Samba As Login Server - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP2 - DEPLOYMENT GUIDE 08-05-2008 Deployment Manual

36.5 Samba as Login Server

In networks where predominantly Windows clients are found, it is often preferable that
users may only register with a valid account and password. In a Windows-based network,
this task is handled by a primary domain controller (PDC). You can use a Windows
NT server configured as PDC, but this task can also be done with the help of a Samba
server. The entries that must be made in the [global] section of smb.conf are
shown in
Example 36.3 Global Section in smb.conf
If encrypted passwords are used for verification purposes—this is the default setting
with well-maintained MS Windows 9x installations, MS Windows NT 4.0 from service
pack 3, and all later products—the Samba server must be able to handle these. The entry
encrypt passwords = yes in the [global] section enables this (with Samba
version 3, this is now the default). In addition, it is necessary to prepare user accounts
and passwords in an encryption format that conforms with Windows. Do this with the
command smbpasswd -a name. Create the domain account for the computers, re-
quired by the Windows NT domain concept, with the following commands:
Example 36.4 Setting Up a Machine Account
useradd hostname\$
smbpasswd -a -m hostname
With the useradd command, a dollar sign is added. The command smbpasswd inserts
this automatically when the parameter -m is used. The commented configuration example
(/usr/share/doc/packages/Samba/examples/smb.conf.SuSE) contains
settings that automate this task.
Example 36.5 Automated Setup of a Machine Account
add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd -g nogroup -c "NT Machine Account" \
-s /bin/false %m\$
700 Deployment Guide
Example 36.3, "Global Section in smb.conf"
[global]
workgroup = TUX-NET
domain logons = Yes
domain master = Yes
(page 700).