The smb.conf file is a configuration file for the Samba suite. smb.conf contains runtime configuration information for the Samba programs. The smb.conf file is designed to be configured and administered by the swat(8) program. The complete description of the file format and possible parameters held within are here for reference purposes.
The file consists of sections and parameters. A section begins with the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next section begins. Sections contain parameters of the form
name = value .PP The file is line-based - that is, each newline-terminated line represents either a comment, a section name or a parameter.
Section and parameter names are not case sensitive.
Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal whitespace in section and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace within a parameter value is retained verbatim.
Any line beginning with a semicolon (';') or a hash ('#') character is ignored, as are lines containing only whitespace.
Any line ending in a '\' is continued on the next line in the customary UNIX fashion.
The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string (no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved in string values. Some items such as create modes are numeric.
Each section in the configuration file (except for the [global] section) describes a shared resource (known as a "share"). The section name is the name of the shared resource and the parameters within the section define the shares attributes.
There are three special sections, [global], [homes] and [printers], which are described under special sections. The following notes apply to ordinary section descriptions.
A share consists of a directory to which access is being given plus a description of the access rights which are granted to the user of the service. Some housekeeping options are also specifiable.
Sections are either file share services (used by the client as an extension of their native file systems) or printable services (used by the client to access print services on the host running the server).
Sections may be designated guest services, in which case no password is required to access them. A specified UNIX guest account is used to define access privileges in this case.
Sections other than guest services will require a password to access them. The client provides the username. As older clients only provide passwords and not usernames, you may specify a list of usernames to check against the password using the "user =" option in the share definition. For modern clients such as Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000, this should not be necessary.
Note that the access rights granted by the server are masked by the access rights granted to the specified or guest UNIX user by the host system. The server does not grant more access than the host system grants.
The following sample section defines a file space share. The user has write access to the path /home/bar. The share is accessed via the share name "foo":
[foo]
path = /home/bar
writeable = true
The following sample section defines a printable share. The share is readonly, but printable. That is, the only write access permitted is via calls to open, write to and close a spool file. The guest ok parameter means access will be permitted as the default guest user (specified elsewhere):
[aprinter]
path = /usr/spool/public
writeable = false
printable = true
guest ok = true
parameters in this section apply to the server as a whole, or are defaults for sections which do not specifically define certain items. See the notes under PARAMETERS for more information.
If a section called homes is included in the configuration file, services connecting clients to their home directories can be created on the fly by the server.
When the connection request is made, the existing sections are scanned. If a match is found, it is used. If no match is found, the requested section name is treated as a user name and looked up in the local password file. If the name exists and the correct password has been given, a share is created by cloning the [homes] section.
Some modifications are then made to the newly created share:
If you decide to use a path = line in your [homes] section then you may find it useful to use the %S macro. For example :
path = /data/pchome/%S
would be useful if you have different home directories for your PCs than for UNIX access.
This is a fast and simple way to give a large number of clients access to their home directories with a minimum of fuss.
A similar process occurs if the requested section name is "homes", except that the share name is not changed to that of the requesting user. This method of using the [homes] section works well if different users share a client PC.
The [homes] section can specify all the parameters a normal service section can specify, though some make more sense than others. The following is a typical and suitable [homes] section:
[homes]
writeable = yes
An important point is that if guest access is specified in the [homes] section, all home directories will be visible to all clients without a password. In the very unlikely event that this is actually desirable, it would be wise to also specify read only access.
Note that the browseable flag for auto home directories will be inherited from the global browseable flag, not the [homes] browseable flag. This is useful as it means setting browseable = no in the [homes] section will hide the [homes] share but make any auto home directories visible.
This section works like [homes], but for printers.
If a [printers] section occurs in the configuration file, users are able to connect to any printer specified in the local host's printcap file.
When a connection request is made, the existing sections are scanned. If a match is found, it is used. If no match is found, but a [homes] section exists, it is used as described above. Otherwise, the requested section name is treated as a printer name and the appropriate printcap file is scanned to see if the requested section name is a valid printer share name. If a match is found, a new printer share is created by cloning the [printers] section.
A few modifications are then made to the newly created share:
Note that the [printers] service MUST be printable - if you specify otherwise, the server will refuse to load the configuration file.
Typically the path specified would be that of a world-writeable spool directory with the sticky bit set on it. A typical [printers] entry would look like this:
[printers]
path = /usr/spool/public
guest ok = yes
printable = yes
All aliases given for a printer in the printcap file are legitimate printer names as far as the server is concerned. If your printing subsystem doesn't work like that, you will have to set up a pseudo-printcap. This is a file consisting of one or more lines like this:
alias|alias|alias|alias...
Each alias should be an acceptable printer name for your printing subsystem. In the [global] section, specify the new file as your printcap. The server will then only recognize names found in your pseudo-printcap, which of course can contain whatever aliases you like. The same technique could be used simply to limit access to a subset of your local printers.
An alias, by the way, is defined as any component of the first entry of a printcap record. Records are separated by newlines, components (if there are more than one) are separated by vertical bar symbols ('|').
NOTE: On SYSV systems which use lpstat to determine what printers are defined on the system you may be able to use "printcap name = lpstat" to automatically obtain a list of printers. See the "printcap name" option for more details.
parameters define the specific attributes of sections.
Some parameters are specific to the [global] section (e.g., security). Some parameters are usable in all sections (e.g., create mode). All others are permissible only in normal sections. For the purposes of the following descriptions the [homes] and [printers] sections will be considered normal. The letter G in parentheses indicates that a parameter is specific to the [global] section. The letter S indicates that a parameter can be specified in a service specific section. Note that all S parameters can also be specified in the [global] section - in which case they will define the default behavior for all services.
parameters are arranged here in alphabetical order - this may not create best bedfellows, but at least you can find them! Where there are synonyms, the preferred synonym is described, others refer to the preferred synonym.
Many of the strings that are settable in the config file can take substitutions. For example the option "path = /tmp/%u" would be interpreted as "path = /tmp/john" if the user connected with the username john.
These substitutions are mostly noted in the descriptions below, but there are some general substitutions which apply whenever they might be relevant. These are:
Note that this paramater is not available when Samba listens on port 445, as clients no longer send this information
There are some quite creative things that can be done with these substitutions and other smb.conf options.
Samba supports "name mangling" so that DOS and Windows clients can use files that don't conform to the 8.3 format. It can also be set to adjust the case of 8.3 format filenames.
There are several options that control the way mangling is performed, and they are grouped here rather than listed separately. For the defaults look at the output of the testparm program.
All of these options can be set separately for each service (or globally, of course).
The options are:
By default, Samba 2.2 has the same semantics as a Windows NT server, in that it is case insensitive but case preserving.
There are a number of ways in which a user can connect to a service. The server uses the following steps in determining if it will allow a connection to a specified service. If all the steps fail, then the connection request is rejected. However, if one of the steps succeeds, then the following steps are not checked.
If the service is marked "guest only = yes" and the server is running with share-level security ("security = share") then steps 1 to 5 are skipped.
Here is a list of all global parameters. See the section of each parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms.
Here is a list of all service parameters. See the section on each parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms.
For a Samba host this means that the printer must be physically added to the underlying printing system. The add printer command defines a script to be run which will perform the necessary operations for adding the printer to the print system and to add the appropriate service definition to the smb.conf file in order that it can be shared by smbd(8)
The add printer command is automatically invoked with the following parameter (in order:
All parameters are filled in from the PRINTER_INFO_2 structure sent by the Windows NT/2000 client with one exception. The "Windows 9x driver location" parameter is included for backwards compatibility only. The remaining fields in the structure are generated from answers to the APW questions.
Once the add printer command has been executed, smbd will reparse the smb.conf to determine if the share defined by the APW exists. If the sharename is still invalid, then smbd will return an ACCESS_DENIED error to the client.
See also delete printer command, printing, show add printer wizard
Default: none
Example: addprinter command = /usr/bin/addprinter .PP
When executed, smbd will automatically invoke the add share command with four parameters.
This parameter is only used for add file shares. To add printer shares, see the add printer command.
See also change share command, delete share command.
Default: none
Example: add share command = /usr/local/bin/addshare
Normally, a Samba server requires that UNIX users are created for all users accessing files on this server. For sites that use Windows NT account databases as their primary user database creating these users and keeping the user list in sync with the Windows NT PDC is an onerous task. This option allows smbdto create the required UNIX users ON DEMAND when a user accesses the Samba server.
In order to use this option, smbd must NOT be set to security = share and add user script must be set to a full pathname for a script that will create a UNIX user given one argument of %u, which expands into the UNIX user name to create.
When the Windows user attempts to access the Samba server, at login (session setup in the SMB protocol) time, smbdcontacts the password server and attempts to authenticate the given user with the given password. If the authentication succeeds then smbd attempts to find a UNIX user in the UNIX password database to map the Windows user into. If this lookup fails, and add user script is set then smbd will call the specified script AS ROOT, expanding any %u argument to be the user name to create.
If this script successfully creates the user then smbd will continue on as though the UNIX user already existed. In this way, UNIX users are dynamically created to match existing Windows NT accounts.
See also security, password server, delete user script.
Default: add user script = <empty string> Example: add user script = /usr/local/samba/bin/add_user %u
You should use this option very carefully, as any user in this list will be able to do anything they like on the share, irrespective of file permissions.
Default: no admin users
Example: admin users = jason
This is useful if you only want your Samba server to serve resources to users in the domain it is a member of. As an example, suppose that there are two domains DOMA and DOMB. DOMB is trusted by DOMA, which contains the Samba server. Under normal circumstances, a user with an account in DOMB can then access the resources of a UNIX account with the same account name on the Samba server even if they do not have an account in DOMA. This can make implementing a security boundary difficult.
Default: allow trusted domains = yes
Default: announce as = NT Server
Example: announce as = Win95
Default: announce version = 4.5
Example: announce version = 2.0
Default: available = yes
For name service it causes nmbd to bind to ports 137 and 138 on the interfaces listed in the interfaces parameter. nmbd also binds to the "all addresses" interface (0.0.0.0) on ports 137 and 138 for the purposes of reading broadcast messages. If this option is not set then nmbd will service name requests on all of these sockets. If bind interfaces only is set then nmbd will check the source address of any packets coming in on the broadcast sockets and discard any that don't match the broadcast addresses of the interfaces in the interfaces parameter list. As unicast packets are received on the other sockets it allows nmbd to refuse to serve names to machines that send packets that arrive through any interfaces not listed in the interfaces list. IP Source address spoofing does defeat this simple check, however so it must not be used seriously as a security feature for nmbd.
For file service it causes smbd(8) to bind only to the interface list given in the interfaces parameter. This restricts the networks that smbd will serve to packets coming in those interfaces. Note that you should not use this parameter for machines that are serving PPP or other intermittent or non-broadcast network interfaces as it will not cope with non-permanent interfaces.
If bind interfaces only is set then unless the network address 127.0.0.1 is added to the interfaces parameter list smbpasswd(8) and swat(8)may not work as expected due to the reasons covered below.
To change a users SMB password, the smbpasswd by default connects to the localhost - 127.0.0.1 address as an SMB client to issue the password change request. If bind interfaces only is set then unless the network address 127.0.0.1 is added to the interfaces parameter list then smbpasswd will fail to connect in it's default mode. smbpasswd can be forced to use the primary IP interface of the local host by using its -r remote machine parameter, with remote machine set to the IP name of the primary interface of the local host.
The swat status page tries to connect with smbd and nmbd at the address 127.0.0.1 to determine if they are running. Not adding 127.0.0.1 will cause smbd and nmbd to always show "not running" even if they really are. This can prevent swat from starting/stopping/restarting smbd and nmbd.
Default: bind interfaces only = no
Changing this parameter may have some effect on the efficiency of client writes, this is not yet confirmed. This parameter was added to allow advanced administrators to change it (usually to a higher value) and test the effect it has on client write performance without re-compiling the code. As this is an experimental option it may be removed in a future release.
Changing this option does not change the disk free reporting size, just the block size unit reported to the client.
Default: block size = 1024
Example: block size = 65536
If this parameter is set and the lock range requested cannot be immediately satisfied, Samba 2.2 will internally queue the lock request, and periodically attempt to obtain the lock until the timeout period expires.
If this parameter is set to false, then Samba 2.2 will behave as previous versions of Samba would and will fail the lock request immediately if the lock range cannot be obtained.
Default: blocking locks = yes
Default: browse list = yes
Default: browseable = yes
Default: case sensitive = no
Default: change notify timeout = 60
Example: change notify timeout = 300
Would change the scan time to every 5 minutes.
When executed, smbd will automatically invoke the change share command with four parameters.
This parameter is only used modify existing file shares definitions. To modify printer shares, use the "Printers..." folder as seen when browsing the Samba host.
See also add share command, delete share command.
Default: none
Example: change share command = /usr/local/bin/addshare
BUG. These MSDOS code page to UNIX character set mappings should be dynamic, like the loading of MS DOS code pages, not static.
Normally this parameter is not set, meaning no filename translation is done.
Default: character set = <empty string>
Example: character set = ISO8859-1
This parameter tells smbd(8) which of the codepage.XXX files to dynamically load on startup. These files, described more fully in the manual page make_smbcodepage(1), tell smbd how to map lower to upper case characters to provide the case insensitivity of filenames that Windows clients expect.
Samba currently ships with the following code page files :
Thus this parameter may have any of the values 437, 737, 850, 852, 861, 932, 936, 949, or 950. If you don't find the codepage you need, read the comments in one of the other codepage files and the make_smbcodepage(1) man page and write one. Please remember to donate it back to the Samba user community.
This parameter co-operates with the valid chars parameter in determining what characters are valid in filenames and how capitalization is done. If you set both this parameter and the valid chars parameter the client code page parameter MUST be set before the valid chars parameter in the smb.conf file. The valid chars string will then augment the character settings in the client code page parameter.
If not set, client code page defaults to 850.
See also : valid chars, code page directory
Default: client code page = 850
Example: client code page = 936
See also client code page
Default: code page directory = ${prefix}/lib/codepages Example: code page directory = /usr/share/samba/codepages .TP coding system (G) This parameter is used to determine how incoming Shift-JIS Japanese characters are mapped from the incoming client code page used by the client, into file names in the UNIX filesystem. Only useful if client code page is set to 932 (Japanese Shift-JIS). The options are :
Default: coding system = <empty value>
If you want to set the string that is displayed next to the machine name then see the server string parameter.
Default: No comment string
Example: comment = Fred's Files
For this reason, if the name of the config file has changed when the parameters are loaded then it will reload them from the new config file.
This option takes the usual substitutions, which can be very useful.
If the config file doesn't exist then it won't be loaded (allowing you to special case the config files of just a few clients).
Example: config file = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m .TP copy (S) This parameter allows you to "clone" service entries. The specified service is simply duplicated under the current service's name. Any parameters specified in the current section will override those in the section being copied.
This feature lets you set up a 'template' service and create similar services easily. Note that the service being copied must occur earlier in the configuration file than the service doing the copying.
Default: no value
Example: copy = otherservice
When a file is created, the necessary permissions are calculated according to the mapping from DOS modes to UNIX permissions, and the resulting UNIX mode is then bit-wise 'AND'ed with this parameter. This parameter may be thought of as a bit-wise MASK for the UNIX modes of a file. Any bit not set here will be removed from the modes set on a file when it is created.
The default value of this parameter removes the 'group' and 'other' write and execute bits from the UNIX modes.
Following this Samba will bit-wise 'OR' the UNIX mode created from this parameter with the value of the force create mode parameter which is set to 000 by default.
This parameter does not affect directory modes. See the parameter directory mode for details.
See also the force create mode parameter for forcing particular mode bits to be set on created files. See also the directory mode parameter for masking mode bits on created directories. See also the inherit permissions parameter.
Note that this parameter does not apply to permissions set by Windows NT/2000 ACL editors. If the administrator wishes to enforce a mask on access control lists also, they need to set the security mask.
Default: create mask = 0744
Example: create mask = 0775
These values correspond to those used on Windows servers.
For example, shares containing roaming profiles can have offline caching disabled using csc policy = disable .
Default: csc policy = manual
Example: csc policy = programs
This is useful to stop a server's resources being exhausted by a large number of inactive connections.
Most clients have an auto-reconnect feature when a connection is broken so in most cases this parameter should be transparent to users.
Using this parameter with a timeout of a few minutes is recommended for most systems.
A deadtime of zero indicates that no auto-disconnection should be performed.
Default: deadtime = 0
Example: deadtime = 15
Note that the parameter debug timestamp must be on for this to have an effect.
Default: debug hires timestamp = no
Note that the parameter debug timestamp must be on for this to have an effect.
Default: debug pid = no
Default: debug timestamp = yes
Note that the parameter debug timestamp must be on for this to have an effect.
Default: debug uid = no
Default: default case = lower
Most problems with serving printer drivers to Windows NT/2k/XP clients can be traced to a problem with the generated device mode. Certain drivers will do things such as crashing the client's Explorer.exe with a NULL devmode. However, other printer drivers can cause the client's spooler service (spoolsv.exe) to die if the devmode was not created by the driver itself (i.e. smbd generates a default devmode).
This parameter should be used with care and tested with the printer driver in question. It is better to leave the device mode to NULL and let the Windows client set the correct values. Because drivers do not do this all the time, setting default devmode = yes will instruct smbd to generate a default one.
For more information on Windows NT/2k printing and Device Modes, see the MSDN documentation <URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/>.
Default: default devmode = no
There is no default value for this parameter. If this parameter is not given, attempting to connect to a nonexistent service results in an error.
Typically the default service would be a guest ok, read-only service.
Also note that the apparent service name will be changed to equal that of the requested service, this is very useful as it allows you to use macros like %S to make a wildcard service.
Note also that any "_" characters in the name of the service used in the default service will get mapped to a "/". This allows for interesting things.
Example:
[global]
default service = pub
[pub]
path = /%S
For a Samba host this means that the printer must be physically deleted from underlying printing system. The deleteprinter command defines a script to be run which will perform the necessary operations for removing the printer from the print system and from smb.conf.
The delete printer command is automatically called with only one parameter: "printer name".
Once the delete printer command has been executed, smbd will reparse the smb.conf to associated printer no longer exists. If the sharename is still valid, then smbd will return an ACCESS_DENIED error to the client.
See also add printer command, printing, show add printer wizard
Default: none
Example: deleteprinter command = /usr/bin/removeprinter .TP delete readonly (S) This parameter allows readonly files to be deleted. This is not normal DOS semantics, but is allowed by UNIX.
This option may be useful for running applications such as rcs, where UNIX file ownership prevents changing file permissions, and DOS semantics prevent deletion of a read only file.
Default: delete readonly = no
When executed, smbd will automatically invoke the delete share command with two parameters.
This parameter is only used to remove file shares. To delete printer shares, see the delete printer command.
See also add share command, change share command.
Default: none
Example: delete share command = /usr/local/bin/delshare
Normally, a Samba server requires that UNIX users are created for all users accessing files on this server. For sites that use Windows NT account databases as their primary user database creating these users and keeping the user list in sync with the Windows NT PDC is an onerous task. This option allows smbd to delete the required UNIX users ON DEMAND when a user accesses the Samba server and the Windows NT user no longer exists.
In order to use this option, smbd must be set to security = domain or security = user and delete user script must be set to a full pathname for a script that will delete a UNIX user given one argument of %u, which expands into the UNIX user name to delete.
When the Windows user attempts to access the Samba server, at login (session setup in the SMB protocol) time, smbd contacts the password server and attempts to authenticate the given user with the given password. If the authentication fails with the specific Domain error code meaning that the user no longer exists then smbd attempts to find a UNIX user in the UNIX password database that matches the Windows user account. If this lookup succeeds, and delete user script is set then smbd will all the specified script AS ROOT, expanding any %u argument to be the user name to delete.
This script should delete the given UNIX username. In this way, UNIX users are dynamically deleted to match existing Windows NT accounts.
See also security = domain, password server , add user script .
Default: delete user script = <empty string> Example: delete user script = /usr/local/samba/bin/del_user %u
If this option is set to true, then Samba will attempt to recursively delete any files and directories within the vetoed directory. This can be useful for integration with file serving systems such as NetAtalk which create meta-files within directories you might normally veto DOS/Windows users from seeing (e.g. .AppleDouble)
Setting delete veto files = yes allows these directories to be transparently deleted when the parent directory is deleted (so long as the user has permissions to do so).
See also the veto files parameter.
Default: delete veto files = no
This setting allows the replacement of the internal routines to calculate the total disk space and amount available with an external routine. The example below gives a possible script that might fulfill this function.
The external program will be passed a single parameter indicating a directory in the filesystem being queried. This will typically consist of the string ./. The script should return two integers in ASCII. The first should be the total disk space in blocks, and the second should be the number of available blocks. An optional third return value can give the block size in bytes. The default blocksize is 1024 bytes.
Note: Your script should NOT be setuid or setgid and should be owned by (and writeable only by) root!
Default: By default internal routines for determining the disk capacity and remaining space will be used. Example: dfree command = /usr/local/samba/bin/dfree Where the script dfree (which must be made executable) could be:
#!/bin/sh
df $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $2" "$4}'
or perhaps (on Sys V based systems):
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/df -k $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $3" "$5}'
Note that you may have to replace the command names with full path names on some systems.
When a directory is created, the necessary permissions are calculated according to the mapping from DOS modes to UNIX permissions, and the resulting UNIX mode is then bit-wise 'AND'ed with this parameter. This parameter may be thought of as a bit-wise MASK for the UNIX modes of a directory. Any bit not set here will be removed from the modes set on a directory when it is created.
The default value of this parameter removes the 'group' and 'other' write bits from the UNIX mode, allowing only the user who owns the directory to modify it.
Following this Samba will bit-wise 'OR' the UNIX mode created from this parameter with the value of the force directory mode parameter. This parameter is set to 000 by default (i.e. no extra mode bits are added).
Note that this parameter does not apply to permissions set by Windows NT/2000 ACL editors. If the administrator wishes to enforce a mask on access control lists also, they need to set the directory security mask.
See the force directory mode parameter to cause particular mode bits to always be set on created directories.
See also the create mode parameter for masking mode bits on created files, and the directory security mask parameter.
Also refer to the inherit permissions parameter.
Default: directory mask = 0755
Example: directory mask = 0775
This parameter is applied as a mask (AND'ed with) to the changed permission bits, thus preventing any bits not in this mask from being modified. Essentially, zero bits in this mask may be treated as a set of bits the user is not allowed to change.
If not set explicitly this parameter is set to 0777 meaning a user is allowed to modify all the user/group/world permissions on a directory.
Note that users who can access the Samba server through other means can easily bypass this restriction, so it is primarily useful for standalone "appliance" systems. Administrators of most normal systems will probably want to leave it as the default of 0777.
See also the force directory security mode, security mask, force security mode parameters.
Default: directory security mask = 0777
Example: directory security mask = 0700
See also use client driver
Default : disable spoolss = no
Note that the maximum length for a NetBIOS name is 15 characters, so the DNS name (or DNS alias) can likewise only be 15 characters, maximum.
nmbd spawns a second copy of itself to do the DNS name lookup requests, as doing a name lookup is a blocking action.
See also the parameter wins support.
Default: dns proxy = yes
See also domain guest group, domain logons
Default: no domain administrators
Example: domain admin group = root @wheel
See also domain admin group, domain logons
Default: no domain guests
Example: domain guest group = nobody @guest
Default: domain logons = no
Note that Windows NT Primary Domain Controllers expect to be able to claim this workgroup specific special NetBIOS name that identifies them as domain master browsers for that workgroup by default (i.e. there is no way to prevent a Windows NT PDC from attempting to do this). This means that if this parameter is set and nmbd claims the special name for a workgroup before a Windows NT PDC is able to do so then cross subnet browsing will behave strangely and may fail.
If domain logons = yes , then the default behavior is to enable the domain master parameter. If domain logons is not enabled (the default setting), then neither will domain master be enabled by default.
Default: domain master = auto
Note that Samba can be very fussy about the exact format of the "dont descend" entries. For example you may need ./proc instead of just /proc. Experimentation is the best policy :-)
Default: none (i.e., all directories are OK to descend)
Example: dont descend = /proc,/dev
Default: dos filemode = no
This option is mainly used as a compatibility option for Visual C++ when used against Samba shares. If oplocks are enabled on a share, Visual C++ uses two different time reading calls to check if a file has changed since it was last read. One of these calls uses a one-second granularity, the other uses a two second granularity. As the two second call rounds any odd second down, then if the file has a timestamp of an odd number of seconds then the two timestamps will not match and Visual C++ will keep reporting the file has changed. Setting this option causes the two timestamps to match, and Visual C++ is happy.
Default: dos filetime resolution = no
Default: dos filetimes = no
In order for encrypted passwords to work correctly smbd(8)must either have access to a local smbpasswd(5) program for information on how to set up and maintain this file), or set the security = [server|domain] parameter which causes smbd to authenticate against another server.
Default: encrypt passwords = no
The first enhancement to browse propagation consists of a regular wildcard query to a Samba WINS server for all Domain Master Browsers, followed by a browse synchronization with each of the returned DMBs. The second enhancement consists of a regular randomised browse synchronization with all currently known DMBs.
You may wish to disable this option if you have a problem with empty workgroups not disappearing from browse lists. Due to the restrictions of the browse protocols these enhancements can cause a empty workgroup to stay around forever which can be annoying.
In general you should leave this option enabled as it makes cross-subnet browse propagation much more reliable.
Default: enhanced browsing = yes
Default: no enumports command
Example: enumports command = /usr/bin/listports .TP exec (S) This is a synonym for preexec.
This option is mainly used as a compatibility option for Visual C++ when used against Samba shares. Visual C++ generated makefiles have the object directory as a dependency for each object file, and a make rule to create the directory. Also, when NMAKE compares timestamps it uses the creation time when examining a directory. Thus the object directory will be created if it does not exist, but once it does exist it will always have an earlier timestamp than the object files it contains.
However, Unix time semantics mean that the create time reported by Samba will be updated whenever a file is created or or deleted in the directory. NMAKE finds all object files in the object directory. The timestamp of the last one built is then compared to the timestamp of the object directory. If the directory's timestamp if newer, then all object files will be rebuilt. Enabling this option ensures directories always predate their contents and an NMAKE build will proceed as expected.
Default: fake directory create times = no
When you set fake oplocks = yes, smbd(8)will always grant oplock requests no matter how many clients are using the file.
It is generally much better to use the real oplocks support rather than this parameter.
If you enable this option on all read-only shares or shares that you know will only be accessed from one client at a time such as physically read-only media like CDROMs, you will see a big performance improvement on many operations. If you enable this option on shares where multiple clients may be accessing the files read-write at the same time you can get data corruption. Use this option carefully!
Default: fake oplocks = no
This option is enabled (i.e. smbd will follow symbolic links) by default.
Default: follow symlinks = yes
See also the parameter create mask for details on masking mode bits on files.
See also the inherit permissions parameter.
Default: force create mode = 000
Example: force create mode = 0755
would force all created files to have read and execute permissions set for 'group' and 'other' as well as the read/write/execute bits set for the 'user'.
See also the parameter directory mask for details on masking mode bits on created directories.
See also the inherit permissions parameter.
Default: force directory mode = 000
Example: force directory mode = 0755
would force all created directories to have read and execute permissions set for 'group' and 'other' as well as the read/write/execute bits set for the 'user'.
This parameter is applied as a mask (OR'ed with) to the changed permission bits, thus forcing any bits in this mask that the user may have modified to be on. Essentially, one bits in this mask may be treated as a set of bits that, when modifying security on a directory, the user has always set to be 'on'.
If not set explicitly this parameter is 000, which allows a user to modify all the user/group/world permissions on a directory without restrictions.
Note that users who can access the Samba server through other means can easily bypass this restriction, so it is primarily useful for standalone "appliance" systems. Administrators of most normal systems will probably want to leave it set as 0000.
See also the directory security mask, security mask, force security mode parameters.
Default: force directory security mode = 0
Example: force directory security mode = 700
In Samba 2.0.5 and above this parameter has extended functionality in the following way. If the group name listed here has a '+' character prepended to it then the current user accessing the share only has the primary group default assigned to this group if they are already assigned as a member of that group. This allows an administrator to decide that only users who are already in a particular group will create files with group ownership set to that group. This gives a finer granularity of ownership assignment. For example, the setting force group = +sys means that only users who are already in group sys will have their default primary group assigned to sys when accessing this Samba share. All other users will retain their ordinary primary group.
If the force user parameter is also set the group specified in force group will override the primary group set in force user.
See also force user.
Default: no forced group
Example: force group = agroup
This parameter is applied as a mask (OR'ed with) to the changed permission bits, thus forcing any bits in this mask that the user may have modified to be on. Essentially, one bits in this mask may be treated as a set of bits that, when modifying security on a file, the user has always set to be 'on'.
If not set explicitly this parameter is set to 0, and allows a user to modify all the user/group/world permissions on a file, with no restrictions.
Note that users who can access the Samba server through other means can easily bypass this restriction, so it is primarily useful for standalone "appliance" systems. Administrators of most normal systems will probably want to leave this set to 0000.
See also the force directory security mode, directory security mask, security mask parameters.
Default: force security mode = 0
Example: force security mode = 700
This is designed to allow Windows NT clients to copy files and folders containing ACLs that were created locally on the client machine and contain users local to that machine only (no domain users) to be copied to a Samba server (usually with XCOPY /O) and have the unknown userid and groupid of the file owner map to the current connected user. This can only be fixed correctly when winbindd allows arbitrary mapping from any Windows NT SID to a UNIX uid or gid.
Try using this parameter when XCOPY /O gives an ACCESS_DENIED error.
See also force group Default: False
Example: force unknown acl user = yes
This user name only gets used once a connection is established. Thus clients still need to connect as a valid user and supply a valid password. Once connected, all file operations will be performed as the "forced user", no matter what username the client connected as. This can be very useful.
In Samba 2.0.5 and above this parameter also causes the primary group of the forced user to be used as the primary group for all file activity. Prior to 2.0.5 the primary group was left as the primary group of the connecting user (this was a bug).
See also force group Default: no forced user
Example: force user = auser
Default: fstype = NTFS
Example: fstype = Samba
Default: getwd cache = yes
One some systems the default guest account "nobody" may not be able to print. Use another account in this case. You should test this by trying to log in as your guest user (perhaps by using the su - command) and trying to print using the system print command such as lpr(1) or lp(1).
Default: specified at compile time, usually "nobody"
Example: guest account = ftp
See the section below on security for more information about this option.
Default: guest ok = no
See the section below on security for more information about this option.
Default: guest only = no
Default: hide dot files = yes
Each entry in the list must be separated by a '/', which allows spaces to be included in the entry. '*' and '?' can be used to specify multiple files or directories as in DOS wildcards.
Each entry must be a Unix path, not a DOS path and must not include the Unix directory separator '/'.
Note that the case sensitivity option is applicable in hiding files.
Setting this parameter will affect the performance of Samba, as it will be forced to check all files and directories for a match as they are scanned.
See also hide dot files, veto files and case sensitive.
Default: no file are hidden
Example: hide files = /.*/DesktopFolderDB/TrashFor%m/resource.frk/
The above example is based on files that the Macintosh SMB client (DAVE) available from Thursby <URL:http://www.thursby.com> creates for internal use, and also still hides all files beginning with a dot.
Default: hide local users = no
Default: hide unreadable = no
username server:/some/file/system
and the program will extract the servername from before the first ':'. There should probably be a better parsing system that copes with different map formats and also Amd (another automounter) maps.
NOTE :A working NIS client is required on the system for this option to work.
See also nis homedir , domain logons .
Default: homedir map = <empty string>
Example: homedir map = amd.homedir
See also the msdfs root share level parameter. For more information on setting up a Dfs tree on Samba, refer to msdfs_setup.html.
Default: host msdfs = no
This parameter is a comma, space, or tab delimited set of hosts which are permitted to access a service.
If specified in the [global] section then it will apply to all services, regardless of whether the individual service has a different setting.
You can specify the hosts by name or IP number. For example, you could restrict access to only the hosts on a Class C subnet with something like allow hosts = 150.203.5. . The full syntax of the list is described in the man page hosts_access(5). Note that this man page may not be present on your system, so a brief description will be given here also.
Note that the localhost address 127.0.0.1 will always be allowed access unless specifically denied by a hosts deny option.
You can also specify hosts by network/netmask pairs and by netgroup names if your system supports netgroups. The EXCEPT keyword can also be used to limit a wildcard list. The following examples may provide some help:
Example 1: allow all IPs in 150.203.*.*; except one
hosts allow = 150.203. EXCEPT 150.203.6.66
Example 2: allow hosts that match the given network/netmask
hosts allow = 150.203.15.0/255.255.255.0
Example 3: allow a couple of hosts
hosts allow = lapland, arvidsjaur
Example 4: allow only hosts in NIS netgroup "foonet", but deny access from one particular host
hosts allow = @foonet
hosts deny = pirate
Note that access still requires suitable user-level passwords.
See testparm(1) for a way of testing your host access to see if it does what you expect.
Default: none (i.e., all hosts permitted access) Example: allow hosts = 150.203.5. myhost.mynet.edu.au .TP hosts deny (S) The opposite of hosts allow - hosts listed here are NOT permitted access to services unless the specific services have their own lists to override this one. Where the lists conflict, the allow list takes precedence.
Default: none (i.e., no hosts specifically excluded) Example: hosts deny = 150.203.4. badhost.mynet.edu.au .TP hosts equiv (G) If this global parameter is a non-null string, it specifies the name of a file to read for the names of hosts and users who will be allowed access without specifying a password.
This is not be confused with hosts allow which is about hosts access to services and is more useful for guest services. hosts equiv may be useful for NT clients which will not supply passwords to Samba.
NOTE : The use of hosts equiv can be a major security hole. This is because you are trusting the PC to supply the correct username. It is very easy to get a PC to supply a false username. I recommend that the hosts equiv option be only used if you really know what you are doing, or perhaps on a home network where you trust your spouse and kids. And only if you really trust them :-).
Default: no host equivalences
Example: hosts equiv = /etc/hosts.equiv
It takes the standard substitutions, except %u , %P and %S.
Default: no file included
Example: include = /usr/local/samba/lib/admin_smb.conf .TP inherit acls (S) This parameter can be used to ensure that if default acls exist on parent directories, they are always honored when creating a subdirectory. The default behavior is to use the mode specified when creating the directory. Enabling this option sets the mode to 0777, thus guaranteeing that default directory acls are propagated.
Default: inherit acls = no
New directories inherit the mode of the parent directory, including bits such as setgid.
New files inherit their read/write bits from the parent directory. Their execute bits continue to be determined by map archive , map hidden and map system as usual.
Note that the setuid bit is never set via inheritance (the code explicitly prohibits this).
This can be particularly useful on large systems with many users, perhaps several thousand, to allow a single [homes] share to be used flexibly by each user.
See also create mask , directory mask, force create mode and force directory mode .
Default: inherit permissions = no
The option takes a list of interface strings. Each string can be in any of the following forms:
The "mask" parameters can either be a bit length (such as 24 for a C class network) or a full netmask in dotted decimal form.
The "IP" parameters above can either be a full dotted decimal IP address or a hostname which will be looked up via the OS's normal hostname resolution mechanisms.
For example, the following line:
interfaces = eth0 192.168.2.10/24 192.168.3.10/255.255.255.0 .PP
would configure three network interfaces corresponding to the eth0 device and IP addresses 192.168.2.10 and 192.168.3.10. The netmasks of the latter two interfaces would be set to 255.255.255.0.
See also bind interfaces only.
Default: all active interfaces except 127.0.0.1 that are broadcast capable
A name starting with a '@' is interpreted as an NIS netgroup first (if your system supports NIS), and then as a UNIX group if the name was not found in the NIS netgroup database.
A name starting with '+' is interpreted only by looking in the UNIX group database. A name starting with '&' is interpreted only by looking in the NIS netgroup database (this requires NIS to be working on your system). The characters '+' and '&' may be used at the start of the name in either order so the value +&group means check the UNIX group database, followed by the NIS netgroup database, and the value &+group means check the NIS netgroup database, followed by the UNIX group database (the same as the '@' prefix).
The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the [homes] section.
See also valid users .
Default: no invalid users
Example: invalid users = root fred admin @wheel .TP keepalive (G) The value of the parameter (an integer) represents the number of seconds between keepalive packets. If this parameter is zero, no keepalive packets will be sent. Keepalive packets, if sent, allow the server to tell whether a client is still present and responding.
Keepalives should, in general, not be needed if the socket being used has the SO_KEEPALIVE attribute set on it (see socket options). Basically you should only use this option if you strike difficulties.
Default: keepalive = 300
Example: keepalive = 600
Kernel oplocks support allows Samba oplocks to be broken whenever a local UNIX process or NFS operation accesses a file that smbd(8) has oplocked. This allows complete data consistency between SMB/CIFS, NFS and local file access (and is a very cool feature :-).
This parameter defaults to on, but is translated to a no-op on systems that no not have the necessary kernel support. You should never need to touch this parameter.
See also the oplocks and level2 oplocks parameters.
Default: kernel oplocks = yes
Default : lanman auth = yes
Default : large readwrite = no
The ldap admin dn defines the Distinguished Name (DN) name used by Samba to contact the ldap server when retreiving user account information. The ldap admin dn is used in conjunction with the admin dn password stored in the private/secrets.tdb file. See the smbpasswd(8)man page for more information on how to accmplish this.
Default : none
This parameter specifies the RFC 2254 compliant LDAP search filter. The default is to match the login name with the uid attribute for all entries matching the sambaAccount objectclass. Note that this filter should only return one entry.
Default : ldap filter = (&(uid=%u)(objectclass=sambaAccount))
This option is used to control the tcp port number used to contact the ldap server. The default is to use the stand LDAPS port 636.
See Also: ldap ssl
Default : ldap port = 636 ; if ldap ssl = on
Default : ldap port = 389 ; if ldap ssl = off
This parameter should contains the FQDN of the ldap directory server which should be queried to locate user account information.
Default : ldap server = localhost
This option is used to define whether or not Samba should use SSL when connecting to the ldap server. This is NOT related to Samba SSL support which is enabled by specifying the --with-ssl option to the configure script (see ssl).
The ldap ssl can be set to one of three values: (a) on - Always use SSL when contacting the ldap server, (b) off - Never use SSL when querying the directory, or (c) start_tls - Use the LDAPv3 StartTLS extended operation (RFC2830) for communicating with the directory server.
Default : ldap ssl = on
Default : none
Level2, or read-only oplocks allow Windows NT clients that have an oplock on a file to downgrade from a read-write oplock to a read-only oplock once a second client opens the file (instead of releasing all oplocks on a second open, as in traditional, exclusive oplocks). This allows all openers of the file that support level2 oplocks to cache the file for read-ahead only (ie. they may not cache writes or lock requests) and increases performance for many accesses of files that are not commonly written (such as application .EXE files).
Once one of the clients which have a read-only oplock writes to the file all clients are notified (no reply is needed or waited for) and told to break their oplocks to "none" and delete any read-ahead caches.
It is recommended that this parameter be turned on to speed access to shared executables.
For more discussions on level2 oplocks see the CIFS spec.
Currently, if kernel oplocks are supported then level2 oplocks are not granted (even if this parameter is set to yes). Note also, the oplocks parameter must be set to true on this share in order for this parameter to have any effect.
See also the oplocks and kernel oplocks parameters.
Default: level2 oplocks = yes
See also lm interval .
Default: lm announce = auto
Example: lm announce = yes
See also lm announce.
Default: lm interval = 60
Example: lm interval = 120
Default: load printers = yes
Setting this value to false will cause nmbd never to become a local master browser.
Default: local master = yes
Default: lock directory = ${prefix}/var/locks
Example: lock directory = /var/run/samba/locks
Default: lock spin count = 2
Default: lock spin time = 10
If locking = no, all lock and unlock requests will appear to succeed and all lock queries will report that the file in question is available for locking.
If locking = yes, real locking will be performed by the server.
This option may be useful for read-only filesystems which may not need locking (such as CDROM drives), although setting this parameter of no is not really recommended even in this case.
Be careful about disabling locking either globally or in a specific service, as lack of locking may result in data corruption. You should never need to set this parameter.
Default: locking = yes
This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have separate log files for each user or machine.
Example: log file = /usr/local/samba/var/log.%m .TP log level (G) The value of the parameter (an integer) allows the debug level (logging level) to be specified in the smb.conf file. This is to give greater flexibility in the configuration of the system.
The default will be the log level specified on the command line or level zero if none was specified.
Example: log level = 3
Note that this option is only useful if Samba is set up as a logon server.
Default: logon drive = z:
Example: logon drive = h:
C:\> NET USE H: /HOME
from a command prompt, for example.
This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have separate logon scripts for each user or machine.
This parameter can be used with Win9X workstations to ensure that roaming profiles are stored in a subdirectory of the user's home directory. This is done in the following way:
logon home = \\%N\%U\profile
This tells Samba to return the above string, with substitutions made when a client requests the info, generally in a NetUserGetInfo request. Win9X clients truncate the info to \\server\share when a user does net use /home but use the whole string when dealing with profiles.
Note that in prior versions of Samba, the logon path was returned rather than logon home. This broke net use /home but allowed profiles outside the home directory. The current implementation is correct, and can be used for profiles if you use the above trick.
This option is only useful if Samba is set up as a logon server.
Default: logon home = "\\%N\%U"
Example: logon home = "\\remote_smb_server\%U"
This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have separate logon scripts for each user or machine. It also specifies the directory from which the "Application Data", (desktop, start menu, network neighborhood, programs and other folders, and their contents, are loaded and displayed on your Windows NT client.
The share and the path must be readable by the user for the preferences and directories to be loaded onto the Windows NT client. The share must be writeable when the user logs in for the first time, in order that the Windows NT client can create the NTuser.dat and other directories.
Thereafter, the directories and any of the contents can, if required, be made read-only. It is not advisable that the NTuser.dat file be made read-only - rename it to NTuser.man to achieve the desired effect (a MANdatory profile).
Windows clients can sometimes maintain a connection to the [homes] share, even though there is no user logged in. Therefore, it is vital that the logon path does not include a reference to the homes share (i.e. setting this parameter to \%N\%U\profile_path will cause problems).
This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have separate logon scripts for each user or machine.
Note that this option is only useful if Samba is set up as a logon server.
Default: logon path = \\%N\%U\profile
Example: logon path = \\PROFILESERVER\PROFILE\%U
The script must be a relative path to the [netlogon] service. If the [netlogon] service specifies a path of /usr/local/samba/netlogon , and logon script = STARTUP.BAT, then the file that will be downloaded is:
/usr/local/samba/netlogon/STARTUP.BAT
The contents of the batch file are entirely your choice. A suggested command would be to add NET TIME \\SERVER /SET /YES, to force every machine to synchronize clocks with the same time server. Another use would be to add NET USE U: \\SERVER\UTILS for commonly used utilities, or NET USE Q: \\SERVER\ISO9001_QA for example.
Note that it is particularly important not to allow write access to the [netlogon] share, or to grant users write permission on the batch files in a secure environment, as this would allow the batch files to be arbitrarily modified and security to be breached.
This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have separate logon scripts for each user or machine.
This option is only useful if Samba is set up as a logon server.
Default: no logon script defined
Example: logon script = scripts\%U.bat
This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and job number to pause the print job. One way of implementing this is by using job priorities, where jobs having a too low priority won't be sent to the printer.
If a %p is given then the printer name is put in its place. A %j is replaced with the job number (an integer). On HPUX (see printing=hpux ), if the -p%p option is added to the lpq command, the job will show up with the correct status, i.e. if the job priority is lower than the set fence priority it will have the PAUSED status, whereas if the priority is equal or higher it will have the SPOOLED or PRINTING status.
Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lppause command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
See also the printing parameter.
Default: Currently no default value is given to this string, unless the value of the printing parameter is SYSV, in which case the default is :
lp -i %p-%j -H hold
or if the value of the printing parameter is SOFTQ, then the default is:
qstat -s -j%j -h
Example for HPUX: lppause command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p0
The cache files are stored in /tmp/lpq.xxxx where xxxx is a hash of the lpq command in use.
The default is 10 seconds, meaning that the cached results of a previous identical lpq command will be used if the cached data is less than 10 seconds old. A large value may be advisable if your lpq command is very slow.
A value of 0 will disable caching completely.
See also the printing parameter.
Default: lpq cache time = 10
Example: lpq cache time = 30
This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name as its only parameter and outputs printer status information.
Currently nine styles of printer status information are supported; BSD, AIX, LPRNG, PLP, SYSV, HPUX, QNX, CUPS, and SOFTQ. This covers most UNIX systems. You control which type is expected using the printing = option.
Some clients (notably Windows for Workgroups) may not correctly send the connection number for the printer they are requesting status information about. To get around this, the server reports on the first printer service connected to by the client. This only happens if the connection number sent is invalid.
If a %p is given then the printer name is put in its place. Otherwise it is placed at the end of the command.
Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpq command as the $PATH may not be available to the server. When compiled with the CUPS libraries, no lpq command is needed because smbd will make a library call to obtain the print queue listing.
See also the printing parameter.
Default: depends on the setting of printing
Example: lpq command = /usr/bin/lpq -P%p
This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and job number to resume the print job. See also the lppause command parameter.
If a %p is given then the printer name is put in its place. A %j is replaced with the job number (an integer).
Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpresume command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
See also the printing parameter.
Default: Currently no default value is given to this string, unless the value of the printing parameter is SYSV, in which case the default is :
lp -i %p-%j -H resume
or if the value of the printing parameter is SOFTQ, then the default is:
qstat -s -j%j -r
Example for HPUX: lpresume command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p2
This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and job number, and deletes the print job.
If a %p is given then the printer name is put in its place. A %j is replaced with the job number (an integer).
Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lprm command as the PATH may not be available to the server.
See also the printing parameter.
Default: depends on the setting of printing Example 1: lprm command = /usr/bin/lprm -P%p %j Example 2: lprm command = /usr/bin/cancel %p-%j .TP machine password timeout (G) If a Samba server is a member of a Windows NT Domain (see the security = domain) parameter) then periodically a running smbd(8)process will try and change the MACHINE ACCOUNT PASSWORD stored in the TDB called private/secrets.tdb . This parameter specifies how often this password will be changed, in seconds. The default is one week (expressed in seconds), the same as a Windows NT Domain member server.
See also smbpasswd(8) , and the security = domain) parameter.
Default: machine password timeout = 604800
Warning: If two clients use the same magic script in the same directory the output file content is undefined.
Default: magic output = <magic script name>.out Example: magic output = myfile.txt
Scripts executed in this way will be deleted upon completion assuming that the user has the appropriate level of privilege and the file permissions allow the deletion.
If the script generates output, output will be sent to the file specified by the magic output parameter (see above).
Note that some shells are unable to interpret scripts containing CR/LF instead of CR as the end-of-line marker. Magic scripts must be executable as is on the host, which for some hosts and some shells will require filtering at the DOS end.
Magic scripts are EXPERIMENTAL and should NOT be relied upon.
Default: None. Magic scripts disabled.
Example: magic script = user.csh
Default: mangle case = no
So to map html to htm you would use:
mangled map = (*.html *.htm)
One very useful case is to remove the annoying ;1 off the ends of filenames on some CDROMs (only visible under some UNIXes). To do this use a map of (*;1 *;).
Default: no mangled map
Example: mangled map = (*;1 *;)
See the section on NAME MANGLING for details on how to control the mangling process.
If mangling algorithm "hash" is used then the mangling algorithm is as follows:
Note that the character to use may be specified using the mangling char option, if you don't like '~'.