1 .TH SMB.CONF 5 11/10/94 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.
436 .SS COMPLETE LIST OF SERVICE PARAMETERS
438 Here is a list of all service parameters. See the section of each
439 parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms.
445 alternate permissions
589 .SS EXPLANATION OF EACH PARAMETER
594 This is a list of users who will be granted administrative privilages
595 on the share. This means that they will do all file operations as the
598 You should use this option very carefully, as any user in this list
599 will be able to do anything they like on the share, irrespective of
608 .SS auto services (G)
609 This is a list of services that you want to be automatically added to
610 the browse lists. This is most useful for homes and printers services
611 that would otherwise not be visible.
613 Note that if you just want all printers in your printcap file loaded
614 then the "load printers" option is easier.
620 auto services = fred lp colorlp
623 A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts allow'.
625 This parameter is a comma delimited set of hosts which are permitted to access
626 a services. If specified in the [global] section, matching hosts will be
627 allowed access to any service that does not specifically exclude them from
628 access. Specific services my have their own list, which override those
629 specified in the [global] section.
631 You can specify the hosts by name or IP number. For example, you could
632 restrict access to only the hosts on a Class C subnet with something like
633 "allow hosts = 150.203.5.". The full syntax of the list is described in
635 .BR hosts_access (5).
637 You can also specify hosts by network/netmask pairs and by netgroup
638 names if your system supports netgroups. The EXCEPT keyword can also
639 be used to limit a wildcard list. The following examples may provide
642 Example 1: allow all IPs in 150.203.*.* except one
644 hosts allow = 150.203. EXCEPT 150.203.6.66
646 Example 2: allow hosts that match the given network/netmask
648 hosts allow = 150.203.15.0/255.255.255.0
650 Example 3: allow a couple of hosts
652 hosts allow = lapland, arvidsjaur
654 Example 4: allow only hosts in netgroup "foonet" or localhost, but
655 deny access from one particular host
657 hosts allow = @foonet, localhost
660 Note that access still requires suitable user-level passwords.
664 for a way of testing your host access to see if it
665 does what you expect.
668 none (i.e., all hosts permitted access)
671 allow hosts = 150.203.5. myhost.mynet.edu.au
673 .SS alternate permissions (S)
675 This option affects the way the "read only" DOS attribute is produced
676 for UNIX files. If this is false then the read only bit is set for
677 files on writeable shares which the user cannot write to.
679 If this is true then it is set for files whos user write bit is not set.
681 The latter behaviour is useful for when users copy files from each
682 others directories, and use a file manager that preserves
683 permissions. Without this option they may get annoyed as all copied
684 files will have the "read only" bit set.
687 alternate permissions = no
690 alternate permissions = yes
693 This parameter lets you 'turn off' a service. If 'available = no', then
694 ALL attempts to connect to the service will fail. Such failures are logged.
702 This controls whether this share is seen in the list of available
703 shares in a net view and in the browse list.
711 .SS case sig names (G)
715 This is a text field that is seen when a client does a net view to
716 list what shares are available. It will also be used when browsing is
723 comment = Fred's Files
727 This allows you to override the config file to use, instead of the
728 default (usually smb.conf). There is a chicken and egg problem here as
729 this option is set in the config file!
731 For this reason, if the name of the config file has changed when the
732 parameters are loaded then it will reload them from the new config
735 This option takes the usual substitutions, which can be very useful.
737 If the config file doesn't exist then it won't be loaded (allowing
738 you to special case the config files of just a few clients).
741 config file = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m
744 This parameter allows you to 'clone' service entries. The specified
745 service is simply duplicated under the current service's name. Any
746 parameters specified in the current section will override those in the
747 section being copied.
749 This feature lets you set up a 'template' service and create similar
750 services easily. Note that the service being copied must occur earlier
751 in the configuration file than the service doing the copying.
759 A synonym for this parameter is 'create mode'.
761 This parameter is the octal modes which are used when converting DOS modes
764 Note that Samba will or this value with 0700 as you must have at least
765 user read, write and execute for Samba to work properly.
776 The value of the parameter (a decimal integer) represents the number of
777 minutes of inactivity before a connection is considered dead, and it
778 is disconnected. The deadtime only takes effect if the number of open files
781 This is useful to stop a server's resources being exhausted by a large
782 number of inactive connections.
784 Most clients have an auto-reconnect feature when a connection is broken so
785 in most cases this parameter should be transparent to users.
787 Using this parameter with a timeout of a few minutes is recommended
790 A deadtime of zero indicates that no auto-disconnection should be performed.
798 The value of the parameter (an integer) allows the debug level
799 (logging level) to be specified in the
801 file. This is to give
802 greater flexibility in the configuration of the system.
804 The default will be the debug level specified on the command line.
813 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" Also note the addition of "short
816 .SS default service (G)
817 A synonym for this parameter is 'default'.
819 This parameter specifies the name of a service which will be connected to
820 if the service actually requested cannot be found. Note that the square
821 brackets are NOT given in the parameter value (see example below).
823 There is no default value for this parameter. If this parameter is not given,
824 attempting to connect to a nonexistent service results in an error.
826 Typically the default service would be a public, read-only service.
828 Also note that as of 1.9.14 the apparent service name will be changed to
829 equal that of the requested service, this is very useful as it allows
830 you to use macros like %S to make a wildcard service.
832 Note also that any _ characters in the name of the service used in the
833 default service will get mapped to a /. This allows for interesting
838 default service = pub
844 .SS delete readonly (S)
845 This parameter allows readonly files to be deleted. This is not normal DOS
846 semantics, but is allowed by UNIX.
848 This option may be useful for running applications such as rcs, where UNIX
849 file ownership prevents changing file permissions, and DOS semantics prevent
850 deletion of a read only file.
856 delete readonly = Yes
858 A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts deny'.
860 The opposite of 'allow hosts' - hosts listed here are NOT permitted
861 access to services unless the specific services have their own lists to
862 override this one. Where the lists conflict, the 'allow' list takes precedence.
865 none (i.e., no hosts specifically excluded)
868 deny hosts = 150.203.4. badhost.mynet.edu.au
869 .SS dfree command (G)
870 The dfree command setting should only be used on systems where a
871 problem occurs with the internal disk space calculations. This has
872 been known to happen with Ultrix, but may occur with other operating
873 systems. The symptom that was seen was an error of "Abort Retry
874 Ignore" at the end of each directory listing.
876 This setting allows the replacement of the internal routines to
877 calculate the total disk space and amount available with an external
878 routine. The example below gives a possible script that might fulfill
881 The external program will be passed a single parameter indicating a
882 directory in the filesystem being queried. This will typically consist
883 of the string "./". The script should return two integers in ascii. The
884 first should be the total disk space in blocks, and the second should
885 be the number of available blocks. An optional third return value
886 can give the block size in bytes. The default blocksize is 1024 bytes.
888 Note: Your script should NOT be setuid or setgid and should be owned by
889 (and writable only by) root!
892 By default internal routines for determining the disk capacity
893 and remaining space will be used.
896 dfree command = /usr/local/samba/bin/dfree
898 Where the script dfree (which must be made executable) could be
902 df $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $2" "$4}'
905 or perhaps (on Sys V)
909 /usr/bin/df -k $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $3" "$5}'
912 Note that you may have to replace the command names with full
913 path names on some systems.
918 There are certain directories on some systems (eg., the /proc tree under
919 Linux) that are either not of interest to clients or are infinitely deep
920 (recursive). This parameter allows you to specify a comma-delimited list
921 of directories that the server should always show as empty.
923 Note that Samba can be very fussy about the exact format of the "dont
924 descend" entries. For example you may need "./proc" instead of just
925 "/proc". Experimentation is the best policy :-)
928 none (i.e., all directories are OK to descend)
931 dont descend = /proc,/dev
933 .SS encrypt passwords (G)
935 This boolean controls whether encrypted passwords will be negotiated
936 with the client. Note that this option has no effect if you haven't
937 compiled in the necessary des libraries and encryption code. It
942 This is an alias for preexec
946 This specifies a group name that all connections to this service
947 should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files.
956 This specifies a user name that all connections to this service
957 should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files. You should
958 also use it carefully as using it incorrectly can cause security
961 This user name only gets used once a connection is established. Thus
962 clients still need to connect as a valid user and supply a valid
963 password. Once connected, all file operations will be performed as the
964 "forced user", not matter what username the client connected as.
972 .SS guest account (S)
973 This is a username which will be used for access to services which are
974 specified as 'guest ok' (see below). Whatever privileges this user has
975 will be available to any client connecting to the guest
976 service. Typically this user will exist in the password file, but will
977 not have a valid login. If a username is specified in a given service,
978 the specified username overrides this one.
980 One some systems the account "nobody" may not be able to print. Use
981 another account in this case. You should test this by trying to log in
982 as your guest user (perhaps by using the "su \-" command) and trying to
986 Note that as of version 1.9 of Samba this option may be set
987 differently for each service.
990 specified at compile time
993 guest account = nobody
995 This is a tuning option. When this is enabled a cacheing algorithm will
996 be used to reduce the time taken for getwd() calls. This can have a
997 significant impact on performance, especially when widelinks is False.
1008 If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then only guest connections to the
1009 service are permitted. This parameter will have no affect if "guest ok" or
1010 "public" is not set for the service.
1012 See the section below on user/password validation for more information about
1020 .SS hide dot files (S)
1021 This is a boolean parameter that controls whether files starting with
1022 a dot appear as hidden files.
1025 hide dot files = yes
1037 This is an alias for "force group" and is only kept for compatibility
1038 with old versions of Samba. It may be removed in future versions.
1041 If this global parameter is a non-null string, it specifies the name of
1042 a file to read for the names of hosts and users who will be allowed access
1043 without specifying a password.
1045 This is not be confused with
1047 which is about hosts access to services and is more useful for guest services.
1049 may be useful for NT clients which will not supply passwords to samba.
1051 NOTE: The use of hosts.equiv can be a major security hole. This is
1052 because you are trusting the PC to supply the correct username. It is
1053 very easy to get a PC to supply a false username. I recommend that the
1054 hosts.equiv option be only used if you really know what you are doing,
1055 or perhaps on a home network where you trust your wife and kids :-)
1058 No host equivalences
1061 hosts equiv = /etc/hosts.equiv
1065 This option allows you to setup multiple network interfaces, so that
1066 Samba can properly handle browsing on all interfaces.
1068 The option takes a list of ip/netmask pairs. The netmask may either be
1069 a bitmask, or a bitlength.
1071 For example, the following line:
1073 interfaces = 192.168.2.10/24 192.168.3.10/24
1075 would configure two network interfaces with IP addresses 192.168.2.10
1076 and 192.168.3.10. The netmasks of both interfaces would be set to
1079 You could produce an equivalent result by using:
1081 interfaces = 192.168.2.10/255.255.255.0 192.168.3.10/255.255.255.0
1083 if you prefer that format.
1085 If this option is not set then Samba will attempt to find a primary
1086 interface, but won't attempt to configure more than one interface.
1088 .SS invalid users (S)
1089 This is a list of users that should not be allowed to login to this
1090 service. This is really a "paranoid" check to absolutely ensure an
1091 improper setting does not breach your security.
1093 A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group.
1095 The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the
1098 See also "valid users"
1104 invalid users = root fred admin @wheel
1108 This allows you to include one config file inside another. the file is
1109 included literally, as though typed in place.
1111 It takes the standard substitutions, except %u, %P and %S
1114 The value of the parameter (an integer) represents the number of seconds
1115 between 'keepalive' packets. If this parameter is zero, no keepalive packets
1116 will be sent. Keepalive packets, if sent, allow the server to tell whether a
1117 client is still present and responding.
1119 Keepalives should, in general, not be needed if the socket being used
1120 has the SO_KEEPALIVE attribute set on it (see "socket
1121 options"). Basically you should only use this option if you strike
1129 .SS load printers (G)
1130 A boolean variable that controls whether all printers in the printcap
1131 will be loaded for browsing by default.
1139 .SS lock directory (G)
1140 This options specifies the directory where lock files will be placed.
1141 The lock files are used to implement the "max connections" option.
1144 lock directory = /tmp/samba
1147 lock directory = /usr/local/samba/var/locks
1149 This controls whether or not locking will be performed by the server in
1150 response to lock requests from the client.
1152 If "locking = no", all lock and unlock requests will appear to succeed and
1153 all lock queries will indicate that the queried lock is clear.
1155 If "locking = yes", real locking will be performed by the server.
1157 This option may be particularly useful for read-only filesystems which
1158 do not need locking (such as cdrom drives).
1160 Be careful about disabling locking either globally or in a specific
1161 service, as lack of locking may result in data corruption.
1171 This options allows you to override the name of the Samba log file
1172 (also known as the debug file).
1174 This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have
1175 separate log files for each user or machine.
1178 log file = /usr/local/samba/var/log.%m
1183 .SS lppause command (S)
1184 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1185 order to stop printing or spooling a specific print job.
1187 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and
1188 job number to pause the print job. Currently I don't know of any print
1189 spooler system that can do this with a simple option, except for the PPR
1190 system from Trinity College (ppr\-dist.trincoll.edu/pub/ppr). One way
1191 of implementing this is by using job priorities, where jobs having a too
1192 low priority won't be sent to the printer. See also the
1196 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1197 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1198 On HPUX (see printing=hpux), if the -p%p option is added to the lpq
1199 command, the job will show up with the correct status, i.e. if the job
1200 priority is lower than the set fence priority it will have the PAUSED
1201 status, whereas if the priority is equal or higher it will have the
1202 SPOOLED or PRINTING status.
1204 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lppause
1205 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1208 Currently no default value is given to this string
1210 .B Example for HPUX:
1211 lppause command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p0
1213 .SS lpq cache time (G)
1215 This controls how long lpq info will be cached for to prevent the lpq
1216 command being called too often. A separate cache is kept for each
1217 variation of the lpq command used by the system, so if you use
1218 different lpq commands for different users then they won't share cache
1221 The cache files are stored in /tmp/lpq.xxxx where xxxx is a hash
1222 of the lpq command in use.
1224 The default is 10 seconds, meaning that the cached results of a
1225 previous identical lpq command will be used if the cached data is less
1226 than 10 seconds old. A large value may be advisable if your lpq
1227 command is very slow.
1229 A value of 0 will disable cacheing completely.
1238 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1239 order to obtain "lpq"-style printer status information.
1241 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name
1242 as its only parameter and outputs printer status information.
1244 Currently six styles of printer status information are supported; BSD,
1245 SYSV, AIX, HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You
1246 control which type is expected using the "printing =" option.
1248 Some clients (notably Windows for Workgroups) may not correctly send the
1249 connection number for the printer they are requesting status information
1250 about. To get around this, the server reports on the first printer service
1251 connected to by the client. This only happens if the connection number sent
1254 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. Otherwise
1255 it is placed at the end of the command.
1257 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpq
1258 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1261 depends on the setting of "printing ="
1264 lpq command = /usr/bin/lpq %p
1266 .SS lpresume command (S)
1267 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1268 order to restart or continue printing or spooling a specific print job.
1270 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and
1271 job number to resume the print job. See also the lppause command.
1273 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1274 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1276 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpresume
1277 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1280 Currently no default value is given to this string
1282 .B Example for HPUX:
1283 lpresume command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p2
1285 .SS lprm command (S)
1286 This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in
1287 order to delete a print job.
1289 This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name
1290 and job number, and deletes the print job.
1292 Currently seven styles of printer control are supported; BSD, SYSV, AIX
1293 HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You control
1294 which type is expected using the "printing =" option.
1296 If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is
1297 replaced with the job number (an integer).
1299 Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lprm
1300 command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
1303 depends on the setting of "printing ="
1306 lprm command = /usr/bin/lprm -P%p %j
1309 lprm command = /usr/bin/cancel %p-%j
1311 .SS magic output (S)
1312 This parameter specifies the name of a file which will contain output
1313 created by a magic script (see
1317 Warning: If two clients use the same magic script in the same directory the
1318 output file content is undefined.
1320 magic output = <magic script name>.out
1323 magic output = myfile.txt
1324 .SS magic script (S)
1325 This parameter specifies the name of a file which, if opened, will be
1326 executed by the server when the file is closed. This allows a UNIX script
1327 to be sent to the Samba host and executed on behalf of the connected user.
1329 Scripts executed in this way will be deleted upon completion, permissions
1332 If the script generates output, output will be sent to the file specified by
1335 parameter (see above).
1337 Note that some shells are unable to interpret scripts containing
1338 carriage-return-linefeed instead of linefeed as the end-of-line
1339 marker. Magic scripts must be executable "as is" on the host, which
1340 for some hosts and some shells will require filtering at the DOS end.
1342 Magic scripts are EXPERIMENTAL and should NOT be relied upon.
1345 None. Magic scripts disabled.
1348 magic script = user.csh
1350 This is for those who want to directly map UNIX file names which are
1351 not representable on DOS. The mangling of names is not always what is
1352 needed. In particular you may have documents with file extensiosn
1353 that differ between DOS and UNIX. For example, under UNIX it is common
1354 to use .html for HTML files, whereas under DOS .htm is more commonly
1357 So to map 'html' to 'htm' you put:
1359 mangled map = (*.html *.htm)
1361 One very useful case is to remove the annoying ;1 off the ends of
1362 filenames on some CDROMS (only visible under some UNIXes). To do this
1363 use a map of (*;1 *)
1369 mangled map = (*;1 *)
1373 See the section on "NAME MANGLING"
1375 .SS mangled names (S)
1376 This controls whether non-DOS names under UNIX should be mapped to
1377 DOS-compatible names ("mangled") and made visible, or whether non-DOS names
1378 should simply be ignored.
1380 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for details on how to control the
1383 If mangling is used then the mangling algorithm is as follows:
1385 - the first (up to) five alphanumeric characters before the rightmost dot of
1386 the filename are preserved, forced to upper case, and appear as the first (up
1387 to) five characters of the mangled name.
1389 - a tilde ("~") is appended to the first part of the mangled name, followed
1390 by a two-character unique sequence, based on the origonal root name
1391 (i.e., the original filename minus its final extension). The final
1392 extension is included in the hash calculation only if it contains any upper
1393 case characters or is longer than three characters.
1395 Note that the character to use may be specified using the "mangling
1396 char" option, if you don't like ~.
1398 - the first three alphanumeric characters of the final extension are preserved,
1399 forced to upper case and appear as the extension of the mangled name. The
1400 final extension is defined as that part of the original filename after the
1401 rightmost dot. If there are no dots in the filename, the mangled name will
1402 have no extension (except in the case of hidden files - see below).
1404 - files whose UNIX name begins with a dot will be presented as DOS hidden
1405 files. The mangled name will be created as for other filenames, but with the
1406 leading dot removed and "___" as its extension regardless of actual original
1407 extension (that's three underscores).
1410 The two-digit hash value consists of upper case alphanumeric characters.
1412 This algorithm can cause name collisions only if files in a directory share
1413 the same first five alphanumeric characters. The probability of such a clash
1416 The name mangling (if enabled) allows a file to be copied between UNIX
1417 directories from DOS while retaining the long UNIX filename. UNIX files can
1418 be renamed to a new extension from DOS and will retain the same basename.
1419 Mangled names do not change between sessions.
1426 .SS mangling char (S)
1427 This controls what character is used as the "magic" character in name
1428 mangling. The default is a ~ but this may interfere with some
1429 software. Use this option to set it to whatever you prefer.
1437 .SS max disk size (G)
1438 This option allows you to put an upper limit on the apparent size of
1439 disks. If you set this option to 100 then all shares will appear to be
1440 not larger than 100 MB in size.
1442 Note that this option does not limit the amount of data you can put on
1443 the disk. In the above case you could still store much more than 100
1444 MB on the disk, but if a client ever asks for the amount of free disk
1445 space or the total disk size then the result will be bounded by the
1446 amount specified in "max disk size".
1448 This option is primarily useful to work around bugs in some pieces of
1449 software that can't handle very large disks, particularly disks over
1452 A "max disk size" of 0 means no limit.
1458 max disk size = 1000
1459 .SS max log size (G)
1461 This option (an integer in kilobytes) specifies the max size the log
1462 file should grow to. Samba periodically checks the size and if it is
1463 exceeded it will rename the file, adding a .old extension.
1465 A size of 0 means no limit.
1475 This option controls the maximum packet size that will be negotiated
1476 by Samba. The default is 65535, which is the maximum. In some cases
1477 you may find you get better performance with a smaller value. A value
1478 below 2048 is likely to cause problems.
1486 .SS mangled stack (G)
1487 This parameter controls the number of mangled names that should be cached in
1490 This stack is a list of recently mangled base names (extensions are only
1491 maintained if they are longer than 3 characters or contains upper case
1494 The larger this value, the more likely it is that mangled names can be
1495 successfully converted to correct long UNIX names. However, large stack
1496 sizes will slow most directory access. Smaller stacks save memory in the
1497 server (each stack element costs 256 bytes).
1499 It is not possible to absolutely guarantee correct long file names, so
1500 be prepared for some surprises!
1509 This controls whether the DOS archive attribute should be mapped to UNIX
1510 execute bits. The DOS archive bit is set when a file has been modified
1511 since its last backup. One motivation for this option it to keep Samba/your
1512 PC from making any file it touches from becoming executable under UNIX.
1513 This can be quite annoying for shared source code, documents, etc...
1522 This controls whether DOS style hidden files should be mapped to UNIX
1531 This controls whether DOS style system files should be mapped to UNIX
1539 .SS max connections (S)
1540 This option allows the number of simultaneous connections to a
1541 service to be limited. If "max connections" is greater than 0 then
1542 connections will be refused if this number of connections to the
1543 service are already open. A value of zero mean an unlimited number of
1544 connections may be made.
1546 Record lock files are used to implement this feature. The lock files
1547 will be stored in the directory specified by the "lock directory" option.
1553 max connections = 10
1555 This is a boolean option that controls whether connections with
1556 usernames not in the user= list will be allowed. By default this
1557 option is disabled so a client can supply a username to be used by
1560 Note that this also means Samba won't try to deduce usernames from the
1561 service name. This can be annoying for the [homes] section. To get
1562 around this you could use "user = %S" which means your "user" list
1563 will be just the service name, which for home directories is the name
1572 .SS message command (G)
1574 This specifies what command to run when the server receives a WinPopup
1577 This would normally be a command that would deliver the message
1578 somehow. How this is to be done is up to your imagination.
1582 message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' &
1584 This delivers the message using xedit, then removes it
1585 afterwards. NOTE THAT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS COMMAND RETURN
1586 IMMEDIATELY. That's why I have the & on the end. If it doesn't return
1587 immediately then your PCs may freeze when sending messages (they
1588 should recover after 30secs, hopefully).
1590 All messages are delivered as the global guest user. The command takes
1591 the standard substitutions, although %u won't work (%U may be better
1594 Apart from the standard substitutions, some additional ones apply. In
1597 %s = the filename containing the message
1599 %t = the destination that the message was sent to (probably the server
1602 %f = who the message is from
1604 You could make this command send mail, or whatever else takes your
1605 fancy. Please let me know of any really interesting ideas you have.
1607 Here's a way of sending the messages as mail to root:
1609 message command = /bin/mail -s 'message from %f on %m' root < %s; rm %s
1611 If you don't have a message command then the message won't be
1612 delivered and Samba will tell the sender there was an
1613 error. Unfortunately WfWg totally ignores the error code and carries
1614 on regardless, saying that the message was delivered.
1616 If you want to silently delete it then try "message command = rm %s".
1618 For the really adventurous, try something like this:
1620 message command = csh -c 'csh < %s |& /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient \e
1623 this would execute the command as a script on the server, then give
1624 them the result in a WinPopup message. Note that this could cause a
1625 loop if you send a message from the server using smbclient! You better
1626 wrap the above in a script that checks for this :-)
1632 message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' &
1634 .SS min print space (S)
1636 This sets the minimum amount of free disk space that must be available
1637 before a user will be able to spool a print job. It is specified in
1638 kilobytes. The default is 0, which means no limit.
1644 min print space = 2000
1646 .SS null passwords (G)
1647 Allow or disallow access to accounts that have null passwords.
1653 null passwords = yes
1656 This integer value controls what level Samba advertises itself as for
1657 browse elections. See BROWSING.txt for details.
1660 The maximum transmit packet size during a raw read. This option is no
1661 longer implemented as of version 1.7.00, and is kept only so old
1662 configuration files do not become invalid.
1665 This string controls the "chat" conversation that takes places
1666 between smbd and the local password changing program to change the
1667 users password. The string describes a sequence of response-receive
1668 pairs that smbd uses to determine what to send to the passwd program
1669 and what to expect back. If the expected output is not received then
1670 the password is not changed.
1672 This chat sequence is often quite site specific, depending on what
1673 local methods are used for password control (such as NIS+ etc).
1675 The string can contain the macros %o and %n which are substituted for
1676 the old and new passwords respectively. It can aso contain the
1677 standard macros \\n \\r \\t and \\s to give line-feed, carriage-return,
1680 The string can also contain a * which matches any sequence of
1683 Double quotes can be used to collect strings with spaces in them into
1686 If the send string in any part of the chat sequence is a fullstop "."
1687 then no string is sent. Similarly, is the expect string is a fullstop
1688 then no string is expected.
1691 passwd chat = "*Enter OLD password*" %o\\n "*Enter NEW password*" %n\\n \\
1692 "*Reenter NEW password*" %n\\n "*Password changed*"
1695 passwd chat = *old*password* %o\\n *new*password* %n\\n *new*password* %n\\n *changed*
1697 .SS passwd program (G)
1698 The name of a program that can be used to set user passwords.
1700 This is only necessary if you have enabled remote password changing at
1701 compile time. Any occurances of %u will be replaced with the user
1704 Also note that many passwd programs insist in "reasonable" passwords,
1705 such as a minimum length, or the inclusion of mixed case chars and
1706 digits. This can pose a problem as some clients (such as Windows for
1707 Workgroups) uppercase the password before sending it.
1710 passwd program = /bin/passwd
1713 passwd program = /sbin/passwd %u
1715 .SS password level (G)
1716 Some client/server conbinations have difficulty with mixed-case passwords.
1717 One offending client is Windows for Workgroups, which for some reason forces
1718 passwords to upper case when using the LANMAN1 protocol, but leaves them alone
1719 when using COREPLUS!
1721 This parameter defines the maximum number of characters that may be upper case
1724 For example, say the password given was "FRED". If
1726 is set to 1 (one), the following combinations would be tried if "FRED" failed:
1727 "Fred", "fred", "fRed", "frEd", "freD". If
1728 .B password level was set to 2 (two), the following combinations would also be
1729 tried: "FRed", "FrEd", "FreD", "fREd", "fReD", "frED". And so on.
1731 The higher value this parameter is set to the more likely it is that a mixed
1732 case password will be matched against a single case password. However, you
1733 should be aware that use of this parameter reduces security and increases the
1734 time taken to process a new connection.
1736 A value of zero will cause only two attempts to be made - the password as is
1737 and the password in all-lower case.
1739 If you find the connections are taking too long with this option then
1740 you probably have a slow crypt() routine. Samba now comes with a fast
1741 "ufc crypt" that you can select in the Makefile. You should also make
1742 sure the PASSWORD_LENGTH option is correct for your system in local.h
1743 and includes.h. On most systems only the first 8 chars of a password
1744 are significant so PASSWORD_LENGTH should be 8, but on some longer
1745 passwords are significant. The includes.h file tries to select the
1746 right length for your system.
1754 .SS password server (G)
1756 By specifying the name of another SMB server (such as a WinNT box)
1757 with this option, and using "security = server" you can get Samba to
1758 do all its username/password validation via a remote server.
1760 This options sets the name of the password server to use. It must be a
1761 netbios name, so if the machine's netbios name is different from its
1762 internet name then you may have to add its netbios name to
1765 The password server much be a machine capable of using the "LM1.2X002"
1766 or the "LM NT 0.12" protocol, and it must be in user level security
1769 NOTE: Using a password server means your UNIX box (running Samba) is
1770 only as secure as your password server. DO NOT CHOOSE A PASSWORD
1771 SERVER THAT YOU DON'T COMPLETELY TRUST.
1773 Never point a Samba server at itself for password serving. This will
1774 cause a loop and could lock up your Samba server!
1776 The name of the password server takes the standard substitutions, but
1777 probably the only useful one is %m, which means the Samba server will
1778 use the incoming client as the password server. If you use this then
1779 you better trust your clients, and you better restrict them with hosts
1782 If you list several hosts in the "password server" option then smbd
1783 will try each in turn till it finds one that responds. This is useful
1784 in case your primary server goes down.
1787 A synonym for this parameter is 'directory'.
1789 This parameter specifies a directory to which the user of the service is to
1790 be given access. In the case of printable services, this is where print data
1791 will spool prior to being submitted to the host for printing.
1793 For a printable service offering guest access, the service should be readonly
1794 and the path should be world-writable and have the sticky bit set. This is not
1795 mandatory of course, but you probably won't get the results you expect if you
1798 Any occurances of %u in the path will be replaced with the username
1799 that the client is connecting as. Any occurances of %m will be
1800 replaced by the name of the machine they are connecting from. These
1801 replacements are very useful for setting up pseudo home directories
1804 Note that this path will be based on 'root dir' if one was specified.
1813 This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is
1814 disconnected. It takes the usual substitutions. The command may be run
1815 as the root on some systems.
1817 An interesting example may be do unmount server resources:
1819 postexec = /etc/umount /cdrom
1824 none (no command executed)
1827 postexec = echo \"%u disconnected from %S from %m (%I)\" >> /tmp/log
1830 This parameter forces a printer to interpret the print files as
1831 postscript. This is done by adding a %! to the start of print output.
1833 This is most useful when you have lots of PCs that persist in putting
1834 a control-D at the start of print jobs, which then confuses your
1845 This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is
1846 connected to. It takes the usual substitutions.
1848 An interesting example is to send the users a welcome message every
1849 time they log in. Maybe a message of the day? Here is an example:
1851 preexec = csh -c 'echo \"Welcome to %S!\" | \
1852 /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient -M %m -I %I' &
1854 Of course, this could get annoying after a while :-)
1859 none (no command executed)
1862 preexec = echo \"%u connected to %S from %m (%I)\" >> /tmp/log
1864 .SS preferred master (G)
1865 This boolean parameter controls if Samba is a preferred master browser
1866 for its workgroup. Setting this gives it a slight edge in elections
1867 and also means it will automatically start an election when it starts
1870 It is on by default.
1873 This is an alias for "auto services"
1875 .SS preserve case (S)
1877 This controls if new filenames are created with the case that the
1878 client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case.
1883 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.
1885 .SS print command (S)
1886 After a print job has finished spooling to a service, this command will be
1887 used via a system() call to process the spool file. Typically the command
1888 specified will submit the spool file to the host's printing subsystem, but
1889 there is no requirement that this be the case. The server will not remove the
1890 spool file, so whatever command you specify should remove the spool file when
1891 it has been processed, otherwise you will need to manually remove old spool
1894 The print command is simply a text string. It will be used verbatim,
1895 with two exceptions: All occurrences of "%s" will be replaced by the
1896 appropriate spool file name, and all occurrences of "%p" will be
1897 replaced by the appropriate printer name. The spool file name is
1898 generated automatically by the server, the printer name is discussed
1901 The full path name will be used for the filename if %s is not preceded
1902 by a /. If you don't like this (it can stuff up some lpq output) then
1903 use %f instead. Any occurances of %f get replaced by the spool
1904 filename without the full path at the front.
1906 The print command MUST contain at least one occurrence of "%s" or %f -
1907 the "%p" is optional. At the time a job is submitted, if no printer
1908 name is supplied the "%p" will be silently removed from the printer
1911 If specified in the [global] section, the print command given will be used
1912 for any printable service that does not have its own print command specified.
1914 If there is neither a specified print command for a printable service nor a
1915 global print command, spool files will be created but not processed and (most
1916 importantly) not removed.
1918 Note that printing may fail on some UNIXes from the "nobody"
1919 account. If this happens then create an alternative guest account that
1920 can print and set the "guest account" in the [global] section.
1922 You can form quite complex print commands by realising that they are
1923 just passed to a shell. For example the following will log a print
1924 job, print the file, then remove it. Note that ; is the usual
1925 separator for command in shell scripts.
1927 print command = echo Printing %s >> /tmp/print.log; lpr -P %p %s; rm %s
1929 You may have to vary this command considerably depending on how you
1930 normally print files on your system.
1933 print command = lpr -r -P %p %s
1936 print command = /usr/local/samba/bin/myprintscript %p %s
1941 A synonym for this parameter is 'print ok'.
1943 If this parameter is 'yes', then clients may open, write to and submit spool
1944 files on the directory specified for the service.
1946 Note that a printable service will ALWAYS allow writing to the service path
1947 (user privileges permitting) via the spooling of print data. The 'read only'
1948 parameter controls only non-printing access to the resource.
1957 This parameters controls how printer status information is interpreted
1958 on your system, and also affects the default values for the "print
1959 command", "lpq command" and "lprm command".
1961 Currently six printing styles are supported. They are "printing =
1962 bsd", "printing = sysv", "printing = hpux", "printing = aix",
1963 "printing = qnx" and "printing = plp".
1965 To see what the defaults are for the other print commands when using
1966 these three options use the "testparm" program.
1969 .SS printcap name (G)
1970 This parameter may be used to override the compiled-in default printcap
1971 name used by the server (usually /etc/printcap). See the discussion of the
1972 [printers] section above for reasons why you might want to do this.
1974 For those of you without a printcap (say on SysV) you can just create a
1975 minimal file that looks like a printcap and set "printcap name =" in
1976 [global] to point at it.
1978 A minimal printcap file would look something like this:
1990 where the | separates aliases of a printer. The fact that the second
1991 alias has a space in it gives a hint to Samba that it's a comment.
1993 NOTE: Under AIX the default printcap name is "/etc/qconfig". Samba
1994 will assume the file is in AIX "qconfig" format if the string
1995 "/qconfig" appears in the printcap filename.
1998 printcap name = /etc/printcap
2001 printcap name = /etc/myprintcap
2003 A synonym for this parameter is 'printer name'.
2005 This parameter specifies the name of the printer to which print jobs spooled
2006 through a printable service will be sent.
2008 If specified in the [global] section, the printer name given will be used
2009 for any printable service that does not have its own printer name specified.
2012 none (but may be 'lp' on many systems)
2015 printer name = laserwriter
2017 .SS printer driver (S)
2018 This option allows you to control the string that clients receive when
2019 they ask the server for the printer driver associated with a
2020 printer. If you are using Windows95 or WindowsNT then you can use this
2021 to automate the setup of printers on your system.
2023 You need to set this parameter to the exact string (case sensitive)
2024 that describes the appropriate printer driver for your system.
2025 If you don't know the exact string to use then you should first try
2026 with no "printer driver" option set and the client will give you a
2027 list of printer drivers. The appropriate strings are shown in a
2028 scrollbox after you have chosen the printer manufacturer.
2031 printer driver = HP LaserJet 4L
2033 .SS printer name (S)
2038 The value of the parameter (a string) is the highest protocol level that will
2039 be supported by the server.
2041 Possible values are CORE, COREPLUS, LANMAN1, LANMAN2 and NT1. The relative
2042 merits of each are discussed in the README file.
2044 Normally this option should not be set as the automatic negotiation
2045 phase in the SMB protocol takes care of choosing the appropriate protocol.
2053 A synonym for this parameter is 'guest ok'.
2055 If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then no password is required
2056 to connect to the service. Privileges will be those of the guest
2059 See the section below on user/password validation for more information about
2068 This is a list of users that are given read-only access to a
2069 service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will
2070 not be given write access, no matter what the "read only" option
2071 is set to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax.
2073 See also the "write list" option
2079 read list = mary, @students
2086 Note that this is an inverted synonym for writable and write ok.
2087 .SS read prediction (G)
2088 This options enables or disables the read prediction code used to
2089 speed up reads from the server. When enabled the server will try to
2090 pre-read data from the last accessed file that was opened read-only
2091 while waiting for packets.
2094 read prediction = False
2097 read prediction = True
2099 This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw reads when
2100 transferring data to clients.
2102 If enabled, raw reads allow reads of 65535 bytes in one packet. This
2103 typically provides a major performance benefit.
2105 However, some clients either negotiate the allowable block size incorrectly
2106 or are incapable of supporting larger block sizes, and for these clients you
2107 may need to disable raw reads.
2109 In general this parameter should be viewed as a system tuning tool and left
2110 severely alone. See also
2120 The option "read size" affects the overlap of disk reads/writes with
2121 network reads/writes. If the amount of data being transferred in
2122 several of the SMB commands (currently SMBwrite, SMBwriteX and
2123 SMBreadbraw) is larger than this value then the server begins writing
2124 the data before it has received the whole packet from the network, or
2125 in the case of SMBreadbraw, it begins writing to the network before
2126 all the data has been read from disk.
2128 This overlapping works best when the speeds of disk and network access
2129 are similar, having very little effect when the speed of one is much
2130 greater than the other.
2132 The default value is 2048, but very little experimentation has been
2133 done yet to determine the optimal value, and it is likely that the best
2134 value will vary greatly between systems anyway. A value over 65536 is
2135 pointless and will cause you to allocate memory unnecessarily.
2143 .SS remote announce (G)
2145 This option allows you to setup nmbd to periodically announce itself
2146 to arbitrary IP addresses with an arbitrary workgroup name.
2148 This is useful if you want your Samba server to appear in a remote
2149 workgroup for which the normal browse propogation rules don't
2150 work. The remote workgroup can be anywhere that you can send IP
2155 remote announce = 192.168.2.255/SERVERS 192.168.4.255/STAFF
2157 the above line would cause nmbd to announce itself to the two given IP
2158 addresses using the given workgroup names. If you leave out the
2159 workgroup name then the one given in the "workgroup" option is used
2162 The IP addresses you choose would normally be the broadcast addresses
2163 of the remote networks, but can also be the IP addresses of known
2164 browse masters if your network config is that stable.
2166 This option replaces similar functionality from the nmbd lmhosts file.
2170 This options controls whether Samba will allow a previously validated
2171 username/password pair to be used to attach to a share. Thus if you
2172 connect to \\\\server\\share1 then to \\\\server\\share2 it won't
2173 automatically allow the client to request connection to the second
2174 share as the same username as the first without a password.
2176 If "revalidate" is True then the client will be denied automatic
2177 access as the same username.
2191 .SS root directory (G)
2192 Synonyms for this parameter are 'root dir' and 'root'.
2194 The server will chroot() to this directory on startup. This is not
2195 strictly necessary for secure operation. Even without it the server
2196 will deny access to files not in one of the service entries. It may
2197 also check for, and deny access to, soft links to other parts of the
2198 filesystem, or attempts to use .. in file names to access other
2199 directories (depending on the setting of the "wide links" parameter).
2201 Adding a "root dir" entry other than "/" adds an extra level of security,
2202 but at a price. It absolutely ensures that no access is given to files not
2203 in the sub-tree specified in the "root dir" option, *including* some files
2204 needed for complete operation of the server. To maintain full operability
2205 of the server you will need to mirror some system files into the "root dir"
2206 tree. In particular you will need to mirror /etc/passwd (or a subset of it),
2207 and any binaries or configuration files needed for printing (if required).
2208 The set of files that must be mirrored is operating system dependent.
2214 root directory = /homes/smb
2216 This option affects how clients respond to Samba.
2218 The option sets the "security mode bit" in replies to protocol negotiations
2219 to turn share level security on or off. Clients decide based on this bit
2220 whether (and how) to transfer user and password information to the server.
2222 The default is "security=SHARE", mainly because that was the only
2223 option at one stage.
2225 The alternatives are "security = user" or "security = server".
2227 If your PCs use usernames that are the same as their usernames on the
2228 UNIX machine then you will want to use "security = user". If you
2229 mostly use usernames that don't exist on the UNIX box then use
2232 There is a bug in WfWg that may affect your decision. When in user
2233 level security a WfWg client will totally ignore the password you type
2234 in the "connect drive" dialog box. This makes it very difficult (if
2235 not impossible) to connect to a Samba service as anyone except the
2236 user that you are logged into WfWg as.
2238 If you use "security = server" then Samba will try to validate the
2239 username/password by passing it to another SMB server, such as an NT
2240 box. If this fails it will revert to "security = USER".
2242 See the "password server" option for more details.
2249 .SS server string (G)
2250 This controls what string will show up in the printer comment box in
2251 print manager and next to the IPC connection in "net view". It can be
2252 any string that you wish to show to your users.
2254 Note that it DOES NOT affect the string that appears in browse
2255 lists. That is controlled by a nmbd command line option instead.
2257 A %v will be replaced with the Samba version number.
2259 A %h will be replaced with the hostname.
2262 server string = Samba %v
2265 server string = University of GNUs Samba Server
2268 This sets the full path to the smbrun binary. This defaults to the
2269 value in the Makefile.
2271 You must get this path right for many services to work correctly.
2277 smbrun = /usr/local/samba/bin/smbrun
2279 .SS short preserve case (S)
2281 This controls if new short filenames are created with the case that
2282 the client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case.
2285 short preserve case = no
2287 See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.
2289 .SS root preexec (S)
2291 This is the same as preexec except that the command is run as
2292 root. This is useful for mounting filesystems (such as cdroms) before
2293 a connection is finalised.
2295 .SS root postexec (S)
2297 This is the same as postexec except that the command is run as
2298 root. This is useful for unmounting filesystems (such as cdroms) after
2299 a connection is closed.
2301 .SS set directory (S)
2302 If 'set directory = no', then users of the service may not use the setdir
2303 command to change directory.
2305 The setdir comand is only implemented in the Digital Pathworks client. See the
2306 Pathworks documentation for details.
2316 This enables or disables the honouring of the "share modes" during a
2317 file open. These modes are used by clients to gain exclusive read or
2318 write access to a file.
2320 These open modes are not directly supported by UNIX, so they are
2321 simulated using lock files in the "lock directory". The "lock
2322 directory" specified in smb.conf must be readable by all users.
2324 The share modes that are enabled by this option are DENY_DOS,
2325 DENY_ALL, DENY_READ, DENY_WRITE, DENY_NONE and DENY_FCB.
2327 Enabling this option gives full share compatability but may cost a bit
2328 of processing time on the UNIX server. They are enabled by default.
2336 .SS socket address (G)
2338 This option allows you to control what address Samba will listen for
2339 connections on. This is used to support multiple virtual interfaces on
2340 the one server, each with a different configuration.
2342 By default samba will accept connections on any address.
2345 socket address = 192.168.2.20
2347 .SS socket options (G)
2348 This option (which can also be invoked with the -O command line
2349 option) allows you to set socket options to be used when talking with
2352 Socket options are controls on the networking layer of the operating
2353 systems which allow the connection to be tuned.
2355 This option will typically be used to tune your Samba server for
2356 optimal performance for your local network. There is no way that Samba
2357 can know what the optimal parameters are for your net, so you must
2358 experiment and choose them yourself. I strongly suggest you read the
2359 appropriate documentation for your operating system first (perhaps
2360 "man setsockopt" will help).
2362 You may find that on some systems Samba will say "Unknown socket
2363 option" when you supply an option. This means you either mis-typed it
2364 or you need to add an include file to includes.h for your OS. If the
2365 latter is the case please send the patch to me
2366 (samba-bugs@anu.edu.au).
2368 Any of the supported socket options may be combined in any way you
2369 like, as long as your OS allows it.
2371 This is the list of socket options currently settable using this
2394 Those marked with a * take an integer argument. The others can
2395 optionally take a 1 or 0 argument to enable or disable the option, by
2396 default they will be enabled if you don't specify 1 or 0.
2398 To specify an argument use the syntax SOME_OPTION=VALUE for example
2399 SO_SNDBUF=8192. Note that you must not have any spaces before or after
2402 If you are on a local network then a sensible option might be
2404 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY
2406 If you have an almost unloaded local network and you don't mind a lot
2407 of extra CPU usage in the server then you could try
2409 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY
2411 If you are on a wide area network then perhaps try setting
2414 Note that several of the options may cause your Samba server to fail
2415 completely. Use these options with caution!
2421 socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY
2427 This enables or disables logging of connections to a status file that
2433 won't be able to tell you what
2434 connections are active.
2443 This is a boolean that controls whether to strip trailing dots off
2444 filenames. This helps with some CDROMs that have filenames ending in a
2447 NOTE: This option is now obsolete, and may be removed in future. You
2448 should use the "mangled map" option instead as it is much more
2451 .SS strict locking (S)
2452 This is a boolean that controls the handling of file locking in the
2453 server. When this is set to yes the server will check every read and
2454 write access for file locks, and deny access if locks exist. This can
2455 be slow on some systems.
2457 When strict locking is "no" the server does file lock checks only when
2458 the client explicitly asks for them.
2460 Well behaved clients always ask for lock checks when it is important,
2461 so in the vast majority of cases "strict locking = no" is preferable.
2467 strict locking = yes
2471 This is a boolean parameter that controls whether writes will always
2472 be written to stable storage before the write call returns. If this is
2473 false then the server will be guided by the client's request in each
2474 write call (clients can set a bit indicating that a particular write
2475 should be synchronous). If this is true then every write will be
2476 followed by a fsync() call to ensure the data is written to disk.
2485 This parameter is a setting in minutes to add to the normal GMT to
2486 local time conversion. This is useful if you are serving a lot of PCs
2487 that have incorrect daylight saving time handling.
2499 A synonym for this parameter is 'user'.
2501 Multiple users may be specified in a comma-delimited list, in which case the
2502 supplied password will be tested against each username in turn (left to right).
2504 The username= line is needed only when the PC is unable to supply its own
2505 username. This is the case for the coreplus protocol or where your
2506 users have different WfWg usernames to UNIX usernames. In both these
2507 cases you may also be better using the \\\\server\\share%user syntax
2510 The username= line is not a great solution in many cases as it means Samba
2511 will try to validate the supplied password against each of the
2512 usernames in the username= line in turn. This is slow and a bad idea for
2513 lots of users in case of duplicate passwords. You may get timeouts or
2514 security breaches using this parameter unwisely.
2516 Samba relies on the underlying UNIX security. This parameter does not
2517 restrict who can login, it just offers hints to the Samba server as to
2518 what usernames might correspond to the supplied password. Users can
2519 login as whoever they please and they will be able to do no more
2520 damage than if they started a telnet session. The daemon runs as the
2521 user that they log in as, so they cannot do anything that user cannot
2524 To restrict a service to a particular set of users you can use the
2525 "valid users=" line.
2527 If any of the usernames begin with a @ then the name will be looked up
2528 in the groups file and will expand to a list of all users in the group
2529 of that name. Note that searching though a groups file can take quite
2530 some time, and some clients may time out during the search.
2532 See the section below on username/password validation for more information
2533 on how this parameter determines access to the services.
2536 The guest account if a guest service, else the name of the service.
2540 username = fred, mary, jack, jane, @users, @pcgroup
2542 .SS username map (G)
2544 This option allows you to to specify a file containing a mapping of
2545 usernames from the clients to the server. This can be used for several
2546 purposes. The most common is to map usernames that users use on DOS or
2547 Windows machines to those that the UNIX box uses. The other is to map
2548 multiple users to a single username so that they can more easily share
2551 The map file is parsed line by line. Each line should contain a single
2552 UNIX username on the left then a '=' followed by a list of usernames
2553 on the right. The list of usernames on the right may contain names of
2554 the form @group in which case they will match any UNIX username in
2555 that group. The special client name '*' is a wildcard and matches any
2558 The file is processed on each line by taking the supplied username and
2559 comparing it with each username on the right hand side of the '='
2560 signs. If the supplied name matches any of the names on the right
2561 hand side then it is replaced with the name on the left. Processing
2562 then continues with the next line.
2564 If any line begins with a '#' or a ';' then it is ignored
2566 For example to map from the name "admin" or "administrator" to the UNIX
2567 name "root" you would use
2569 root = admin administrator
2571 Or to map anyone in the UNIX group "system" to the UNIX name "sys" you
2576 You can have as many mappings as you like in a username map file.
2578 Note that the remapping is applied to all occurances of
2579 usernames. Thus if you connect to "\\\\server\\fred" and "fred" is
2580 remapped to "mary" then you will actually be connecting to
2581 "\\\\server\\mary" and will need to supply a password suitable for
2582 "mary" not "fred". The only exception to this is the username passed
2583 to the "password server" (if you have one). The password server will
2584 receive whatever username the client supplies without modification.
2586 Also note that no reverse mapping is done. The main effect this has is
2587 with printing. Users who have been mapped may have trouble deleting
2588 print jobs as PrintManager under WfWg will think they don't own the
2595 username map = /usr/local/samba/lib/users.map
2599 The option allows you to specify additional characters that should be
2600 considered valid by the server in filenames. This is particularly
2601 useful for national character sets, such as adding u-umlaut or a-ring.
2603 The option takes a list of characters in either integer or character
2604 form with spaces between them. If you give two characters with a colon
2605 between them then it will be taken as an lowercase:uppercase pair.
2607 If you have an editor capable of entering the characters into the
2608 config file then it is probably easiest to use this method. Otherwise
2609 you can specify the characters in octal, decimal or hexidecimal form
2610 using the usual C notation.
2612 For example to add the single character 'Z' to the charset (which is a
2613 pointless thing to do as it's already there) you could do one of the
2618 valid chars = 0132:0172
2620 The last two examples above actually add two characters, and alter
2621 the uppercase and lowercase mappings appropriately.
2625 Samba defaults to using a reasonable set of valid characters
2630 valid chars = 0345:0305 0366:0326 0344:0304
2632 The above example allows filenames to have the swedish characters in
2635 NOTE: It is actually quite difficult to correctly produce a "valid
2636 chars" line for a particular system. To automate the process
2637 tino@augsburg.net has written a package called "validchars" which will
2638 automatically produce a complete "valid chars" line for a given client
2639 system. Look in the examples subdirectory for this package.
2642 This is a list of users that should be allowed to login to this
2643 service. A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group.
2645 If this is empty (the default) then any user can login. If a username
2646 is in both this list and the "invalid users" list then access is
2647 denied for that user.
2649 The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the
2652 See also "invalid users"
2655 No valid users list. (anyone can login)
2658 valid users = greg, @pcusers
2661 This allows you to override the volume label returned for a
2662 share. Useful for CDROMs with installation programs that insist on a
2663 particular volume label.
2665 The default is the name of the share
2668 This parameter controls whether or not links in the UNIX file system may be
2669 followed by the server. Links that point to areas within the directory tree
2670 exported by the server are always allowed; this parameter controls access
2671 only to areas that are outside the directory tree being exported.
2681 This is a boolean that controls if nmbd will respond to broadcast name
2682 queries on behalf of other hosts. You may need to set this to no for
2687 .SS wins support (G)
2689 This boolean controls if Samba will act as a WINS server. You should
2690 normally set this to true unless you already have another WINS server
2697 This specifies the DNS name of the WINS server that Samba should
2698 register with. If you have a WINS server on your network then you
2699 should set this to the WINS servers name.
2701 This option only takes effect if Samba is not acting as a WINS server
2708 This controls what workgroup your server will appear to be in when
2709 queried by clients. This can be different to the workgroup specified
2710 in the nmbd configuration, but it is probably best if you set them to
2725 A synonym for this parameter is 'write ok'. An inverted synonym is 'read only'.
2727 If this parameter is 'no', then users of a service may not create or modify
2728 files in the service's directory.
2730 Note that a printable service ('printable = yes') will ALWAYS allow
2731 writing to the directory (user privileges permitting), but only via
2732 spooling operations.
2742 This is a list of users that are given read-write access to a
2743 service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will be
2744 given write access, no matter what the "read only" option is set
2745 to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax.
2747 Note that if a user is in both the read list and the write list then
2748 they will be given write access.
2750 See also the "read list" option
2756 write list = admin, root, @staff
2759 This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw writes when
2760 transferring data from clients.
2767 .SH NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION
2768 There are a number of ways in which a user can connect to a
2769 service. The server follows the following steps in determining if it
2770 will allow a connection to a specified service. If all the steps fail
2771 then the connection request is rejected. If one of the steps pass then
2772 the following steps are not checked.
2774 If the service is marked "guest only = yes" then steps 1 to 5 are skipped
2776 Step 1: If the client has passed a username/password pair and that
2777 username/password pair is validated by the UNIX system's password
2778 programs then the connection is made as that username. Note that this
2779 includes the \\\\server\\service%username method of passing a username.
2781 Step 2: If the client has previously registered a username with the
2782 system and now supplies a correct password for that username then the
2783 connection is allowed.
2785 Step 3: The client's netbios name and any previously used user names
2786 are checked against the supplied password, if they match then the
2787 connection is allowed as the corresponding user.
2789 Step 4: If the client has previously validated a username/password
2790 pair with the server and the client has passed the validation token
2791 then that username is used. This step is skipped if "revalidate = yes"
2794 Step 5: If a "user = " field is given in the smb.conf file for the
2795 service and the client has supplied a password, and that password
2796 matches (according to the UNIX system's password checking) with one of
2797 the usernames from the user= field then the connection is made as the
2798 username in the "user=" line. If one of the username in the user= list
2799 begins with a @ then that name expands to a list of names in the group
2802 Step 6: If the service is a guest service then a connection is made as
2803 the username given in the "guest account =" for the service,
2804 irrespective of the supplied password.
2806 Although the configuration file permits service names to contain spaces,
2807 your client software may not. Spaces will be ignored in comparisons anyway,
2808 so it shouldn't be a problem - but be aware of the possibility.
2810 On a similar note, many clients - especially DOS clients - limit service
2811 names to eight characters. Smbd has no such limitation, but attempts
2812 to connect from such clients will fail if they truncate the service names.
2813 For this reason you should probably keep your service names down to eight
2814 characters in length.
2816 Use of the [homes] and [printers] special sections make life for an
2817 administrator easy, but the various combinations of default attributes can be
2818 tricky. Take extreme care when designing these sections. In particular,
2819 ensure that the permissions on spool directories are correct.
2821 This man page is (mostly) correct for version 1.9.00 of the Samba suite, plus some
2822 of the recent patches to it. These notes will necessarily lag behind
2823 development of the software, so it is possible that your version of
2824 the server has extensions or parameter semantics that differ from or are not
2825 covered by this man page. Please notify these to the address below for
2828 Prior to version 1.5.21 of the Samba suite, the configuration file was
2829 radically different (more primitive). If you are using a version earlier than
2830 1.8.05, it is STRONGLY recommended that you upgrade.
2835 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
2844 .BR hosts_access (5)
2846 [This section under construction]
2848 Most diagnostics issued by the server are logged in a specified log file. The
2849 log file name is specified at compile time, but may be overridden on the
2850 smbd command line (see
2853 The number and nature of diagnostics available depends on the debug level used
2854 by the server. If you have problems, set the debug level to 3 and peruse the
2857 Most messages are reasonably self-explanatory. Unfortunately, at time of
2858 creation of this man page the source code is still too fluid to warrant
2859 describing each and every diagnostic. At this stage your best bet is still
2860 to grep the source code and inspect the conditions that gave rise to the
2861 diagnostics you are seeing.
2865 Please send bug reports, comments and so on to:
2868 .B samba-bugs@anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)
2871 or to the mailing list:
2874 .B samba@listproc.anu.edu.au
2877 You may also like to subscribe to the announcement channel:
2880 .B samba-announce@listproc.anu.edu.au
2883 To subscribe to these lists send a message to
2884 listproc@listproc.anu.edu.au with a body of "subscribe samba Your
2885 Name" or "subscribe samba-announce Your Name".
2887 Errors or suggestions for improvements to the Samba man pages should be
2891 .B samba-bugs@anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)
git.samba.org / kai / samba.git / blob