Using UNIX passwords

Juan Carlos Castro y Castro jcastro at pcshop.com.br
Thu Nov 26 16:10:41 GMT 1998


(To Marek: I don't know if you're familiar with Samba or if this interests you.
I just thought it might be useful. Fell free to ask anything to me. :)

Gregor Mosheh, B.S. wrote:

> I'm sure this is a FAQ, though I couldn't find it in any FAQ or the docs...
>
> How do I have Samba authenticate users via the local UNIX passwd file?

It can be done and it's fairly well documented in the docs, but there are a
couple of gotchas to it:

There's no clear bridge between UNIX password encryption and MS-Network
password encryption, so the only way passwords can be sent thru the wire is
cleartext. I think I needn't explain how bad it is, unless you run your LAN
behind a firewall.

Besides, more recent versions of WIndows (in all incarnations) don't take too
well talking to a server in cleartext password. Some (like NT4) insist on
asking for your password again and again every time you pick a file or folder.
Huh huh. Huh huh. Windows sucks, man. Huh huh.

So I think the way to go is use of encrypted passwords in a separate smbpasswd
file, as described in the docs directory of the source package. It's a drag to
manage, I know.

Hasn't anybody tweaked the passwd/useradd/userdel commands so it optionally
updates the smbpasswd file along with /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow? Hmm, maybe
I'll forward this message to the maintainer of the shadow suite. Matter of
fact, I'm doing it right now. :)

Cul8r,
--

ROTINJAILPINOCHET*APODREÇANACADEIAPINO
*          Valeu, LORDES!            C
T         That's it LORDS!           H
E        Enhorabuena LORDES!         E  OGY IS POLICY @ THE END
HCONIPLECRACALNESARDUPETEUQ*LIAJNITORT  L     *****************
                                        O     *     FIGHT     *
UST NO ONE @ DE  E @ BELIEVE THE LIE @ AP     *      THE      *
R             N  T                            *   FUTURE!!!   *
T  ___THE___  Y  A                            *****************
   \  \ /  /     CSUFBO @ EVRES RO TSISER @ ELGIEVNI @ EVIECED @ ET E @
    \  V  /   E  _______________________________________________  O L
     \   /    V |Juan Carlos Castro y Castro                    | H   S
     /   \    E |jcastro at pcshop.com.br                          |   A E
    /  ^  \   R |Linuxeiro, alvinegro, X-Phile e Carioca Folgado| O A I
   /  / \  \  Y |Diretor de Informática e Eventos Sobrenaturais | GIN D
   ~~~   ~~~  T |da E-RACE CORPORATION                          |
     RACER    H  -----------------------------------------------      G
              ING @ E PUR SI MUOVE @ THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE @ EVERYTHIN




More information about the samba mailing list