Chapter 32. SWAT The Samba Web Administration Tool

Chapter 32. SWAT The Samba Web Administration Tool
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John H. Terpstra

Samba Team

<jht@samba.org>

April 21, 2003

Table of Contents

Features and Benefits

Guidelines and Technical Tips

Validate SWAT Installation
Enabling SWAT for Use
Securing SWAT through SSL
Enabling SWAT Internationalization Support

Overview and Quick Tour

The SWAT Home Page
Global Settings
Share Settings
Printers Settings
The SWAT Wizard
The Status Page
The View Page
The Password Change Page

-There are many and varied opinions regarding the usefulness of SWAT. -No matter how hard one tries to produce the perfect configuration tool, it remains -an object of personal taste. SWAT is a tool that will allow Web-based configuration -of Samba. It has a wizard that may help to get Samba configured -quickly, it has context-sensitive help on each smb.conf parameter, it provides for monitoring of current state -of connection information, and it allows network-wide MS Windows network password -management. -

Features and Benefits

-SWAT is a facility that is part of the Samba suite. The main executable is called -swat and is invoked by the inter-networking super daemon. -See for details. -

-SWAT uses integral samba components to locate parameters supported by the particular -version of Samba. Unlike tools and utilities that are external to Samba, SWAT is always -up to date as known Samba parameters change. SWAT provides context-sensitive help for each -configuration parameter, directly from man page entries. -

-There are network administrators who believe that it is a good idea to write systems -documentation inside configuration files, and for them SWAT will aways be a nasty tool. SWAT -does not store the configuration file in any intermediate form, rather, it stores only the -parameter settings, so when SWAT writes the smb.conf file to disk, it will write only -those parameters that are at other than the default settings. The result is that all comments, -as well as parameters that are no longer supported, will be lost from the smb.conf file. -Additionally, the parameters will be written back in internal ordering. -

Note

-Before using SWAT, please be warned SWAT will completely replace your smb.conf with -a fully-optimized file that has been stripped of all comments you might have placed there -and only non-default settings will be written to the file. -

Guidelines and Technical Tips

-This section aims to unlock the dark secrets behind how SWAT may be made to work, -may be made more secure, and how to solve Internationalization support problems. -

Validate SWAT Installation

-The very first step that should be taken before attempting to configure a host -system for SWAT operation is to check that it is installed. This may seem a trivial -point to some, however several Linux distributions do not install SWAT by default, -even though they do ship an installable binary support package containing SWAT -on the distribution media. -

-When you have configrmed that SWAT is installed it is necessary to validate -that the installation includes the binary swat file as well -as all the supporting text and Web files. A number of operating system distributions -in the past have failed to include the necessary support files, evne though the -swat binary executable file was installed. -

-Finally, when you are sure that SWAT has been fully installed, please check the SWAT -has been enebled in the control file for the internetworking super-daemon (inetd or xinetd) -that is used on your operating system platform. -

Locating the swat File

-To validate that SWAT is installed, first locate the swat binary -file on the system. It may be found under the following directories: -

/usr/local/samba/bin the default Samba location.

/usr/sbin the default location on most Linux systems.

/opt/samba/bin

-The actual location is much dependant on the choice of the operating system vendor, or as determined -by the administrator who compiled and installed Samba. -

-There are a number methods that may be used to locate the swat binary file. -The following methods may be helpful: -

-If swat is in your current operating system search path it will be easy to -find it. You can ask what are the command-line options for swat as shown here: -

-frodo:~ # swat -?
-Usage: swat [OPTION...]
-  -a, --disable-authentication         Disable authentication (demo mode)
-
-Help options:
-  -?, --help                           Show this help message
-  --usage                              Display brief usage message
-
-Common samba options:
-  -d, --debuglevel=DEBUGLEVEL          Set debug level
-  -s, --configfile=CONFIGFILE          Use alternative configuration file
-  -l, --log-basename=LOGFILEBASE       Basename for log/debug files
-  -V, --version                        Print version
-

Locating the SWAT Support Files

-Now that you have found that swat is in the search path, it is easy -to identify where the file is located. Here is another simple way this may be done: -

-frodo:~ # whereis swat
-swat: /usr/sbin/swat /usr/share/man/man8/swat.8.gz
-

-If the above measures fail to locate the swat binary, another approach -is needed. The following may be used: -

-frodo:/ # find / -name swat -print
-/etc/xinetd.d/swat
-/usr/sbin/swat
-/usr/share/samba/swat
-frodo:/ #
-

-This list shows that there is a control file for xinetd, the internetwork -super-daemon that is installed on this server. The location of the SWAT binary file is -/usr/sbin/swat, and the support files for it are located under the -directory /usr/share/samba/swat. -

-We must now check where swat expects to find its support files. This can -be done as follows: -

-frodo:/ # strings /usr/sbin/swat | grep "/swat"
-/swat/
-...
-/usr/share/samba/swat
-frodo:/ #
-

-The /usr/share/samba/swat/ entry shown in this listing is the location of the -support files. You should verify that the support files exist under this directory. A sample -list is as shown: -

-jht@frodo:/> find /usr/share/samba/swat -print
-/usr/share/samba/swat
-/usr/share/samba/swat/help
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/ja
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/ja/help
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/ja/help/welcome.html
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/ja/images
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/ja/images/home.gif
-...
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/ja/include
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/ja/include/header.nocss.html
-...
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/tr
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/tr/help
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/tr/help/welcome.html
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/tr/images
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/tr/images/home.gif
-...
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/tr/include
-/usr/share/samba/swat/lang/tr/include/header.html
-/usr/share/samba/swat/using_samba
-...
-/usr/share/samba/swat/images
-/usr/share/samba/swat/images/home.gif
-...
-/usr/share/samba/swat/include
-/usr/share/samba/swat/include/footer.html
-/usr/share/samba/swat/include/header.html
-jht@frodo:/>
-

-If the files needed are not available it will be necessary to obtain and install them -before SWAT can be used. -

Enabling SWAT for Use

-SWAT should be installed to run via the network super-daemon. Depending on which system -your UNIX/Linux system has, you will have either an inetd- or -xinetd-based system. -

-The nature and location of the network super-daemon varies with the operating system -implementation. The control file (or files) can be located in the file -/etc/inetd.conf or in the directory /etc/[x]inet[d].d -or similar. -

-The control entry for the older style file might be: - -

-	# swat is the Samba Web Administration Tool
-	swat stream tcp nowait.400 root /usr/sbin/swat swat
-

-A control file for the newer style xinetd could be: -

-# default: off
-# description: SWAT is the Samba Web Admin Tool. Use swat \
-#              to configure your Samba server. To use SWAT, \
-#              connect to port 901 with your favorite web browser.
-service swat
-{
-	port    = 901
-	socket_type     = stream
-	wait    = no
-	only_from = localhost
-	user    = root
-	server  = /usr/sbin/swat
-	log_on_failure  += USERID
-	disable = yes
-}
-

- -

-Both of the above examples assume that the swat binary has been -located in the /usr/sbin directory. In addition to the above, -SWAT will use a directory access point from which it will load its Help files -as well as other control information. The default location for this on most Linux -systems is in the directory /usr/share/samba/swat. The default -location using Samba defaults will be /usr/local/samba/swat. -

-Access to SWAT will prompt for a logon. If you log onto SWAT as any non-root user, -the only permission allowed is to view certain aspects of configuration as well as -access to the password change facility. The buttons that will be exposed to the non-root -user are: HOME, STATUS, VIEW, -PASSWORD. The only page that allows -change capability in this case is PASSWORD. -

-As long as you log onto SWAT as the user root, you should obtain -full change and commit ability. The buttons that will be exposed include: -HOME, GLOBALS, SHARES, PRINTERS, -WIZARD, STATUS, VIEW, PASSWORD. -

Securing SWAT through SSL

- -Many people have asked about how to setup SWAT with SSL to allow for secure remote -administration of Samba. Here is a method that works, courtesy of Markus Krieger. -

-Modifications to the SWAT setup are as follows: -

- Install OpenSSL. -

- Generate certificate and private key. - -

-root# /usr/bin/openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -config \
-	/usr/share/doc/packages/stunnel/stunnel.cnf \
-	-out /etc/stunnel/stunnel.pem -keyout /etc/stunnel/stunnel.pem
-

- Remove swat-entry from [x]inetd. -

- Start stunnel. - -

-root# stunnel -p /etc/stunnel/stunnel.pem -d 901 \
-	 -l /usr/local/samba/bin/swat swat 
-

-Afterward, simply connect to swat by using the URL https://myhost:901, accept the certificate -and the SSL connection is up. -

Enabling SWAT Internationalization Support

-SWAT can be configured to display its messages to match the settings of -the language configurations of your Web browser. It will be passed to SWAT -in the Accept-Language header of the HTTP request. -

- -

-To enable this feature: -

- -

- Install the proper msg files from the Samba - source/po directory into $LIBDIR. -
- Set the correct locale value for display charset. -
- Set your browser's language setting. -

- -

-The name of msg file is same as the language ID sent by the browser. For -example en means "English", ja means "Japanese", fr means "French. -

- -

-If you do not like some of messages, or there are no msg files for -your locale, you can create them simply by copying the en.msg files -to the dirertory for “your language ID.msg” and filling in proper strings -to each “msgstr”. For example, in it.msg, the -msg file for the Italian locale, just set: -

-msgid "Set Default"
-msgstr "Imposta Default"
-

-and so on. If you find a mistake or create a new msg file, please email it -to us so we will include this in the next release of Samba. -

- -

-Note that if you enable this feature and the display charset is not -matched to your browser's setting, the SWAT display may be corrupted. In a future version of -Samba, SWAT will always display messages with UTF-8 encoding. You will then not need to set -this smb.conf file parameter. -

Overview and Quick Tour

-SWAT is a tools that many be used to configure Samba, or just to obtain useful links -to important reference materials such as the contents of this book, as well as other -documents that have been found useful for solving Windows networking problems. -

The SWAT Home Page

-The SWAT title page provides access to the latest Samba documentation. The manual page for -each Samba component is accessible from this page, as are the Samba HOWTO-Collection (this -document) as well as the O'Reilly book “Using Samba.” -

-Administrators who wish to validate their Samba configuration may obtain useful information -from the man pages for the diagnostic utilities. These are available from the SWAT home page -also. One diagnostic tool that is not mentioned on this page, but that is particularly -useful is ethereal. -

Warning

-SWAT can be configured to run in demo mode. This is not recommended -as it runs SWAT without authentication and with full administrative ability. Allows -changes to smb.conf as well as general operation with root privileges. The option that -creates this ability is the -a flag to swat. Do not use this in a -production environment. -

Global Settings

-The GLOBALS button will expose a page that allows configuration of the global parameters -in smb.conf. There are two levels of exposure of the parameters: -

- Basic exposes common configuration options. -
- Advanced exposes configuration options needed in more - complex environments. -

-To switch to other than Basic editing ability, click on Advanced. -You may also do this by clicking on the radio button, then click on the Commit Changes button. -

-After making any changes to configuration parameters, make sure that -you click on the -Commit Changes button before moving to another area, otherwise -your changes will be lost. -

Note

-SWAT has context-sensitive help. To find out what each parameter is -for, simply click on the -Help link to the left of the configuration parameter. -

Share Settings

-To effect a currently configured share, simply click on the pull down button between the -Choose Share and the Delete Share buttons, -select the share you wish to operate on, then to edit the settings -click on the -Choose Share button. To delete the share, simply press the -Delete Share button. -

-To create a new share, next to the button labeled Create Share enter -into the text field the name of the share to be created, then click on the -Create Share button. -

Printers Settings

-To affect a currently configured printer, simply click on the pull down button between the -Choose Printer and the Delete Printer buttons, -select the printer you wish to operate on, then to edit the settings -click on the -Choose Printer button. To delete the share, simply press the -Delete Printer button. -

-To create a new printer, next to the button labeled Create Printer enter -into the text field the name of the share to be created, then click on the -Create Printer button. -

The SWAT Wizard

-The purpose if the SWAT Wizard is to help the Microsoft-knowledgeable network administrator -to configure Samba with a minimum of effort. -

-The Wizard page provides a tool for rewriting the smb.conf file in fully optimized format. -This will also happen if you press the Commit button. The two differ -since the Rewrite button ignores any changes that may have been made, -while the Commit button causes all changes to be affected. -

-The Edit button permits the editing (setting) of the minimal set of -options that may be necessary to create a working Samba server. -

-Finally, there are a limited set of options that will determine what type of server Samba -will be configured for, whether it will be a WINS server, participate as a WINS client, or -operate with no WINS support. By clicking one button, you can elect to expose (or not) user -home directories. -

The Status Page

-The status page serves a limited purpose. First, it allows control of the Samba daemons. -The key daemons that create the Samba server environment are: smbd, nmbd, winbindd. -

-The daemons may be controlled individually or as a total group. Additionally, you may set -an automatic screen refresh timing. As MS Windows clients interact with Samba, new smbd processes -will be continually spawned. The auto-refresh facility will allow you to track the changing -conditions with minimal effort. -

-Lastly, the Status page may be used to terminate specific smbd client connections in order to -free files that may be locked. -

The View Page

-This page allows the administrator to view the optimized smb.conf file and, if you are -particularly masochistic, will permit you also to see all possible global configuration -parameters and their settings. -

The Password Change Page

-The Password Change page is a popular tool that allows the creation, deletion, deactivation, -and reactivation of MS Windows networking users on the local machine. Alternately, you can use -this tool to change a local password for a user account. -

-When logged in as a non-root account, the user will have to provide the old password as well as -the new password (twice). When logged in as root, only the new password is -required. -

-One popular use for this tool is to change user passwords across a range of remote MS Windows -servers. -

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