on the left then a '=' followed by a list of usernames
3027 on the right. The list of usernames on the right may contain names of
3028 the form @group in which case they will match any UNIX username in
3029 that group. The special client name '*' is a wildcard and matches any
3032 The file is processed on each line by taking the supplied username and
3033 comparing it with each username on the right hand side of the '='
3034 signs. If the supplied name matches any of the names on the right
3035 hand side then it is replaced with the name on the left. Processing
3036 then continues with the next line.
3038 If any line begins with a '#' or a ';' then it is ignored
3040 For example to map from the name "admin" or "administrator" to the UNIX
3041 name "root" you would use
3043 root = admin administrator
3045 Or to map anyone in the UNIX group "system" to the UNIX name "sys" you
3050 You can have as many mappings as you like in a username map file.
3052 Note that the remapping is applied to all occurrences of
3053 usernames. Thus if you connect to "\e\eserver\efred" and "fred" is
3054 remapped to "mary" then you will actually be connecting to
3055 "\e\eserver\emary" and will need to supply a password suitable for
3056 "mary" not "fred". The only exception to this is the username passed
3057 to the "password server" (if you have one). The password server will
3058 receive whatever username the client supplies without modification.
3060 Also note that no reverse mapping is done. The main effect this has is
3061 with printing. Users who have been mapped may have trouble deleting
3062 print jobs as PrintManager under WfWg will think they don't own the
3069 username map = /usr/local/samba/lib/users.map
3073 The option allows you to specify additional characters that should be
3074 considered valid by the server in filenames. This is particularly
3075 useful for national character sets, such as adding u-umlaut or a-ring.
3077 The option takes a list of characters in either integer or character
3078 form with spaces between them. If you give two characters with a colon
3079 between them then it will be taken as an lowercase:uppercase pair.
3081 If you have an editor capable of entering the characters into the
3082 config file then it is probably easiest to use this method. Otherwise
3083 you can specify the characters in octal, decimal or hexadecimal form
3084 using the usual C notation.
3086 For example to add the single character 'Z' to the charset (which is a
3087 pointless thing to do as it's already there) you could do one of the
3092 valid chars = 0132:0172
3094 The last two examples above actually add two characters, and alter
3095 the uppercase and lowercase mappings appropriately.
3097 Note that you MUST specify this parameter after the "client code page"
3098 parameter if you have both set. If "client code page" is set after
3099 the "valid chars" parameter the "valid chars" settings will be
3102 See also the "client code page" parameter.
3106 Samba defaults to using a reasonable set of valid characters
3111 valid chars = 0345:0305 0366:0326 0344:0304
3113 The above example allows filenames to have the swedish characters in
3116 NOTE: It is actually quite difficult to correctly produce a "valid
3117 chars" line for a particular system. To automate the process
3118 tino@augsburg.net has written a package called "validchars" which will
3119 automatically produce a complete "valid chars" line for a given client
3120 system. Look in the examples subdirectory for this package.
3123 This is a list of users that should be allowed to login to this
3124 service. A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group.
3126 If this is empty (the default) then any user can login. If a username
3127 is in both this list and the "invalid users" list then access is
3128 denied for that user.
3130 The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the
3133 See also "invalid users"
3136 No valid users list. (anyone can login)
3139 valid users = greg, @pcusers
3143 This is a list of files and directories that are neither visible nor
3144 accessible. Each entry in the list must be separate by a "/", which
3145 allows spaces to be included in the entry. Note that '*' and '?' at
3146 present cannot be used to specify multiple files or directories.
3149 No files or directories are vetoed.
3152 veto files = DesktopFolderDB/TrashFor%m/resource.frk
3154 The above example is based on files that the Macintosh client (DAVE)
3155 creates for internal use.
3158 This allows you to override the volume label returned for a
3159 share. Useful for CDROMs with installation programs that insist on a
3160 particular volume label.
3162 The default is the name of the share
3165 This parameter controls whether or not links in the UNIX file system may be
3166 followed by the server. Links that point to areas within the directory tree
3167 exported by the server are always allowed; this parameter controls access
3168 only to areas that are outside the directory tree being exported.
3178 This is a boolean that controls if nmbd will respond to broadcast name
3179 queries on behalf of other hosts. You may need to set this to no for
3186 This specifies the DNS name (or IP address) of the WINS server that Samba
3187 should register with. If you have a WINS server on your network then you
3188 should set this to the WINS servers name.
3190 You should point this at your WINS server if you have a multi-subnetted
3195 .SS wins support (G)
3197 This boolean controls if Samba will act as a WINS server. You should
3198 not set this to true unless you have a multi-subnetted network and
3199 you wish a particular nmbd to be your WINS server. Note that you
3200 should *NEVER* set this to true on more than one machine in your
3207 This controls what workgroup your server will appear to be in when
3217 A synonym for this parameter is 'write ok'. An inverted synonym is 'read only'.
3219 If this parameter is 'no', then users of a service may not create or modify
3220 files in the service's directory.
3222 Note that a printable service ('printable = yes') will ALWAYS allow
3223 writing to the directory (user privileges permitting), but only via
3224 spooling operations.
3234 This is a list of users that are given read-write access to a
3235 service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will be
3236 given write access, no matter what the "read only" option is set
3237 to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax.
3239 Note that if a user is in both the read list and the write list then
3240 they will be given write access.
3242 See also the "read list" option
3248 write list = admin, root, @staff
3256 This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw writes when
3257 transferring data from clients.
3264 .SH NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION
3265 There are a number of ways in which a user can connect to a
3266 service. The server follows the following steps in determining if it
3267 will allow a connection to a specified service. If all the steps fail
3268 then the connection request is rejected. If one of the steps pass then
3269 the following steps are not checked.
3271 If the service is marked "guest only = yes" then steps 1 to 5 are skipped
3273 Step 1: If the client has passed a username/password pair and that
3274 username/password pair is validated by the UNIX system's password
3275 programs then the connection is made as that username. Note that this
3276 includes the \e\eserver\eservice%username method of passing a username.
3278 Step 2: If the client has previously registered a username with the
3279 system and now supplies a correct password for that username then the
3280 connection is allowed.
3282 Step 3: The client's netbios name and any previously used user names
3283 are checked against the supplied password, if they match then the
3284 connection is allowed as the corresponding user.
3286 Step 4: If the client has previously validated a username/password
3287 pair with the server and the client has passed the validation token
3288 then that username is used. This step is skipped if "revalidate = yes"
3291 Step 5: If a "user = " field is given in the smb.conf file for the
3292 service and the client has supplied a password, and that password
3293 matches (according to the UNIX system's password checking) with one of
3294 the usernames from the user= field then the connection is made as the
3295 username in the "user=" line. If one of the username in the user= list
3296 begins with a @ then that name expands to a list of names in the group
3299 Step 6: If the service is a guest service then a connection is made as
3300 the username given in the "guest account =" for the service,
3301 irrespective of the supplied password.
3303 Although the configuration file permits service names to contain spaces,
3304 your client software may not. Spaces will be ignored in comparisons anyway,
3305 so it shouldn't be a problem - but be aware of the possibility.
3307 On a similar note, many clients - especially DOS clients - limit service
3308 names to eight characters. Smbd has no such limitation, but attempts
3309 to connect from such clients will fail if they truncate the service names.
3310 For this reason you should probably keep your service names down to eight
3311 characters in length.
3313 Use of the [homes] and [printers] special sections make life for an
3314 administrator easy, but the various combinations of default attributes can be
3315 tricky. Take extreme care when designing these sections. In particular,
3316 ensure that the permissions on spool directories are correct.
3318 This man page is (mostly) correct for version 1.9.16 of the Samba suite, plus some
3319 of the recent patches to it. These notes will necessarily lag behind
3320 development of the software, so it is possible that your version of
3321 the server has extensions or parameter semantics that differ from or are not
3322 covered by this man page. Please notify these to the address below for
3325 Prior to version 1.5.21 of the Samba suite, the configuration file was
3326 radically different (more primitive). If you are using a version earlier than
3327 1.8.05, it is STRONGLY recommended that you upgrade.
3332 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
3341 .BR hosts_access (5)
3343 [This section under construction]
3345 Most diagnostics issued by the server are logged in a specified log file. The
3346 log file name is specified at compile time, but may be overridden on the
3347 smbd command line (see
3350 The number and nature of diagnostics available depends on the debug level used
3351 by the server. If you have problems, set the debug level to 3 and peruse the
3354 Most messages are reasonably self-explanatory. Unfortunately, at time of
3355 creation of this man page the source code is still too fluid to warrant
3356 describing each and every diagnostic. At this stage your best bet is still
3357 to grep the source code and inspect the conditions that gave rise to the
3358 diagnostics you are seeing.
3362 Please send bug reports, comments and so on to:
3365 .B samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)
3368 or to the mailing list:
3371 .B samba@listproc.anu.edu.au
3374 You may also like to subscribe to the announcement channel:
3377 .B samba-announce@listproc.anu.edu.au
3380 To subscribe to these lists send a message to
3381 listproc@listproc.anu.edu.au with a body of "subscribe samba Your
3382 Name" or "subscribe samba-announce Your Name".
3384 Errors or suggestions for improvements to the Samba man pages should be
3388 .B samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)