/etc/passwd and smbpasswd

[Adam Tauno Williams]

>Is it necessary to have all users in the /etc/passwd file for them to be
>able to use samba or do you just need them to be there in order to use the
>smbpasswd utility?
>Basically, I am trying to get everything done via ldap and I don't want a
>bunch of users in /etc/passwd.  I am working through the howto for smb and
>ldap and it seems awfully redundant to have users in both places.  What
>would the point of having an ldap db full of samba users when they are also
>listed in /etc/passwd.  May as well just use an smbpasswd file.....

You do NOT need users listed in /etc/passwd,  they simply have to be "resolvable".  If you setup nss_ldap then Samba will work fine (with users in smbpasswd and LDAP, not passwd).  Of course I'm assuming you are on a platform that supports NSS.  See /etc/nsswitch.conf.  Samba 2.2.0 does not support LDAP.