[Samba] question on password server =

[mj]

Nobody knows..?

Or my question is unclear..?

MJ

On 06/14/2017 09:59 AM, mj via samba wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I would like to ask how exactly the "password server =" smb.conf option 
> works. The man pages say that the option is to "restrict Samba to to do 
> all its username/password validation using a specific remote server"
> 
> I know that we should normally leave it empty, to have samba 
> auto-discover the DCs. But my question is:
> 
> Suppose it's defined it like:
>  > password server = samba4.domain.com
> 
> and the dns samba4.domain.com resolves to our DCs, like:
> 
>> root at pf:~# host -t A samba4.company.com
>> samba.merit.unu.edu has address 192.168.0.1
>> samba.merit.unu.edu has address 192.168.0.2
>> samba.merit.unu.edu has address 192.168.0.3
>> root at pf~# host -t A  samba4.company.com
>> samba.merit.unu.edu has address 192.168.0.2
>> samba.merit.unu.edu has address 192.168.0.3
>> samba.merit.unu.edu has address 192.168.0.1
> 
> But DCs can be offline. Hence the question below:
> 
> Which scenario applies:
> #1: samba talks to all three IPs for all connection attempts, and just 
> waits to see which DC happens to be online / offline?
> 
> or
> 
> #2: samba talks to 192.168.0.1 on the first connection, and 192.168.0.2 
> for the next? (using the round-robin dns)
>  From load balancing perspective, this second option spreads the load 
> much nicer, but when a DC happens to be offline, 1/3 of the connection 
> attempts would timeout...
> 
> Can anyone tell me how this works?
> 
> MJ
>