1 <samba:parameter name="password server"
4 advanced="1" wizard="1" developer="1"
5 xmlns:samba="http://www.samba.org/samba/DTD/samba-doc">
7 <para>By specifying the name of another SMB server
8 or Active Directory domain controller with this option,
9 and using <command moreinfo="none">security = [ads|domain|server]</command>
10 it is possible to get Samba
11 to do all its username/password validation using a specific remote server.</para>
13 <para>This option sets the name or IP address of the password server to use.
14 New syntax has been added to support defining the port to use when connecting
15 to the server the case of an ADS realm. To define a port other than the
16 default LDAP port of 389, add the port number using a colon after the
17 name or IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.100:389). If you do not specify a port,
18 Samba will use the standard LDAP port of tcp/389. Note that port numbers
19 have no effect on password servers for Windows NT 4.0 domains or netbios
22 <para>If parameter is a name, it is looked up using the
23 parameter <smbconfoption name="name resolve order"/> and so may resolved
24 by any method and order described in that parameter.</para>
26 <para>The password server must be a machine capable of using
27 the "LM1.2X002" or the "NT LM 0.12" protocol, and it must be in
28 user level security mode.</para>
30 <note><para>Using a password server means your UNIX box (running
31 Samba) is only as secure as your password server. <emphasis>DO NOT
32 CHOOSE A PASSWORD SERVER THAT YOU DON'T COMPLETELY TRUST</emphasis>.
35 <para>Never point a Samba server at itself for password serving.
36 This will cause a loop and could lock up your Samba server!</para>
38 <para>The name of the password server takes the standard
39 substitutions, but probably the only useful one is <parameter moreinfo="none">%m
40 </parameter>, which means the Samba server will use the incoming
41 client as the password server. If you use this then you better
42 trust your clients, and you had better restrict them with hosts allow!</para>
44 <para>If the <parameter moreinfo="none">security</parameter> parameter is set to
45 <constant>domain</constant> or <constant>ads</constant>, then the list of machines in this
46 option must be a list of Primary or Backup Domain controllers for the
47 Domain or the character '*', as the Samba server is effectively
48 in that domain, and will use cryptographically authenticated RPC calls
49 to authenticate the user logging on. The advantage of using <command moreinfo="none">
50 security = domain</command> is that if you list several hosts in the
51 <parameter moreinfo="none">password server</parameter> option then <command moreinfo="none">smbd
52 </command> will try each in turn till it finds one that responds. This
53 is useful in case your primary server goes down.</para>
55 <para>If the <parameter moreinfo="none">password server</parameter> option is set
56 to the character '*', then Samba will attempt to auto-locate the
57 Primary or Backup Domain controllers to authenticate against by
58 doing a query for the name <constant>WORKGROUP<1C></constant>
59 and then contacting each server returned in the list of IP
60 addresses from the name resolution source. </para>
62 <para>If the list of servers contains both names/IP's and the '*'
63 character, the list is treated as a list of preferred
64 domain controllers, but an auto lookup of all remaining DC's
65 will be added to the list as well. Samba will not attempt to optimize
66 this list by locating the closest DC.</para>
68 <para>If the <parameter moreinfo="none">security</parameter> parameter is
69 set to <constant>server</constant>, then there are different
70 restrictions that <command moreinfo="none">security = domain</command> doesn't
75 <para>You may list several password servers in
76 the <parameter moreinfo="none">password server</parameter> parameter, however if an
77 <command moreinfo="none">smbd</command> makes a connection to a password server,
78 and then the password server fails, no more users will be able
79 to be authenticated from this <command moreinfo="none">smbd</command>. This is a
80 restriction of the SMB/CIFS protocol when in <command moreinfo="none">security = server
81 </command> mode and cannot be fixed in Samba.</para>
85 <para>If you are using a Windows NT server as your
86 password server then you will have to ensure that your users
87 are able to login from the Samba server, as when in <command moreinfo="none">
88 security = server</command> mode the network logon will appear to
89 come from there rather than from the users workstation.</para>
94 <related>security</related>
95 <value type="default">*</value>
96 <value type="example">NT-PDC, NT-BDC1, NT-BDC2, *</value>
97 <value type="example">windc.mydomain.com:389 192.168.1.101 *</value>