[lug] Samba password question

[Lynn Danielson]

> Samartha wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone know if it is possible in samba ( v 2.0.6) to
> > automatically authenticate users coming from NT against the Linux/Unix
> > users in passwd or NIS?
> >
> > I got it working but so far I have to maintain a separate smbpasswd entry
> > for every user.  This somehow   does not feel right.

If you're using encrypted passwords (recommended) there is currently no way
to do this.  LDAP support is being built into Samba which can provide a 
method of maintaining a single source for password authentication.  You're
probably aware that Samba can also use another Samba server or Windows box to 
authenticate against using the security = server and password server options.
(A PDC makes a good choice for this.)

Windows encrypted passwords require a Lanman/NT encrypted password hash to 
authenticate against, thus the smbpasswd file.  But if you want to use a 
Linux/Unix/NIS passwd file for authentication, you'll need to turn off 
encrypted passwords and modify your Windows registry to allow plain text 
password authentication.  Older versions of Windows NT (prior to 4.0 SP3)
and Win95 (prior to SR2) did not use encrypted passwords and can authenticate
against a Unix/NIS passwd file without modifying the registry.