[Samba] New 3.0.21b-1 Samba does not respect system "Groups"

[Siju George]

Hi all,

I am running

ii  samba          3.0.21b-1      a LanManager-like file and printer server fo
ii  samba-common   3.0.21b-1      Samba common files used by both the server a

on Debian 3.1 (Sarge) Linux  2.6.8-2-386 #1 Thu May 19 17:40:50 JST
2005 i686 GNU/Linux

I have noticed that the Samba software does not recognize newly
created "groups" with the groupadd commands. I'll demonstrate the
following.

I am running the Samba Server with

security = user

I have a share defined like this

[grtest]
        comment = Intersight Website
        path = /var/www/grtest
        read only = no
        read list = @phpprogrammers
        valid users = @grtest
        force group = grtest
        force create mode = 0775
        force directory mode = 0775

The Unix permissions for this folder is

# ls -l /var/www |grep grtest
drwxrwxr-x   2 root grtest            48 2006-02-13 14:27 grtest

The members of the group "grtest" are

# cat /etc/group |grep grtest
grtest:x:1029:administrator

The group was created using the "groupadd" command.

Now the Samba user "administrator" has the same password as the user
"administrator" on the Windows 2003 Small business server I am
sitting.

When I try to access the [grtest] share from the Win2k3 SBS I am asked
for a user name and password for which I enter

sambaworkgroup\administrator

and password

But I am not able to connect.

But if I just change the Share description to have valid users set to
any group that was created earlier I can access the share with no
problems. I'll demonstrate it again

The group

# cat /etc/group |grep maverick
maverick:x:1004:administrator,mvarghese

was create long back.
And If I put that group in the valid users list as shown below

[grtest]
        comment = Intersight Website
        path = /var/www/grtest
        read only = no
        read list = @phpprogrammers
        valid users = @maverick
        force group = grtest
        force create mode = 0775
        force directory mode = 0775

and restart the Samba Server, I can go to the Win2k3 SBS and click on
the share and I can access the share without giving a user name and
password. ( Password for "administrator" is same on both Systems)

I found that this problem is only for Groups created recently and not
for groups created earlier.

I find it really puzzling :-(

Could Someone please explain what could have gone wrong?

Thankyou so much

Kind Regards

Siju