[Samba] winbindd speeds up 3.0.x with "security = server"

[Eric Ziegenhorn]

We use "security = server" in order to achieve centralized password
management and seamless windows integration for some of our users.
Regardless of the intelligence of doing so, there is a noticable several
hundred percent slowdown when we switched from Samba 2.2.x to 3.0.x.  I've
tried 3.0.8, 3.0.10, 3.0.11, 3.0.22 and 3.0.23rc1 -- they all are much
slower for opening files, browsing, mapping network drives -- pretty much
everything.  Using "security = user" makes everything fast again, but isn't
practical for our use.

I couldn't tell you why, but I have a hunch the problem is with netbios name
resolution.  So I tried running winbindd, which I vaguely remembered did
some kind of name caching (could be wrong here).  With no winbindd-specific
configuration, running winbindd did the trick and everything ran fast again,
just like it did in the 2.2.x series without winbindd running.

I'd like to figure out why this is, but a more pressing practical concern is
that I can only get winbindd to run in Samba 3.0.10 (I'm using precompiled
binaries from sunfreeware.com on Sparc/Solaris 9 & 10 platforms .)  Using
3.0.11, 3.0.22 or 3.0.23rc1, windbindd aborts just after startup, I presume
because I haven't done any configuration for it.  Any ideas on why winbindd
runs in 3.0.10 and not later releases?  Any idea on why it helps the slow
speeds I was seeing with 3.0.x but not 2.2.x with the same config file?

My config is fairly vanilla minus the "security = server" aspect.  Here it
is:


[global]
        workgroup = UNIX
        security = SERVER
        password server = server03
        passwd program = /bin/passwd %u
        preferred master = No
        local master = No
        domain master = No


[homes]
        read only = No


I found a fairly old post from one person who also claimed performance
dropped significantly from 2.2.x to 3.0.x when using "security = server",
but there were no responses regarding that claim.  If you can help explain
things, thanks in advance!

Eric