setting up samba for 500+ users

[Francis A. Vidal]

hi all,

this is the scenario -- 1) 500 users using Windows98, 2) RedHat Linux 6.0
running Samba 2.0.3, 3) encrypted passwords, 4) Samba as domain
authentication server. so far, i've managed to automate the adding of
users to /etc/passwd and /etc/smbpasswd. my questions are:

1) how do i synchronize the users in /etc/passwd to /etc/smbpasswd?

2) if i delete the user in /etc/passwd how would samba know and would it
   delete the user from /etc/smbpasswd also?

3) how do i assign an initial password to *all* the users and letting them
   change it via windows? do i have to set it for all one by one? how
   would they change it [password] via windows?

4) windows asks for a password *twice*, one for microsoft networking and
   one for windows logon -- which is which? which one is honored by samba?

5) i've seen some entries in the logfile about `nobody' having no access
   to a share / directory / file. i've also seen some entries [in the
   logfile] from the current login user about it not having access to the
   share but still access it [the share]. is this normal? (btw, the
   machine is on another campus -- they don't have internet access in the
   lab so i can't attach the logfile here)


	Francis Vidal