/(yes|true)/This option affects how clients respond to
Samba and is one of the most important settings in the
smb.conf file.The option sets the "security mode bit" in replies to
protocol negotiations with smbd8 to turn share level security on or off. Clients decide
based on this bit whether (and how) to transfer user and password
information to the server.The default is security = user, as this is
the most common setting needed when talking to Windows 98 and
Windows NT.The alternatives are
security = ads or security = domain
, which support joining Samba to a Windows domain, along with security = share and security = server, both of which are deprecated.In versions of Samba prior to 2.0.0, the default was
security = share mainly because that was
the only option at one stage.You should use security = user and
if you
want to mainly setup shares without a password (guest shares). This
is commonly used for a shared printer server. It is possible to use smbd in a
hybrid mode where it is offers both user and share
level security under different . The different settings will now be explained.SECURITY = USERThis is the default security setting in Samba.
With user-level security a client must first "log-on" with a
valid username and password (which can be mapped using the
parameter). Encrypted passwords (see the parameter) can also
be used in this security mode. Parameters such as and if set are then applied and
may change the UNIX user to use on this connection, but only after
the user has been successfully authenticated.Note that the name of the resource being
requested is not sent to the server until after
the server has successfully authenticated the client. This is why
guest shares don't work in user level security without allowing
the server to automatically map unknown users into the .
See the parameter for details on doing this.See also the section NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION.SECURITY = DOMAINThis mode will only work correctly if net8 has been used to add this
machine into a Windows NT Domain. It expects the
parameter to be set to yes. In this
mode Samba will try to validate the username/password by passing
it to a Windows NT Primary or Backup Domain Controller, in exactly
the same way that a Windows NT Server would do.Note that a valid UNIX user must still
exist as well as the account on the Domain Controller to allow
Samba to have a valid UNIX account to map file access to.Note that from the client's point
of view security = domain is the same
as security = user. It only
affects how the server deals with the authentication,
it does not in any way affect what the client sees.Note that the name of the resource being
requested is not sent to the server until after
the server has successfully authenticated the client. This is why
guest shares don't work in user level security without allowing
the server to automatically map unknown users into the .
See the parameter for details on doing this.See also the section
NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION.See also the parameter and
the parameter.SECURITY = SHAREThis option is deprecated as it is incompatible with SMB2When clients connect to a share level security server, they
need not log onto the server with a valid username and password before
attempting to connect to a shared resource (although modern clients
such as Windows 95/98 and Windows NT will send a logon request with
a username but no password when talking to a security = share
server). Instead, the clients send authentication information
(passwords) on a per-share basis, at the time they attempt to connect
to that share.Note that smbdALWAYS
uses a valid UNIX user to act on behalf of the client, even in
security = share level security.As clients are not required to send a username to the server
in share level security, smbd uses several
techniques to determine the correct UNIX user to use on behalf
of the client.A list of possible UNIX usernames to match with the given
client password is constructed using the following methods :If the parameter is set, then all the other
stages are missed and only the username is checked.
Is a username is sent with the share connection
request, then this username (after mapping - see ),
is added as a potential username.
If the client did a previous logon
request (the SessionSetup SMB call) then the
username sent in this SMB will be added as a potential username.
The name of the service the client requested is
added as a potential username.
The NetBIOS name of the client is added to
the list as a potential username.
Any users on the list are added as potential usernames.
If the guest only parameter is
not set, then this list is then tried with the supplied password.
The first user for whom the password matches will be used as the
UNIX user.If the guest only parameter is
set, or no username can be determined then if the share is marked
as available to the guest account, then this
guest user will be used, otherwise access is denied.Note that it can be very confusing
in share-level security as to which UNIX username will eventually
be used in granting access.See also the section
NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION.SECURITY = SERVER
In this depicted mode Samba will try to validate the username/password by passing it to another SMB server, such as an
NT box. If this fails it will revert to security = user. It expects the
parameter to be set to yes, unless the remote
server does not support them. However note that if encrypted passwords have been negotiated then Samba cannot
revert back to checking the UNIX password file, it must have a valid smbpasswd file to check users against. See the chapter about the User Database in
the Samba HOWTO Collection for details on how to set this up.
This mode of operation has
significant pitfalls since it is more vulnerable to
man-in-the-middle attacks and server impersonation. In particular,
this mode of operation can cause significant resource consumption on
the PDC, as it must maintain an active connection for the duration
of the user's session. Furthermore, if this connection is lost,
there is no way to reestablish it, and further authentications to the
Samba server may fail (from a single client, till it disconnects).
From the client's point of
view, security = server is the
same as security = user. It
only affects how the server deals with the authentication, it does
not in any way affect what the client sees.This option is deprecated, and may be removed in futureNote that the name of the resource being
requested is not sent to the server until after
the server has successfully authenticated the client. This is why
guest shares don't work in user level security without allowing
the server to automatically map unknown users into the .
See the parameter for details on doing this.See also the section
NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION.See also the parameter and the
parameter.SECURITY = ADSIn this mode, Samba will act as a domain member in an ADS realm. To operate
in this mode, the machine running Samba will need to have Kerberos installed
and configured and Samba will need to be joined to the ADS realm using the
net utility. Note that this mode does NOT make Samba operate as a Active Directory Domain
Controller. Read the chapter about Domain Membership in the HOWTO for details.realmencrypt passwordsUSERDOMAIN