smbclient messages to a specific user ?

[Tavis Barr]

Could I make another request to the Samba developers, something along 
these lines for the "It would be nice...." list?  It would be great if 
there were a parameter specifying a file (like /etc/motd) that could be 
sent out as a WinPopUp message to all machines after a successful login.  
Right now we do it through root preexec, but it comes up a little more 
often than we'd like.  I suspect it wouldn't be too hard for someone 
familiar with the Samba code to add in, but I'm not such a person.

With much appreciation,
Tavis


On Fri, 14 Jan 2000, Andrew Perrin - Demography wrote:

> We handle this problem in a not-very-elegant but nevertheless functional
> way:
> 
> - in smb.conf:
> [homes]
> 	...
>   root preexec = echo %u > /opt/samba/status/%m ; echo %T::%u::%m::login
> >> /opt/samba/userlog
>   root postexec = rm -f /opt/samba/status/%m ; echo %T::%u::%m::logout >>
> /opt/samba/userlog
> 
> I then wrote a script (which I'll put at
> http://demog.berkeley.edu/~aperrin/tips/src/ntwall.pl.txt for anyone
> interested) that checks the files in /opt/samba/status and sends popup
> messages only to those machines from which a homes share is currently
> open.  This, in practical terms, maps to those machines into which someone
> is currently logged.  This solves the problem of having winpopup messages
> show up on machines when users log in even if the messages were sent days
> before.
> 
> If you wanted to be more specific, you could check the contents of the
> status/* files and only send to specific users.
> 
> Hope this is of some help.
> 
> ap
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Andrew J. Perrin - aperrin at demog.berkeley.edu - NT/Unix Admin/Support
> Department of Demography    -    University of California at Berkeley
> 2232 Piedmont Avenue #2120  -    Berkeley, California, 94720-2120 USA
> http://demog.berkeley.edu/~aperrin --------------------------SEIU1199
> 
> On Fri, 14 Jan 2000, Cole, Timothy D. wrote:
> 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From:	Dejan Ilic [SMTP:dejan.ilic at home.se]
> > > Sent:	Thursday, January 13, 2000 12:17
> > > To:	Multiple recipients of list SAMBA-NTDOM
> > > Subject:	smbclient messages to a specific user ?
> > > 
> > > Hello.
> > >  I'm using Samba 2.0.5a (PDC) and "smbclient -M" to send feedback messages
> > >  to users sitting on WinNT4 machines. The feedback is mostly accounting
> > >  information like number of pages left that the user can print, or quota
> > >  status when logging in etc.
> > > 
> > >  smbclient can send to a specific (netbiosname) machine but not to a
> > >  specific user on that machine. You can only supply the senders user, not
> > >  receiver. This is not a problem today as we have WinNT workstations where
> > >  only one user at time work, and the messages are usualy directed to that
> > >  user.
> > > 
> > >  But there are two problems with this limitation:
> > >  *) Ie when printing a lengthy document the user can log out, leave the
> > >     machine and got to the printer and wait for the printer to finish its
> > >     job. When the job is done the server will send a message to the
> > >     computer, but the user has left, and the message will be printed on
> > > the
> > >     loginscreen, or to the next user sitting on by the computer now!
> > > 
> > >     This could lead to some confusion and possibly leaking of semi-private
> > > 
> > >     information. I would like to avoid that if possible by directing the
> > >     message to a specific user on that machine. The other users should not
> > >     be able to see the message.
> > > 
> > >  *) The limitation will become unbearable when we start using WinNT 
> > >     Terminal Servers here. Sending a message to a TS could mean that all
> > >     the users logged in will se the message (?), when only one in realy
> > >     interested in the result. You could imagine a server with 20-35 users
> > >     logged in and every time someone prints or logs in everybody get a
> > >     message that they realy shouldn't receive.
> > > 
> > > Windows NT4 "net send" command has a possibility to send to a specific
> > > user. I must admit that I haven't used it, but it indicates that it should
> > > work.
> > > 
> > > Is it possible to extend smbclient so that it can send messages to a
> > > specific user on a specific machine (or domain), or is it a limitation in
> > > Windows implementation ? Hopefully implemented in a Samba 2.0.x :-)
> > > 
> > 	Basically the way it works is that each user that logs in registers
> > a NetBIOS/WINS record:  username<03h>, with the IP of the machine they're
> > logged in on.  I believe when net send sends to a specific user, it looks up
> > this record, then dispatches the message to the messenger service at that
> > particular IP.
> > 
> > 	I don't think it's any more involved than that, since it's not
> > unheard of to have problems with having two users with the same name in
> > different domains to each randomly get print notifications and other
> > messages intended for the other.  I think this is because the domain isn't a
> > component of the 0x03 name, so the most recent user to log in gets all
> > messages for all users with the same name in all domains.
> > 
> > 	This also suggests to me that the actual windows messanging setup is
> > machine-based, rather than user-based.  I have really no idea how terminal
> > server copes with that, or if it even does.
> > 
> 
>