passwords and NIS+

[Peter Samuelson]

[Diane Oman <oman at cs.umt.edu>]
> # /usr/local/samba/bin/smbpasswd oman
> added interface ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xx bcast=xxx.xxx.xxx.xx nmask=255.255.255.0
> New SMB password:
> Retype new SMB password:
> make_sam_from_nisresult: NIS+ lookup failure: Database for table does not
> exist

See below for cursory source-level analysis (no firsthand experience,
unfortunately).

> [stillwater:oman] % /usr/local/samba/bin/smbpasswd
> added interface ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xx bcast=xxx.xxx.xxx.xx nmask=255.255.255.0
> Old SMB password:
> New SMB password:
> Retype new SMB password:
> machine 127.0.0.1 rejected the password change: Error was : The specified
> password is invalid.

*Old* password is invalid.  "XXXX..." means disabled account: you must
reset the password as root.

> what is the initial "Old SMB password"?  Just a carriage return?  The
> unix password?  I don't think so - it's just 32 X's in the smbpasswd
> file - so null?  (<CR>?)

The empty password is denoted by "NO PASSWORDXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" and
the allow-empty flag ("N" between the square brackets) must be set.

>   make_sam_from_nisresult: NIS+ lookup failure: Database for table does not exist
>   check_oem_password: getsmbpwnam returned NULL

> is it complaining it doesn't find my regular unix database
> (password.org_dir) - or do I have to make an NIS+ table for the
> smbpasswd file (smbpasswd.org_dir).

>From the code (passdb/nispass.c line 977), looks like the latter.  It
seems to be trying to open an NIS+ map named after your smbpasswd file.

To verify this, bump your logs up to level 10.  You should see some
extra debug messages, including exactly which table it is looking for.

> Anyone out there using this with NIS+?

Not me.  6-7 years ago I had a bit of experience with NIS+ but as a
mere end-user.  The admins were always cussing at it, as I recall.
(Then again, I'm talking Solaris 2.2/2.3 here.  There was a lot to cuss
about in those releases....)

Peter