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.
476 .SS COMPLETE LIST OF SERVICE PARAMETERS
478 Here is a list of all service parameters. See the section of each
479 parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms.
485 alternate permissions
635 .SS EXPLANATION OF EACH PARAMETER
640 This is a list of users who will be granted administrative privileges
641 on the share. This means that they will do all file operations as the
644 You should use this option very carefully, as any user in this list
645 will be able to do anything they like on the share, irrespective of
654 .SS auto services (G)
655 This is a list of services that you want to be automatically added to
656 the browse lists. This is most useful for homes and printers services
657 that would otherwise not be visible.
659 Note that if you just want all printers in your printcap file loaded
660 then the "load printers" option is easier.
666 auto services = fred lp colorlp
669 A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts allow'.
671 This parameter is a comma delimited set of hosts which are permitted to access
672 a services. If specified in the [global] section, matching hosts will be
673 allowed access to any service that does not specifically exclude them from
674 access. Specific services my have their own list, which override those
675 specified in the [global] section.
677 You can specify the hosts by name or IP number. For example, you could
678 restrict access to only the hosts on a Class C subnet with something like
679 "allow hosts = 150.203.5.". The full syntax of the list is described in
681 .BR hosts_access (5).
683 You can also specify hosts by network/netmask pairs and by netgroup
684 names if your system supports netgroups. The EXCEPT keyword can also
685 be used to limit a wildcard list. The following examples may provide
688 Example 1: allow all IPs in 150.203.*.* except one
690 hosts allow = 150.203. EXCEPT 150.203.6.66
692 Example 2: allow hosts that match the given network/netmask
694 hosts allow = 150.203.15.0/255.255.255.0
696 Example 3: allow a couple of hosts
698 hosts allow = lapland, arvidsjaur
700 Example 4: allow only hosts in netgroup "foonet" or localhost, but
701 deny access from one particular host
703 hosts allow = @foonet, localhost
706 Note that access still requires suitable user-level passwords.
710 for a way of testing your host access to see if it
711 does what you expect.
714 none (i.e., all hosts permitted access)
717 allow hosts = 150.203.5. myhost.mynet.edu.au
719 .SS alternate permissions (S)
721 This option affects the way the "read only" DOS attribute is produced
722 for UNIX files. If this is false then the read only bit is set for
723 files on writeable shares which the user cannot write to.
725 If this is true then it is set for files whos user write bit is not set.
727 The latter behaviour is useful for when users copy files from each
728 others directories, and use a file manager that preserves
729 permissions. Without this option they may get annoyed as all copied
730 files will have the "read only" bit set.
733 alternate permissions = no
736 alternate permissions = yes
739 This parameter lets you 'turn off' a service. If 'available = no', then
740 ALL attempts to connect to the service will fail. Such failures are logged.
748 This controls whether this share is seen in the list of available
749 shares in a net view and in the browse list.
757 This controls whether the smbd will serve a browse list to a client
758 doing a NetServerEnum call. Normally set to true. You should never
764 .SS case sensitive (G)
765 See the discussion on NAME MANGLING.
767 .SS case sig names (G)
770 .SS character set (G)
771 This allows a smbd to map incoming characters from a DOS 850 Code page
772 to either a Western European (ISO8859-1) or Easter European (ISO8859-2)
773 code page. Normally not set, meaning no filename translation is done.
781 character set = iso8859-1
783 .SS client code page (G)
784 Currently (Samba 1.9.17 and above) this may be set to one of two
785 values, 850 or 437. It specifies the base DOS code page that the
786 clients accessing Samba are using. To determine this, open a DOS
787 command prompt and type the command "chcp". This will output the
788 code page. The default for USA MS-DOS, Windows 95, and Windows NT
789 releases is code page 437. The default for western european
790 releases of the above operating systems is code page 850.
792 This parameter co-operates with the "valid chars" parameter in
793 determining what characters are valid in filenames and how
794 capitalization is done. It has been added as a convenience for
795 clients whose code page is either 437 or 850 so a convoluted
796 "valid chars" string does not have to be determined. If you
797 set both this parameter and the "valid chars" parameter the
798 "client code page" parameter MUST be set before the "valid chars"
799 in the smb.conf file. The "valid chars" string will then augment
800 the character settings in the "client code page" parameter.
802 If "client code page" is set to a value other than 850 or 437
803 it will default to 850.
805 See also : "valid chars".
809 client code page = 850
813 client code page = 437
816 This is a text field that is seen when a client does a net view to
817 list what shares are available. It will also be used when browsing is
824 comment = Fred's Files
828 This allows you to override the config file to use, instead of the
829 default (usually smb.conf). There is a chicken and egg problem here as
830 this option is set in the config file!
832 For this reason, if the name of the config file has changed when the
833 parameters are loaded then it will reload them from the new config
836 This option takes the usual substitutions, which can be very useful.
838 If the config file doesn't exist then it won't be loaded (allowing
839 you to special case the config files of just a few clients).
842 config file = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m
845 This parameter allows you to 'clone' service entries. The specified
846 service is simply duplicated under the current service's name. Any
847 parameters specified in the current section will override those in the
848 section being copied.
850 This feature lets you set up a 'template' service and create similar
851 services easily. Note that the service being copied must occur earlier
852 in the configuration file than the service doing the copying.
860 A synonym for this parameter is 'create mode'.
862 This parameter is the octal modes which are used when converting DOS modes
865 Note that Samba will or this value with 0700 as you must have at least
866 user read, write and execute for Samba to work properly.
877 The value of the parameter (a decimal integer) represents the number of
878 minutes of inactivity before a connection is considered dead, and it
879 is disconnected. The deadtime only takes effect if the number of open files
882 This is useful to stop a server's resources being exhausted by a large
883 number of inactive connections.
885 Most clients have an auto-reconnect feature when a connection is broken so
886 in most cases this parameter should be transparent to users.
888 Using this parameter with a timeout of a few minutes is recommended
891 A deadtime of zero indicates that no auto-disconnection should be performed.
899 The value of the parameter (an integer) allows the debug level
900 (logging level) to be specified in the
902 file. This is to give
903 greater flexibility in the configuration of the system.
905 The default will be the debug level specified on the command line.
914 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" Also note the addition of "short
917 .SS default service (G)
918 A synonym for this parameter is 'default'.
920 This parameter specifies the name of a service which will be connected to
921 if the service actually requested cannot be found. Note that the square
922 brackets are NOT given in the parameter value (see example below).
924 There is no default value for this parameter. If this parameter is not given,
925 attempting to connect to a nonexistent service results in an error.
927 Typically the default service would be a public, read-only service.
929 Also note that as of 1.9.14 the apparent service name will be changed to
930 equal that of the requested service, this is very useful as it allows
931 you to use macros like %S to make a wildcard service.
933 Note also that any _ characters in the name of the service used in the
934 default service will get mapped to a /. This allows for interesting
939 default service = pub
945 .SS delete readonly (S)
946 This parameter allows readonly files to be deleted. This is not normal DOS
947 semantics, but is allowed by UNIX.
949 This option may be useful for running applications such as rcs, where UNIX
950 file ownership prevents changing file permissions, and DOS semantics prevent
951 deletion of a read only file.
957 delete readonly = Yes
959 A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts deny'.
961 The opposite of 'allow hosts' - hosts listed here are NOT permitted
962 access to services unless the specific services have their own lists to
963 override this one. Where the lists conflict, the 'allow' list takes precedence.
966 none (i.e., no hosts specifically excluded)
969 deny hosts = 150.203.4. badhost.mynet.edu.au
970 .SS dfree command (G)
971 The dfree command setting should only be used on systems where a
972 problem occurs with the internal disk space calculations. This has
973 been known to happen with Ultrix, but may occur with other operating
974 systems. The symptom that was seen was an error of "Abort Retry
975 Ignore" at the end of each directory listing.
977 This setting allows the replacement of the internal routines to
978 calculate the total disk space and amount available with an external
979 routine. The example below gives a possible script that might fulfill
982 The external program will be passed a single parameter indicating a
983 directory in the filesystem being queried. This will typically consist
984 of the string "./". The script should return two integers in ascii. The
985 first should be the total disk space in blocks, and the second should
986 be the number of available blocks. An optional third return value
987 can give the block size in bytes. The default blocksize is 1024 bytes.
989 Note: Your script should NOT be setuid or setgid and should be owned by
990 (and writable only by) root!
993 By default internal routines for determining the disk capacity
994 and remaining space will be used.
997 dfree command = /usr/local/samba/bin/dfree
999 Where the script dfree (which must be made executable) could be
1003 df $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $2" "$4}'
1006 or perhaps (on Sys V)
1010 /usr/bin/df -k $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $3" "$5}'
1013 Note that you may have to replace the command names with full
1014 path names on some systems.
1019 .SS directory mask (S)
1020 A synonym for this parameter is 'directory mode'.
1022 This parameter is the octal modes which are used when converting DOS modes
1023 to UNIX modes when creating UNIX directories.
1025 Note that Samba will bit-wise 'OR' this value with 0700 as you must have at
1026 least user read, write and execute for Samba to work properly.
1029 directory mask = 0755
1032 directory mask = 0775
1033 .SS directory mode (S)
1036 .SS domain controller (G)
1038 Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the machine to refer domain
1039 logons from Win95 machines to. You should never need to set this parameter.
1044 .SS domain master (G)
1046 Enable WAN-wide browse list collation. Local master browsers on
1047 broadcast-isolated subnets will give samba their local browse lists, and
1048 ask for a complete copy of the browse list for the whole wide area network.
1049 Browser clients will then contact their local master browser, and will
1050 receive the domain-wide browse list, instead of just the list for their
1051 broadcast-isolated subnet.
1056 .SS dont descend (S)
1057 There are certain directories on some systems (eg., the /proc tree under
1058 Linux) that are either not of interest to clients or are infinitely deep
1059 (recursive). This parameter allows you to specify a comma-delimited list
1060 of directories that the server should always show as empty.
1062 Note that Samba can be very fussy about the exact format of the "dont
1063 descend" entries. For example you may need "./proc" instead of just
1064 "/proc". Experimentation is the best policy :-)
1067 none (i.e., all directories are OK to descend)
1070 dont descend = /proc,/dev
1072 .SS encrypt passwords (G)
1074 This boolean controls whether encrypted passwords will be negotiated
1075 with the client. Note that this option has no effect if you haven't
1076 compiled in the necessary des libraries and encryption code. It
1081 This is an alias for preexec
1083 .SS fake oplocks (S)
1085 Oplocks are the way that SMB clients get permission from a server to
1086 locally cache file operations. If a server grants an oplock
1087 (opportunistic lock) then the client is free to assume that it is the
1088 only one accessing the file and it will aggressively cache file
1089 data. With some oplock types the client may even cache file open/close
1090 operations. This can give enormous performance benefits.
1092 Samba does not support opportunistic locks because they are very
1093 difficult to do under Unix. Samba can fake them, however, by granting
1094 a oplock whenever a client asks for one. This is controlled using the
1095 smb.conf option "fake oplocks". If you set "fake oplocks = yes" then
1096 you are telling the client that it may aggressively cache the file
1099 By enabling this option on all read-only shares or shares that you know
1100 will only be accessed from one client at a time you will see a big
1101 performance improvement on many operations. If you enable this option
1102 on shares where multiple clients may be accessing the files read-write
1103 at the same time you can get data corruption. Use this option
1106 This option is disabled by default.
1110 This specifies a group name that all connections to this service
1111 should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files.
1117 force group = agroup
1120 This specifies a user name that all connections to this service
1121 should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files. You should
1122 also use it carefully as using it incorrectly can cause security
1125 This user name only gets used once a connection is established. Thus
1126 clients still need to connect as a valid user and supply a valid
1127 password. Once connected, all file operations will be performed as the
1128 "forced user", not matter what username the client connected as.
1137 This is a tuning option. When this is enabled a cacheing algorithm will
1138 be used to reduce the time taken for getwd() calls. This can have a
1139 significant impact on performance, especially when widelinks is False.
1148 This is an alias for "force group" and is only kept for compatibility
1149 with old versions of Samba. It may be removed in future versions.
1151 .SS guest account (S)
1152 This is a username which will be used for access to services which are
1153 specified as 'guest ok' (see below). Whatever privileges this user has
1154 will be available to any client connecting to the guest
1155 service. Typically this user will exist in the password file, but will
1156 not have a valid login. If a username is specified in a given service,
1157 the specified username overrides this one.
1159 One some systems the account "nobody" may not be able to print. Use
1160 another account in this case. You should test this by trying to log in
1161 as your guest user (perhaps by using the "su \-" command) and trying to
1165 Note that as of version 1.9 of Samba this option may be set
1166 differently for each service.
1169 specified at compile time
1172 guest account = nobody
1177 If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then only guest connections to the
1178 service are permitted. This parameter will have no affect if "guest ok" or
1179 "public" is not set for the service.
1181 See the section below on user/password validation for more information about
1189 .SS hide dot files (S)
1190 This is a boolean parameter that controls whether files starting with
1191 a dot appear as hidden files.
1194 hide dot files = yes
1199 If "nis homedir" is true, this parameter specifies the NIS (or YP) map
1200 from which the server for the user's home directory should be extracted.
1201 At present, only the Sun auto.home map format is understood. The form of
1204 username server:/some/file/system
1206 and the program will extract the servername from before the first ':'.
1207 There should probably be a better parsing system that copes with different
1208 map formats and also Amd (another automounter) maps.
1210 NB: The -DNETGROUP option is required in the Makefile for option to work
1211 and on some architectures the line -lrpcsvc needs to be added to the
1212 LIBSM variable. This is required for Solaris 2, FreeBSD and HPUX.
1214 See also "nis homedir"
1217 homedir map = auto.home
1220 homedir map = amd.homedir
1229 If this global parameter is a non-null string, it specifies the name of
1230 a file to read for the names of hosts and users who will be allowed access
1231 without specifying a password.
1233 This is not be confused with
1235 which is about hosts access to services and is more useful for guest services.
1237 may be useful for NT clients which will not supply passwords to samba.
1239 NOTE: The use of hosts.equiv can be a major security hole. This is
1240 because you are trusting the PC to supply the correct username. It is
1241 very easy to get a PC to supply a false username. I recommend that the
1242 hosts.equiv option be only used if you really know what you are doing,
1243 or perhaps on a home network where you trust your wife and kids :-)
1246 No host equivalences
1249 hosts equiv = /etc/hosts.equiv
1253 This allows you to include one config file inside another. The file is
1254 included literally, as though typed in place.
1256 It takes the standard substitutions, except %u, %P and %S
1260 This option allows you to setup multiple network interfaces, so that
1261 Samba can properly handle browsing on all interfaces.
1263 The option takes a list of ip/netmask pairs. The netmask may either be
1264 a bitmask, or a bitlength.
1266 For example, the following line:
1268 interfaces = 192.168.2.10/24 192.168.3.10/24
1270 would configure two network interfaces with IP addresses 192.168.2.10
1271 and 192.168.3.10. The netmasks of both interfaces would be set to
1274 You could produce an equivalent result by using:
1276 interfaces = 192.168.2.10/255.255.255.0 192.168.3.10/255.255.255.0
1278 if you prefer that format.
1280 If this option is not set then Samba will attempt to find a primary
1281 interface, but won't attempt to configure more than one interface.
1283 .SS invalid users (S)
1284 This is a list of users that should not be allowed to login to this
1285 service. This is really a "paranoid" check to absolutely ensure an
1286 improper setting does not breach your security.
1288 A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group.
1290 The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the
1293 See also "valid users"
1299 invalid users = root fred admin @wheel
1302 The value of the parameter (an integer) represents the number of seconds
1303 between 'keepalive' packets. If this parameter is zero, no keepalive packets
1304 will be sent. Keepalive packets, if sent, allow the server to tell whether a
1305 client is still present and responding.
1307 Keepalives should, in general, not be needed if the socket being used
1308 has the SO_KEEPALIVE attribute set on it (see "socket
1309 options"). Basically you should only use this option if you strike
1317 .SS load printers (G)
1318 A boolean variable that controls whether all printers in the printcap
1319 will be loaded for browsing by default.
1327 .SS local master (G)
1328 This option allows the nmbd to become a local master browser on a
1329 subnet. If set to False then nmbd will not attempt to become a local
1330 master browser on a subnet and will also lose in all browsing elections.
1331 By default this value is set to true. Setting this value to true doesn't
1332 mean that Samba will become the local master browser on a subnet, just
1333 that the nmbd will participate in elections for local master browser.
1338 .SS lock directory (G)
1339 This option specifies the directory where lock files will be placed.
1340 The lock files are used to implement the "max connections" option.
1343 lock directory = /tmp/samba
1346 lock directory = /usr/local/samba/var/locks
1348 This controls whether or not locking will be performed by the server in
1349 response to lock requests from the client.
1351 If "locking = no", all lock and unlock requests will appear to succeed and
1352 all lock queries will indicate that the queried lock is clear.
1354 If "locking = yes", real locking will be performed by the server.
1356 This option may be particularly useful for read-only filesystems which
1357 do not need locking (such as cdrom drives).
1359 Be careful about disabling locking either globally or in a specific
1360 service, as lack of locking may result in data corruption.
1370 This options allows you to override the name of the Samba log file
1371 (also known as the debug file).
1373 This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have
1374 separate log files for each user or machine.
1377 log file = /usr/local/samba/var/log.%m
1384 This parameter specifies the home directory where roaming profiles
1385 (USER.DAT / USER.MAN files) are stored.
1387 This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have
1388 separate logon scripts for each user or machine. It also specifies
1389 the directory from which the "desktop", "start menu", "nethood" and
1390 "programs" folders, and their contents, are loaded and displayed
1391 on your Windows 95 client.
1393 The share and the path must be readable by the user for the preferences
1394 and directories to be loaded onto the Windows 95 client. The share
1395 must be writeable when the logs in for the first time, in order that
1396 the Windows 95 client can create the user.dat and other directories.
1398 Thereafter, the directories and any of contents can, if required,
1399 be made read-only. It is not adviseable that the USER.DAT file be made
1400 read-only - rename it to USER.MAN to achieve the desired effect
1401 (a MANdatory profile).
1404 logon path = \\\\%L\\%U
1407 logon path = \\\\PROFILESERVER\\HOME_DIR\\%U
1409 .SS logon script (G)
1411 This parameter specifies the batch file (.bat) or NT command file (.cmd)
1412 to be downloaded and run on a machine when a user successfully logs in.
1413 The file must contain the DOS style cr/lf line endings. Using a DOS-style
1414 editor to create the file is recommended.
1416 The script must be a relative path to the [netlogon] service. If the
1417 [netlogon] service specifies a path of /usr/local/samba/netlogon, and
1418 logon script = STARTUP.BAT, then file that will be downloaded is:
1420 .B /usr/local/samba/netlogon/STARTUP.BAT
1422 The contents of the batch file is entirely your choice. A suggested
1423 command would be to add NET TIME \\\\SERVER /SET /YES, to force every
1424 machine to synchronise clocks with the same time server. Another use
1425 would be to add NET USE U: \\\\SERVER\\UTILS for commonly used utilities,
1426 or NET USE Q: \\\\SERVER\\ISO9001_QA.
1428 Note that it is particularly important not to allow write access to
1429 the [netlogon] share, or to grant users write permission on the
1430 batch files in a secure environment, as this would allow the batch
1431 files to be arbitrarily modified.
1434 This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have
1435 separate logon scripts for each user or machine.
1438 logon script = scripts/%U.bat
1440 .SS lppause command (S)
1441 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1442 order to stop printing or spooling a specific print job.
1444 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and
1445 job number to pause the print job. Currently I don't know of any print
1446 spooler system that can do this with a simple option, except for the PPR
1447 system from Trinity College (ppr\-dist.trincoll.edu/pub/ppr). One way
1448 of implementing this is by using job priorities, where jobs having a too
1449 low priority won't be sent to the printer. See also the
1453 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1454 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1455 On HPUX (see printing=hpux), if the -p%p option is added to the lpq
1456 command, the job will show up with the correct status, i.e. if the job
1457 priority is lower than the set fence priority it will have the PAUSED
1458 status, whereas if the priority is equal or higher it will have the
1459 SPOOLED or PRINTING status.
1461 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lppause
1462 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1465 Currently no default value is given to this string
1467 .B Example for HPUX:
1468 lppause command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p0
1470 .SS lpq cache time (G)
1472 This controls how long lpq info will be cached for to prevent the lpq
1473 command being called too often. A separate cache is kept for each
1474 variation of the lpq command used by the system, so if you use
1475 different lpq commands for different users then they won't share cache
1478 The cache files are stored in /tmp/lpq.xxxx where xxxx is a hash
1479 of the lpq command in use.
1481 The default is 10 seconds, meaning that the cached results of a
1482 previous identical lpq command will be used if the cached data is less
1483 than 10 seconds old. A large value may be advisable if your lpq
1484 command is very slow.
1486 A value of 0 will disable cacheing completely.
1495 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1496 order to obtain "lpq"-style printer status information.
1498 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name
1499 as its only parameter and outputs printer status information.
1501 Currently six styles of printer status information are supported; BSD,
1502 SYSV, AIX, HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You
1503 control which type is expected using the "printing =" option.
1505 Some clients (notably Windows for Workgroups) may not correctly send the
1506 connection number for the printer they are requesting status information
1507 about. To get around this, the server reports on the first printer service
1508 connected to by the client. This only happens if the connection number sent
1511 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. Otherwise
1512 it is placed at the end of the command.
1514 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpq
1515 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1518 depends on the setting of "printing ="
1521 lpq command = /usr/bin/lpq %p
1523 .SS lpresume command (S)
1524 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1525 order to restart or continue printing or spooling a specific print job.
1527 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and
1528 job number to resume the print job. See also the lppause command.
1530 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1531 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1533 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpresume
1534 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1537 Currently no default value is given to this string
1539 .B Example for HPUX:
1540 lpresume command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p2
1542 .SS lprm command (S)
1543 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1544 order to delete a print job.
1546 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name
1547 and job number, and deletes the print job.
1549 Currently seven styles of printer control are supported; BSD, SYSV, AIX
1550 HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You control
1551 which type is expected using the "printing =" option.
1553 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1554 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1556 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lprm
1557 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1560 depends on the setting of "printing ="
1563 lprm command = /usr/bin/lprm -P%p %j
1566 lprm command = /usr/bin/cancel %p-%j
1568 .SS magic output (S)
1569 This parameter specifies the name of a file which will contain output
1570 created by a magic script (see
1574 Warning: If two clients use the same magic script in the same directory the
1575 output file content is undefined.
1577 magic output = <magic script name>.out
1580 magic output = myfile.txt
1581 .SS magic script (S)
1582 This parameter specifies the name of a file which, if opened, will be
1583 executed by the server when the file is closed. This allows a UNIX script
1584 to be sent to the Samba host and executed on behalf of the connected user.
1586 Scripts executed in this way will be deleted upon completion, permissions
1589 If the script generates output, output will be sent to the file specified by
1592 parameter (see above).
1594 Note that some shells are unable to interpret scripts containing
1595 carriage-return-linefeed instead of linefeed as the end-of-line
1596 marker. Magic scripts must be executable "as is" on the host, which
1597 for some hosts and some shells will require filtering at the DOS end.
1599 Magic scripts are EXPERIMENTAL and should NOT be relied upon.
1602 None. Magic scripts disabled.
1605 magic script = user.csh
1609 See the section on "NAME MANGLING"
1612 This is for those who want to directly map UNIX file names which are
1613 not representable on DOS. The mangling of names is not always what is
1614 needed. In particular you may have documents with file extensions
1615 that differ between DOS and UNIX. For example, under UNIX it is common
1616 to use .html for HTML files, whereas under DOS .htm is more commonly
1619 So to map 'html' to 'htm' you put:
1621 mangled map = (*.html *.htm)
1623 One very useful case is to remove the annoying ;1 off the ends of
1624 filenames on some CDROMS (only visible under some UNIXes). To do this
1625 use a map of (*;1 *)
1631 mangled map = (*;1 *)
1633 .SS mangled names (S)
1634 This controls whether non-DOS names under UNIX should be mapped to
1635 DOS-compatible names ("mangled") and made visible, or whether non-DOS names
1636 should simply be ignored.
1638 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for details on how to control the
1641 If mangling is used then the mangling algorithm is as follows:
1643 - the first (up to) five alphanumeric characters before the rightmost dot of
1644 the filename are preserved, forced to upper case, and appear as the first (up
1645 to) five characters of the mangled name.
1647 - a tilde ("~") is appended to the first part of the mangled name, followed
1648 by a two-character unique sequence, based on the original root name
1649 (i.e., the original filename minus its final extension). The final
1650 extension is included in the hash calculation only if it contains any upper
1651 case characters or is longer than three characters.
1653 Note that the character to use may be specified using the "mangling
1654 char" option, if you don't like ~.
1656 - the first three alphanumeric characters of the final extension are preserved,
1657 forced to upper case and appear as the extension of the mangled name. The
1658 final extension is defined as that part of the original filename after the
1659 rightmost dot. If there are no dots in the filename, the mangled name will
1660 have no extension (except in the case of hidden files - see below).
1662 - files whose UNIX name begins with a dot will be presented as DOS hidden
1663 files. The mangled name will be created as for other filenames, but with the
1664 leading dot removed and "___" as its extension regardless of actual original
1665 extension (that's three underscores).
1668 The two-digit hash value consists of upper case alphanumeric characters.
1670 This algorithm can cause name collisions only if files in a directory share
1671 the same first five alphanumeric characters. The probability of such a clash
1674 The name mangling (if enabled) allows a file to be copied between UNIX
1675 directories from DOS while retaining the long UNIX filename. UNIX files can
1676 be renamed to a new extension from DOS and will retain the same basename.
1677 Mangled names do not change between sessions.
1684 .SS mangling char (S)
1685 This controls what character is used as the "magic" character in name
1686 mangling. The default is a ~ but this may interfere with some
1687 software. Use this option to set it to whatever you prefer.
1695 .SS mangled stack (G)
1696 This parameter controls the number of mangled names that should be cached in
1699 This stack is a list of recently mangled base names (extensions are only
1700 maintained if they are longer than 3 characters or contains upper case
1703 The larger this value, the more likely it is that mangled names can be
1704 successfully converted to correct long UNIX names. However, large stack
1705 sizes will slow most directory access. Smaller stacks save memory in the
1706 server (each stack element costs 256 bytes).
1708 It is not possible to absolutely guarantee correct long file names, so
1709 be prepared for some surprises!
1718 This controls whether the DOS archive attribute should be mapped to UNIX
1719 execute bits. The DOS archive bit is set when a file has been modified
1720 since its last backup. One motivation for this option it to keep Samba/your
1721 PC from making any file it touches from becoming executable under UNIX.
1722 This can be quite annoying for shared source code, documents, etc...
1731 This controls whether DOS style hidden files should be mapped to UNIX
1740 This controls whether DOS style system files should be mapped to UNIX
1748 .SS max connections (S)
1749 This option allows the number of simultaneous connections to a
1750 service to be limited. If "max connections" is greater than 0 then
1751 connections will be refused if this number of connections to the
1752 service are already open. A value of zero mean an unlimited number of
1753 connections may be made.
1755 Record lock files are used to implement this feature. The lock files
1756 will be stored in the directory specified by the "lock directory" option.
1762 max connections = 10
1764 .SS max disk size (G)
1765 This option allows you to put an upper limit on the apparent size of
1766 disks. If you set this option to 100 then all shares will appear to be
1767 not larger than 100 MB in size.
1769 Note that this option does not limit the amount of data you can put on
1770 the disk. In the above case you could still store much more than 100
1771 MB on the disk, but if a client ever asks for the amount of free disk
1772 space or the total disk size then the result will be bounded by the
1773 amount specified in "max disk size".
1775 This option is primarily useful to work around bugs in some pieces of
1776 software that can't handle very large disks, particularly disks over
1779 A "max disk size" of 0 means no limit.
1785 max disk size = 1000
1787 .SS max log size (G)
1789 This option (an integer in kilobytes) specifies the max size the log
1790 file should grow to. Samba periodically checks the size and if it is
1791 exceeded it will rename the file, adding a .old extension.
1793 A size of 0 means no limit.
1803 This option controls the maximum number of simultaneous reads that
1804 samba tells the client it will allow. You should never need to set this
1812 A synonym for this parameter is 'packet size'.
1816 This option tells nmbd what the default 'time to live' of NetBIOS
1817 names should be (in seconds). You should never need to change this parameter.
1823 This option controls the maximum packet size that will be negotiated
1824 by Samba. The default is 65535, which is the maximum. In some cases
1825 you may find you get better performance with a smaller value. A value
1826 below 2048 is likely to cause problems.
1834 .SS message command (G)
1836 This specifies what command to run when the server receives a WinPopup
1839 This would normally be a command that would deliver the message
1840 somehow. How this is to be done is up to your imagination.
1844 message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' &
1846 This delivers the message using xedit, then removes it
1847 afterwards. NOTE THAT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS COMMAND RETURN
1848 IMMEDIATELY. That's why I have the & on the end. If it doesn't return
1849 immediately then your PCs may freeze when sending messages (they
1850 should recover after 30secs, hopefully).
1852 All messages are delivered as the global guest user. The command takes
1853 the standard substitutions, although %u won't work (%U may be better
1856 Apart from the standard substitutions, some additional ones apply. In
1859 %s = the filename containing the message
1861 %t = the destination that the message was sent to (probably the server
1864 %f = who the message is from
1866 You could make this command send mail, or whatever else takes your
1867 fancy. Please let me know of any really interesting ideas you have.
1869 Here's a way of sending the messages as mail to root:
1871 message command = /bin/mail -s 'message from %f on %m' root < %s; rm %s
1873 If you don't have a message command then the message won't be
1874 delivered and Samba will tell the sender there was an
1875 error. Unfortunately WfWg totally ignores the error code and carries
1876 on regardless, saying that the message was delivered.
1878 If you want to silently delete it then try "message command = rm %s".
1880 For the really adventurous, try something like this:
1882 message command = csh -c 'csh < %s |& /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient \e
1885 this would execute the command as a script on the server, then give
1886 them the result in a WinPopup message. Note that this could cause a
1887 loop if you send a message from the server using smbclient! You better
1888 wrap the above in a script that checks for this :-)
1894 message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' &
1896 .SS min print space (S)
1898 This sets the minimum amount of free disk space that must be available
1899 before a user will be able to spool a print job. It is specified in
1900 kilobytes. The default is 0, which means no limit.
1906 min print space = 2000
1908 .SS netbios name (G)
1910 This sets the NetBIOS name by which a Samba server is known. By
1911 default it is the same as the first component of the host's DNS name.
1914 Get the home share server from a NIS (or YP) map. For unix systems that
1915 use an automounter, the user's home directory will often be mounted on
1916 a workstation on demand from a remote server. When the Samba logon server
1917 is not the actual home directory server, two network hops are required
1918 to access the home directory and this can be very slow especially with
1919 writing via Samba to an NFS mounted directory. This option allows samba
1920 to return the home share as being on a different server to the logon
1921 server and as long as a samba daemon is running on the home directory
1922 server, it will be mounted on the Samba client directly from the directory
1923 server. When Samba is returning the home share to the client, it will
1924 consult the NIS (or YP) map specified in "homedir map" and return the
1925 server listed there.
1933 .SS null passwords (G)
1934 Allow or disallow access to accounts that have null passwords.
1940 null passwords = yes
1943 A synonym for this command is 'guest only'.
1946 This is a boolean option that controls whether connections with
1947 usernames not in the user= list will be allowed. By default this
1948 option is disabled so a client can supply a username to be used by
1951 Note that this also means Samba won't try to deduce usernames from the
1952 service name. This can be annoying for the [homes] section. To get
1953 around this you could use "user = %S" which means your "user" list
1954 will be just the service name, which for home directories is the name
1964 This integer value controls what level Samba advertises itself as for
1965 browse elections. See BROWSING.txt for details.
1968 The maximum transmit packet size during a raw read. This option is no
1969 longer implemented as of version 1.7.00, and is kept only so old
1970 configuration files do not become invalid.
1973 This string controls the "chat" conversation that takes places
1974 between smbd and the local password changing program to change the
1975 users password. The string describes a sequence of response-receive
1976 pairs that smbd uses to determine what to send to the passwd program
1977 and what to expect back. If the expected output is not received then
1978 the password is not changed.
1980 This chat sequence is often quite site specific, depending on what
1981 local methods are used for password control (such as NIS+ etc).
1983 The string can contain the macros %o and %n which are substituted for
1984 the old and new passwords respectively. It can also contain the
1985 standard macros \en \er \et and \es to give line-feed, carriage-return,
1988 The string can also contain a * which matches any sequence of
1991 Double quotes can be used to collect strings with spaces in them into
1994 If the send string in any part of the chat sequence is a fullstop "."
1995 then no string is sent. Similarly, is the expect string is a fullstop
1996 then no string is expected.
1999 passwd chat = "*Enter OLD password*" %o\en "*Enter NEW password*" %n\en \e
2000 "*Reenter NEW password*" %n\en "*Password changed*"
2004 passwd chat = *old*password* %o\en *new*password* %n\en *new*password* %n\en *changed*
2006 .SS passwd program (G)
2007 The name of a program that can be used to set user passwords.
2009 This is only necessary if you have enabled remote password changing at
2010 compile time. Any occurrences of %u will be replaced with the user
2013 Also note that many passwd programs insist in "reasonable" passwords,
2014 such as a minimum length, or the inclusion of mixed case chars and
2015 digits. This can pose a problem as some clients (such as Windows for
2016 Workgroups) uppercase the password before sending it.
2019 passwd program = /bin/passwd
2022 passwd program = /sbin/passwd %u
2024 .SS password level (G)
2025 Some client/server combinations have difficulty with mixed-case passwords.
2026 One offending client is Windows for Workgroups, which for some reason forces
2027 passwords to upper case when using the LANMAN1 protocol, but leaves them alone
2028 when using COREPLUS!
2030 This parameter defines the maximum number of characters that may be upper case
2033 For example, say the password given was "FRED". If
2035 is set to 1 (one), the following combinations would be tried if "FRED" failed:
2036 "Fred", "fred", "fRed", "frEd", "freD". If
2037 .B password level was set to 2 (two), the following combinations would also be
2038 tried: "FRed", "FrEd", "FreD", "fREd", "fReD", "frED". And so on.
2040 The higher value this parameter is set to the more likely it is that a mixed
2041 case password will be matched against a single case password. However, you
2042 should be aware that use of this parameter reduces security and increases the
2043 time taken to process a new connection.
2045 A value of zero will cause only two attempts to be made - the password as is
2046 and the password in all-lower case.
2048 If you find the connections are taking too long with this option then
2049 you probably have a slow crypt() routine. Samba now comes with a fast
2050 "ufc crypt" that you can select in the Makefile. You should also make
2051 sure the PASSWORD_LENGTH option is correct for your system in local.h
2052 and includes.h. On most systems only the first 8 chars of a password
2053 are significant so PASSWORD_LENGTH should be 8, but on some longer
2054 passwords are significant. The includes.h file tries to select the
2055 right length for your system.
2063 .SS password server (G)
2065 By specifying the name of another SMB server (such as a WinNT box)
2066 with this option, and using "security = server" you can get Samba to
2067 do all its username/password validation via a remote server.
2069 This options sets the name of the password server to use. It must be a
2070 netbios name, so if the machine's netbios name is different from its
2071 internet name then you may have to add its netbios name to
2074 The password server much be a machine capable of using the "LM1.2X002"
2075 or the "LM NT 0.12" protocol, and it must be in user level security
2078 NOTE: Using a password server means your UNIX box (running Samba) is
2079 only as secure as your password server. DO NOT CHOOSE A PASSWORD
2080 SERVER THAT YOU DON'T COMPLETELY TRUST.
2082 Never point a Samba server at itself for password serving. This will
2083 cause a loop and could lock up your Samba server!
2085 The name of the password server takes the standard substitutions, but
2086 probably the only useful one is %m, which means the Samba server will
2087 use the incoming client as the password server. If you use this then
2088 you better trust your clients, and you better restrict them with hosts
2091 If you list several hosts in the "password server" option then smbd
2092 will try each in turn till it finds one that responds. This is useful
2093 in case your primary server goes down.
2096 A synonym for this parameter is 'directory'.
2098 This parameter specifies a directory to which the user of the service is to
2099 be given access. In the case of printable services, this is where print data
2100 will spool prior to being submitted to the host for printing.
2102 For a printable service offering guest access, the service should be readonly
2103 and the path should be world-writable and have the sticky bit set. This is not
2104 mandatory of course, but you probably won't get the results you expect if you
2107 Any occurrences of %u in the path will be replaced with the username
2108 that the client is connecting as. Any occurrences of %m will be
2109 replaced by the name of the machine they are connecting from. These
2110 replacements are very useful for setting up pseudo home directories
2113 Note that this path will be based on 'root dir' if one was specified.
2122 This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is
2123 disconnected. It takes the usual substitutions. The command may be run
2124 as the root on some systems.
2126 An interesting example may be do unmount server resources:
2128 postexec = /etc/umount /cdrom
2133 none (no command executed)
2136 postexec = echo \e"%u disconnected from %S from %m (%I)\e" >> /tmp/log
2139 This parameter forces a printer to interpret the print files as
2140 postscript. This is done by adding a %! to the start of print output.
2142 This is most useful when you have lots of PCs that persist in putting
2143 a control-D at the start of print jobs, which then confuses your
2154 This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is
2155 connected to. It takes the usual substitutions.
2157 An interesting example is to send the users a welcome message every
2158 time they log in. Maybe a message of the day? Here is an example:
2160 preexec = csh -c 'echo \e"Welcome to %S!\e" | \e
2161 /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient -M %m -I %I' &
2163 Of course, this could get annoying after a while :-)
2168 none (no command executed)
2171 preexec = echo \e"%u connected to %S from %m (%I)\e" >> /tmp/log
2173 .SS preferred master (G)
2174 This boolean parameter controls if Samba is a preferred master browser
2176 If this is set to true, on startup, samba will force an election,
2177 and it will have a slight advantage in winning the election.
2178 It is recommended that this parameter is used in conjunction
2179 with domain master = yes, so that samba can guarantee becoming
2182 Use this option with caution, because if there are several hosts
2183 (whether samba servers, Windows 95 or NT) that are preferred master
2184 browsers on the same subnet, they will each periodically and continuously
2185 attempt to become the local master browser. This will result in
2186 unnecessary broadcast traffic and reduced browsing capabilities.
2192 preferred master = no
2195 This is an alias for "auto services"
2197 .SS preserve case (S)
2199 This controls if new filenames are created with the case that the
2200 client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case.
2205 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.
2207 .SS print command (S)
2208 After a print job has finished spooling to a service, this command will be
2209 used via a system() call to process the spool file. Typically the command
2210 specified will submit the spool file to the host's printing subsystem, but
2211 there is no requirement that this be the case. The server will not remove the
2212 spool file, so whatever command you specify should remove the spool file when
2213 it has been processed, otherwise you will need to manually remove old spool
2216 The print command is simply a text string. It will be used verbatim,
2217 with two exceptions: All occurrences of "%s" will be replaced by the
2218 appropriate spool file name, and all occurrences of "%p" will be
2219 replaced by the appropriate printer name. The spool file name is
2220 generated automatically by the server, the printer name is discussed
2223 The full path name will be used for the filename if %s is not preceded
2224 by a /. If you don't like this (it can stuff up some lpq output) then
2225 use %f instead. Any occurrences of %f get replaced by the spool
2226 filename without the full path at the front.
2228 The print command MUST contain at least one occurrence of "%s" or %f -
2229 the "%p" is optional. At the time a job is submitted, if no printer
2230 name is supplied the "%p" will be silently removed from the printer
2233 If specified in the [global] section, the print command given will be used
2234 for any printable service that does not have its own print command specified.
2236 If there is neither a specified print command for a printable service nor a
2237 global print command, spool files will be created but not processed and (most
2238 importantly) not removed.
2240 Note that printing may fail on some UNIXes from the "nobody"
2241 account. If this happens then create an alternative guest account that
2242 can print and set the "guest account" in the [global] section.
2244 You can form quite complex print commands by realising that they are
2245 just passed to a shell. For example the following will log a print
2246 job, print the file, then remove it. Note that ; is the usual
2247 separator for command in shell scripts.
2249 print command = echo Printing %s >> /tmp/print.log; lpr -P %p %s; rm %s
2251 You may have to vary this command considerably depending on how you
2252 normally print files on your system.
2255 print command = lpr -r -P %p %s
2258 print command = /usr/local/samba/bin/myprintscript %p %s
2263 A synonym for this parameter is 'print ok'.
2265 If this parameter is 'yes', then clients may open, write to and submit spool
2266 files on the directory specified for the service.
2268 Note that a printable service will ALWAYS allow writing to the service path
2269 (user privileges permitting) via the spooling of print data. The 'read only'
2270 parameter controls only non-printing access to the resource.
2278 .SS printcap name (G)
2279 This parameter may be used to override the compiled-in default printcap
2280 name used by the server (usually /etc/printcap). See the discussion of the
2281 [printers] section above for reasons why you might want to do this.
2283 For those of you without a printcap (say on SysV) you can just create a
2284 minimal file that looks like a printcap and set "printcap name =" in
2285 [global] to point at it.
2287 A minimal printcap file would look something like this:
2299 where the | separates aliases of a printer. The fact that the second
2300 alias has a space in it gives a hint to Samba that it's a comment.
2302 NOTE: Under AIX the default printcap name is "/etc/qconfig". Samba
2303 will assume the file is in AIX "qconfig" format if the string
2304 "/qconfig" appears in the printcap filename.
2307 printcap name = /etc/printcap
2310 printcap name = /etc/myprintcap
2312 A synonym for this parameter is 'printer name'.
2314 This parameter specifies the name of the printer to which print jobs spooled
2315 through a printable service will be sent.
2317 If specified in the [global] section, the printer name given will be used
2318 for any printable service that does not have its own printer name specified.
2321 none (but may be 'lp' on many systems)
2324 printer name = laserwriter
2326 .SS printer driver (S)
2327 This option allows you to control the string that clients receive when
2328 they ask the server for the printer driver associated with a
2329 printer. If you are using Windows95 or WindowsNT then you can use this
2330 to automate the setup of printers on your system.
2332 You need to set this parameter to the exact string (case sensitive)
2333 that describes the appropriate printer driver for your system.
2334 If you don't know the exact string to use then you should first try
2335 with no "printer driver" option set and the client will give you a
2336 list of printer drivers. The appropriate strings are shown in a
2337 scrollbox after you have chosen the printer manufacturer.
2340 printer driver = HP LaserJet 4L
2342 .SS printer name (S)
2347 This parameters controls how printer status information is interpreted
2348 on your system, and also affects the default values for the "print
2349 command", "lpq command" and "lprm command".
2351 Currently six printing styles are supported. They are "printing =
2352 bsd", "printing = sysv", "printing = hpux", "printing = aix",
2353 "printing = qnx" and "printing = plp".
2355 To see what the defaults are for the other print commands when using
2356 these three options use the "testparm" program.
2360 The value of the parameter (a string) is the highest protocol level that will
2361 be supported by the server.
2363 Possible values are CORE, COREPLUS, LANMAN1, LANMAN2 and NT1. The relative
2364 merits of each are discussed in the README file.
2366 Normally this option should not be set as the automatic negotiation
2367 phase in the SMB protocol takes care of choosing the appropriate protocol.
2375 A synonym for this parameter is 'guest ok'.
2377 If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then no password is required
2378 to connect to the service. Privileges will be those of the guest
2381 See the section below on user/password validation for more information about
2390 This is a list of users that are given read-only access to a
2391 service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will
2392 not be given write access, no matter what the "read only" option
2393 is set to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax.
2395 See also the "write list" option
2401 read list = mary, @students
2408 Note that this is an inverted synonym for writable and write ok.
2409 .SS read prediction (G)
2410 This options enables or disables the read prediction code used to
2411 speed up reads from the server. When enabled the server will try to
2412 pre-read data from the last accessed file that was opened read-only
2413 while waiting for packets.
2416 read prediction = False
2419 read prediction = True
2421 This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw reads when
2422 transferring data to clients.
2424 If enabled, raw reads allow reads of 65535 bytes in one packet. This
2425 typically provides a major performance benefit.
2427 However, some clients either negotiate the allowable block size incorrectly
2428 or are incapable of supporting larger block sizes, and for these clients you
2429 may need to disable raw reads.
2431 In general this parameter should be viewed as a system tuning tool and left
2432 severely alone. See also
2442 The option "read size" affects the overlap of disk reads/writes with
2443 network reads/writes. If the amount of data being transferred in
2444 several of the SMB commands (currently SMBwrite, SMBwriteX and
2445 SMBreadbraw) is larger than this value then the server begins writing
2446 the data before it has received the whole packet from the network, or
2447 in the case of SMBreadbraw, it begins writing to the network before
2448 all the data has been read from disk.
2450 This overlapping works best when the speeds of disk and network access
2451 are similar, having very little effect when the speed of one is much
2452 greater than the other.
2454 The default value is 2048, but very little experimentation has been
2455 done yet to determine the optimal value, and it is likely that the best
2456 value will vary greatly between systems anyway. A value over 65536 is
2457 pointless and will cause you to allocate memory unnecessarily.
2465 .SS remote announce (G)
2467 This option allows you to setup nmbd to periodically announce itself
2468 to arbitrary IP addresses with an arbitrary workgroup name.
2470 This is useful if you want your Samba server to appear in a remote
2471 workgroup for which the normal browse propagation rules don't
2472 work. The remote workgroup can be anywhere that you can send IP
2477 remote announce = 192.168.2.255/SERVERS 192.168.4.255/STAFF
2479 the above line would cause nmbd to announce itself to the two given IP
2480 addresses using the given workgroup names. If you leave out the
2481 workgroup name then the one given in the "workgroup" option is used
2484 The IP addresses you choose would normally be the broadcast addresses
2485 of the remote networks, but can also be the IP addresses of known
2486 browse masters if your network config is that stable.
2488 This option replaces similar functionality from the nmbd lmhosts file.
2492 This options controls whether Samba will allow a previously validated
2493 username/password pair to be used to attach to a share. Thus if you
2494 connect to \e\eserver\eshare1 then to \e\eserver\eshare2 it won't
2495 automatically allow the client to request connection to the second
2496 share as the same username as the first without a password.
2498 If "revalidate" is True then the client will be denied automatic
2499 access as the same username.
2513 .SS root directory (G)
2514 Synonyms for this parameter are 'root dir' and 'root'.
2516 The server will chroot() to this directory on startup. This is not
2517 strictly necessary for secure operation. Even without it the server
2518 will deny access to files not in one of the service entries. It may
2519 also check for, and deny access to, soft links to other parts of the
2520 filesystem, or attempts to use .. in file names to access other
2521 directories (depending on the setting of the "wide links" parameter).
2523 Adding a "root dir" entry other than "/" adds an extra level of security,
2524 but at a price. It absolutely ensures that no access is given to files not
2525 in the sub-tree specified in the "root dir" option, *including* some files
2526 needed for complete operation of the server. To maintain full operability
2527 of the server you will need to mirror some system files into the "root dir"
2528 tree. In particular you will need to mirror /etc/passwd (or a subset of it),
2529 and any binaries or configuration files needed for printing (if required).
2530 The set of files that must be mirrored is operating system dependent.
2536 root directory = /homes/smb
2537 .SS root postexec (S)
2539 This is the same as postexec except that the command is run as
2540 root. This is useful for unmounting filesystems (such as cdroms) after
2541 a connection is closed.
2543 .SS root preexec (S)
2545 This is the same as preexec except that the command is run as
2546 root. This is useful for mounting filesystems (such as cdroms) before
2547 a connection is finalised.
2550 This option affects how clients respond to Samba.
2552 The option sets the "security mode bit" in replies to protocol negotiations
2553 to turn share level security on or off. Clients decide based on this bit
2554 whether (and how) to transfer user and password information to the server.
2556 The default is "security=SHARE", mainly because that was the only
2557 option at one stage.
2559 The alternatives are "security = user" or "security = server".
2561 If your PCs use usernames that are the same as their usernames on the
2562 UNIX machine then you will want to use "security = user". If you
2563 mostly use usernames that don't exist on the UNIX box then use
2566 There is a bug in WfWg that may affect your decision. When in user
2567 level security a WfWg client will totally ignore the password you type
2568 in the "connect drive" dialog box. This makes it very difficult (if
2569 not impossible) to connect to a Samba service as anyone except the
2570 user that you are logged into WfWg as.
2572 If you use "security = server" then Samba will try to validate the
2573 username/password by passing it to another SMB server, such as an NT
2574 box. If this fails it will revert to "security = USER".
2576 See the "password server" option for more details.
2583 .SS server string (G)
2584 This controls what string will show up in the printer comment box in
2585 print manager and next to the IPC connection in "net view". It can be
2586 any string that you wish to show to your users.
2588 It also sets what will appear in browse lists next to the machine name.
2590 A %v will be replaced with the Samba version number.
2592 A %h will be replaced with the hostname.
2595 server string = Samba %v
2598 server string = University of GNUs Samba Server
2600 .SS set directory (S)
2601 If 'set directory = no', then users of the service may not use the setdir
2602 command to change directory.
2604 The setdir command is only implemented in the Digital Pathworks client. See the
2605 Pathworks documentation for details.
2613 .SS shared file entries (G)
2614 This parameter is only useful when Samba has been compiled with FAST_SHARE_MODES.
2615 It specifies the number of hash bucket entries used for share file locking.
2616 You should never change this parameter unless you have studied the source
2617 and know what you are doing.
2620 shared file entries = 113
2622 .SS shared mem size (G)
2623 This parameter is only useful when Samba has been compiled with FAST_SHARE_MODES.
2624 It specifies the size of the shared memory (in bytes) to use between smbd
2625 processes. You should never change this parameter unless you have studied
2626 the source and know what you are doing.
2629 shared mem size = 102400
2631 .SS smb passwd file (G)
2632 This option sets the path to the encrypted smbpasswd file. This is a *VERY
2633 DANGEROUS OPTION* if the smb.conf is user writable. By default the path
2634 to the smbpasswd file is compiled into Samba.
2637 This sets the full path to the smbrun binary. This defaults to the
2638 value in the Makefile.
2640 You must get this path right for many services to work correctly.
2646 smbrun = /usr/local/samba/bin/smbrun
2650 This enables or disables the honouring of the "share modes" during a
2651 file open. These modes are used by clients to gain exclusive read or
2652 write access to a file.
2654 These open modes are not directly supported by UNIX, so they are
2655 simulated using lock files in the "lock directory". The "lock
2656 directory" specified in smb.conf must be readable by all users.
2658 The share modes that are enabled by this option are DENY_DOS,
2659 DENY_ALL, DENY_READ, DENY_WRITE, DENY_NONE and DENY_FCB.
2661 Enabling this option gives full share compatibility but may cost a bit
2662 of processing time on the UNIX server. They are enabled by default.
2670 .SS short preserve case (S)
2672 This controls if new short filenames are created with the case that
2673 the client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case.
2676 short preserve case = no
2678 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.
2680 .SS socket address (G)
2682 This option allows you to control what address Samba will listen for
2683 connections on. This is used to support multiple virtual interfaces on
2684 the one server, each with a different configuration.
2686 By default samba will accept connections on any address.
2689 socket address = 192.168.2.20
2691 .SS socket options (G)
2692 This option (which can also be invoked with the -O command line
2693 option) allows you to set socket options to be used when talking with
2696 Socket options are controls on the networking layer of the operating
2697 systems which allow the connection to be tuned.
2699 This option will typically be used to tune your Samba server for
2700 optimal performance for your local network. There is no way that Samba
2701 can know what the optimal parameters are for your net, so you must
2702 experiment and choose them yourself. I strongly suggest you read the
2703 appropriate documentation for your operating system first (perhaps
2704 "man setsockopt" will help).
2706 You may find that on some systems Samba will say "Unknown socket
2707 option" when you supply an option. This means you either mis-typed it
2708 or you need to add an include file to includes.h for your OS. If the
2709 latter is the case please send the patch to me
2710 (samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au).
2712 Any of the supported socket options may be combined in any way you
2713 like, as long as your OS allows it.
2715 This is the list of socket options currently settable using this
2738 Those marked with a * take an integer argument. The others can
2739 optionally take a 1 or 0 argument to enable or disable the option, by
2740 default they will be enabled if you don't specify 1 or 0.
2742 To specify an argument use the syntax SOME_OPTION=VALUE for example
2743 SO_SNDBUF=8192. Note that you must not have any spaces before or after
2746 If you are on a local network then a sensible option might be
2748 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY
2750 If you have an almost unloaded local network and you don't mind a lot
2751 of extra CPU usage in the server then you could try
2753 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY
2755 If you are on a wide area network then perhaps try setting
2758 Note that several of the options may cause your Samba server to fail
2759 completely. Use these options with caution!
2765 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY
2771 This enables or disables logging of connections to a status file that
2777 won't be able to tell you what
2778 connections are active.
2786 .SS strict locking (S)
2787 This is a boolean that controls the handling of file locking in the
2788 server. When this is set to yes the server will check every read and
2789 write access for file locks, and deny access if locks exist. This can
2790 be slow on some systems.
2792 When strict locking is "no" the server does file lock checks only when
2793 the client explicitly asks for them.
2795 Well behaved clients always ask for lock checks when it is important,
2796 so in the vast majority of cases "strict locking = no" is preferable.
2802 strict locking = yes
2805 This is a boolean that controls whether to strip trailing dots off
2806 filenames. This helps with some CDROMs that have filenames ending in a
2809 NOTE: This option is now obsolete, and may be removed in future. You
2810 should use the "mangled map" option instead as it is much more
2814 This parameter maps how Samba debug messages are logged onto the
2815 system syslog logging levels. Samba debug level zero maps onto
2816 syslog LOG_ERR, debug level one maps onto LOG_WARNING, debug
2817 level two maps to LOG_NOTICE, debug level three maps onto LOG_INFO.
2818 The paramter sets the threshold for doing the mapping, all Samba
2819 debug messages above this threashold are mapped to syslog LOG_DEBUG
2827 If this parameter is set then Samba debug messages are logged into
2828 the system syslog only, and not to the debug log files.
2835 This is a boolean parameter that controls whether writes will always
2836 be written to stable storage before the write call returns. If this is
2837 false then the server will be guided by the client's request in each
2838 write call (clients can set a bit indicating that a particular write
2839 should be synchronous). If this is true then every write will be
2840 followed by a fsync() call to ensure the data is written to disk.
2849 This parameter is a setting in minutes to add to the normal GMT to
2850 local time conversion. This is useful if you are serving a lot of PCs
2851 that have incorrect daylight saving time handling.
2859 .SS unix realname (G)
2860 This boolean parameter when set causes samba to supply the real name field
2861 from the unix password file to the client. This is useful for setting up
2862 mail clients and WWW browsers on systems used by more than one person.
2874 A synonym for this parameter is 'user'.
2876 Multiple users may be specified in a comma-delimited list, in which case the
2877 supplied password will be tested against each username in turn (left to right).
2879 The username= line is needed only when the PC is unable to supply its own
2880 username. This is the case for the coreplus protocol or where your
2881 users have different WfWg usernames to UNIX usernames. In both these
2882 cases you may also be better using the \e\eserver\eshare%user syntax
2885 The username= line is not a great solution in many cases as it means Samba
2886 will try to validate the supplied password against each of the
2887 usernames in the username= line in turn. This is slow and a bad idea for
2888 lots of users in case of duplicate passwords. You may get timeouts or
2889 security breaches using this parameter unwisely.
2891 Samba relies on the underlying UNIX security. This parameter does not
2892 restrict who can login, it just offers hints to the Samba server as to
2893 what usernames might correspond to the supplied password. Users can
2894 login as whoever they please and they will be able to do no more
2895 damage than if they started a telnet session. The daemon runs as the
2896 user that they log in as, so they cannot do anything that user cannot
2899 To restrict a service to a particular set of users you can use the
2900 "valid users=" line.
2902 If any of the usernames begin with a @ then the name will be looked up
2903 in the groups file and will expand to a list of all users in the group
2904 of that name. Note that searching though a groups file can take quite
2905 some time, and some clients may time out during the search.
2907 See the section below on username/password validation for more information
2908 on how this parameter determines access to the services.
2911 The guest account if a guest service, else the name of the service.
2915 username = fred, mary, jack, jane, @users, @pcgroup
2917 .SS username map (G)
2919 This option allows you to to specify a file containing a mapping of
2920 usernames from the clients to the server. This can be used for several
2921 purposes. The most common is to map usernames that users use on DOS or
2922 Windows machines to those that the UNIX box uses. The other is to map
2923 multiple users to a single username so that they can more easily share
2926 The map file is parsed line by line. Each line should contain a single
2927 UNIX username on the left then a '=' followed by a list of usernames
2928 on the right. The list of usernames on the right may contain names of
2929 the form @group in which case they will match any UNIX username in
2930 that group. The special client name '*' is a wildcard and matches any
2933 The file is processed on each line by taking the supplied username and
2934 comparing it with each username on the right hand side of the '='
2935 signs. If the supplied name matches any of the names on the right
2936 hand side then it is replaced with the name on the left. Processing
2937 then continues with the next line.
2939 If any line begins with a '#' or a ';' then it is ignored
2941 For example to map from the name "admin" or "administrator" to the UNIX
2942 name "root" you would use
2944 root = admin administrator
2946 Or to map anyone in the UNIX group "system" to the UNIX name "sys" you
2951 You can have as many mappings as you like in a username map file.
2953 Note that the remapping is applied to all occurrences of
2954 usernames. Thus if you connect to "\e\eserver\efred" and "fred" is
2955 remapped to "mary" then you will actually be connecting to
2956 "\e\eserver\emary" and will need to supply a password suitable for
2957 "mary" not "fred". The only exception to this is the username passed
2958 to the "password server" (if you have one). The password server will
2959 receive whatever username the client supplies without modification.
2961 Also note that no reverse mapping is done. The main effect this has is
2962 with printing. Users who have been mapped may have trouble deleting
2963 print jobs as PrintManager under WfWg will think they don't own the
2970 username map = /usr/local/samba/lib/users.map
2974 The option allows you to specify additional characters that should be
2975 considered valid by the server in filenames. This is particularly
2976 useful for national character sets, such as adding u-umlaut or a-ring.
2978 The option takes a list of characters in either integer or character
2979 form with spaces between them. If you give two characters with a colon
2980 between them then it will be taken as an lowercase:uppercase pair.
2982 If you have an editor capable of entering the characters into the
2983 config file then it is probably easiest to use this method. Otherwise
2984 you can specify the characters in octal, decimal or hexadecimal form
2985 using the usual C notation.
2987 For example to add the single character 'Z' to the charset (which is a
2988 pointless thing to do as it's already there) you could do one of the
2993 valid chars = 0132:0172
2995 The last two examples above actually add two characters, and alter
2996 the uppercase and lowercase mappings appropriately.
2998 Note that you MUST specify this parameter after the "client code page"
2999 parameter if you have both set. If "client code page" is set after
3000 the "valid chars" parameter the "valid chars" settings will be
3003 See also the "client code page" parameter.
3007 Samba defaults to using a reasonable set of valid characters
3012 valid chars = 0345:0305 0366:0326 0344:0304
3014 The above example allows filenames to have the swedish characters in
3017 NOTE: It is actually quite difficult to correctly produce a "valid
3018 chars" line for a particular system. To automate the process
3019 tino@augsburg.net has written a package called "validchars" which will
3020 automatically produce a complete "valid chars" line for a given client
3021 system. Look in the examples subdirectory for this package.
3024 This is a list of users that should be allowed to login to this
3025 service. A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group.
3027 If this is empty (the default) then any user can login. If a username
3028 is in both this list and the "invalid users" list then access is
3029 denied for that user.
3031 The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the
3034 See also "invalid users"
3037 No valid users list. (anyone can login)
3040 valid users = greg, @pcusers
3044 This is a list of files and directories that are neither visible nor
3045 accessible. Each entry in the list must be separate by a "/", which
3046 allows spaces to be included in the entry. Note that '*' and '?' at
3047 present cannot be used to specify multiple files or directories.
3050 No files or directories are vetoed.
3053 veto files = DesktopFolderDB/TrashFor%m/resource.frk
3055 The above example is based on files that the Macintosh client (DAVE)
3056 creates for internal use.
3059 This allows you to override the volume label returned for a
3060 share. Useful for CDROMs with installation programs that insist on a
3061 particular volume label.
3063 The default is the name of the share
3066 This parameter controls whether or not links in the UNIX file system may be
3067 followed by the server. Links that point to areas within the directory tree
3068 exported by the server are always allowed; this parameter controls access
3069 only to areas that are outside the directory tree being exported.
3079 This is a boolean that controls if nmbd will respond to broadcast name
3080 queries on behalf of other hosts. You may need to set this to no for
3087 This specifies the DNS name (or IP address) of the WINS server that Samba
3088 should register with. If you have a WINS server on your network then you
3089 should set this to the WINS servers name.
3091 You should point this at your WINS server if you have a multi-subnetted
3096 .SS wins support (G)
3098 This boolean controls if Samba will act as a WINS server. You should
3099 not set this to true unless you have a multi-subnetted network and
3100 you wish a particular nmbd to be your WINS server. Note that you
3101 should *NEVER* set this to true on more than one machine in your
3108 This controls what workgroup your server will appear to be in when
3118 A synonym for this parameter is 'write ok'. An inverted synonym is 'read only'.
3120 If this parameter is 'no', then users of a service may not create or modify
3121 files in the service's directory.
3123 Note that a printable service ('printable = yes') will ALWAYS allow
3124 writing to the directory (user privileges permitting), but only via
3125 spooling operations.
3135 This is a list of users that are given read-write access to a
3136 service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will be
3137 given write access, no matter what the "read only" option is set
3138 to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax.
3140 Note that if a user is in both the read list and the write list then
3141 they will be given write access.
3143 See also the "read list" option
3149 write list = admin, root, @staff
3157 This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw writes when
3158 transferring data from clients.
3165 .SH NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION
3166 There are a number of ways in which a user can connect to a
3167 service. The server follows the following steps in determining if it
3168 will allow a connection to a specified service. If all the steps fail
3169 then the connection request is rejected. If one of the steps pass then
3170 the following steps are not checked.
3172 If the service is marked "guest only = yes" then steps 1 to 5 are skipped
3174 Step 1: If the client has passed a username/password pair and that
3175 username/password pair is validated by the UNIX system's password
3176 programs then the connection is made as that username. Note that this
3177 includes the \e\eserver\eservice%username method of passing a username.
3179 Step 2: If the client has previously registered a username with the
3180 system and now supplies a correct password for that username then the
3181 connection is allowed.
3183 Step 3: The client's netbios name and any previously used user names
3184 are checked against the supplied password, if they match then the
3185 connection is allowed as the corresponding user.
3187 Step 4: If the client has previously validated a username/password
3188 pair with the server and the client has passed the validation token
3189 then that username is used. This step is skipped if "revalidate = yes"
3192 Step 5: If a "user = " field is given in the smb.conf file for the
3193 service and the client has supplied a password, and that password
3194 matches (according to the UNIX system's password checking) with one of
3195 the usernames from the user= field then the connection is made as the
3196 username in the "user=" line. If one of the username in the user= list
3197 begins with a @ then that name expands to a list of names in the group
3200 Step 6: If the service is a guest service then a connection is made as
3201 the username given in the "guest account =" for the service,
3202 irrespective of the supplied password.
3204 Although the configuration file permits service names to contain spaces,
3205 your client software may not. Spaces will be ignored in comparisons anyway,
3206 so it shouldn't be a problem - but be aware of the possibility.
3208 On a similar note, many clients - especially DOS clients - limit service
3209 names to eight characters. Smbd has no such limitation, but attempts
3210 to connect from such clients will fail if they truncate the service names.
3211 For this reason you should probably keep your service names down to eight
3212 characters in length.
3214 Use of the [homes] and [printers] special sections make life for an
3215 administrator easy, but the various combinations of default attributes can be
3216 tricky. Take extreme care when designing these sections. In particular,
3217 ensure that the permissions on spool directories are correct.
3219 This man page is (mostly) correct for version 1.9.16 of the Samba suite, plus some
3220 of the recent patches to it. These notes will necessarily lag behind
3221 development of the software, so it is possible that your version of
3222 the server has extensions or parameter semantics that differ from or are not
3223 covered by this man page. Please notify these to the address below for
3226 Prior to version 1.5.21 of the Samba suite, the configuration file was
3227 radically different (more primitive). If you are using a version earlier than
3228 1.8.05, it is STRONGLY recommended that you upgrade.
3233 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
3242 .BR hosts_access (5)
3244 [This section under construction]
3246 Most diagnostics issued by the server are logged in a specified log file. The
3247 log file name is specified at compile time, but may be overridden on the
3248 smbd command line (see
3251 The number and nature of diagnostics available depends on the debug level used
3252 by the server. If you have problems, set the debug level to 3 and peruse the
3255 Most messages are reasonably self-explanatory. Unfortunately, at time of
3256 creation of this man page the source code is still too fluid to warrant
3257 describing each and every diagnostic. At this stage your best bet is still
3258 to grep the source code and inspect the conditions that gave rise to the
3259 diagnostics you are seeing.
3263 Please send bug reports, comments and so on to:
3266 .B samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)
3269 or to the mailing list:
3272 .B samba@listproc.anu.edu.au
3275 You may also like to subscribe to the announcement channel:
3278 .B samba-announce@listproc.anu.edu.au
3281 To subscribe to these lists send a message to
3282 listproc@listproc.anu.edu.au with a body of "subscribe samba Your
3283 Name" or "subscribe samba-announce Your Name".
3285 Errors or suggestions for improvements to the Samba man pages should be
3289 .B samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)