Some initial questions on Samba

[John Blair]

stevenma at lion.shu.edu said:
> 1)  We're going to be running Samba in a VERY large environment
> (12,000+ users) when we edit the smb.conf file, what are we doing to
> those users? Are we locking them out, or will they continue on as

Nothing, as long as the file that you save when your done editing doesn't
have any errors.

> normal?  Also, when we've made the changes to the smb.conf file, how
> does Samba pick up those changes?  I'm under the impression that it
> re-reads the smb.conf file every few minutes, is this true?  I'm sure
> there's a way to FORCE a reload of the smb.conf without booting all
> the users logged in right?

smbd checks if the smb.conf file has changed whenever it accesses a
variable that could be set in the file.  Thus, changes take effect
immediately in smbd.  You have to re-start nmbd (the name daemon) for
changes to take effect properly.

stevenma at lion.shu.edu said:
> 2)  Printers - We have about 150 printer queues that we'll need to set
> up. Most of these printers will be publicly available, so the default
> way of displaying all the Printer Queues works fine.  BUT :)  There
> are a few we need to restrict.  The question is, can I leave the
> default way of showing all the printers, but then add in config lines
> for the restricted printers after the original [Printers] line?  If
> so, the individual printer configurations will overide the default
> "display all queues" config section right?

Hmmm... not exactly.  I would solve this problem by creating a virtual
server using substitution macros.  The virtual server would contain all of
your "secret" printers.  This is actually a common solution for large
servers because it allows you to abstract specific services from a
specific server name, allowing you to move them to another server without
affecting what a user sees.  I don't have time to write up how to do this
right now-- if you need help, e-mail me.

stevenma at lion.shu.edu said:
> 3)  Are there any other web sites than the "official" Samba web site
> that has info on Samba, such as script files, sample configurations
> for larger sites etc?

I just wrote a book about Samba containing just this sort of information.
It will be back from the printer in about 1 week.  You can order it here:

http://www.clbooks.com/sqlnut/SP/search/gtsumt?source=&isbn=1578310067

I'll be making a more official announcement on the samba list when its
actually in bookstores.

 -john.

......................................................................
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