This option allows the administrator to chose which backend will be used for storing user and possibly group information. This allows you to swap between different storage mechanisms without recompile. The parameter value is divided into two parts, the backend's name, and a 'location' string that has meaning only to that particular backed. These are separated by a : character. Available backends can include: smbpasswd - The default smbpasswd backend. Takes a path to the smbpasswd file as an optional argument. tdbsam - The TDB based password storage backend. Takes a path to the TDB as an optional argument (defaults to passdb.tdb in the directory. ldapsam - The LDAP based passdb backend. Takes an LDAP URL as an optional argument (defaults to ldap://localhost) LDAP connections should be secured where possible. This may be done using either Start-TLS (see ) or by specifying ldaps:// in the URL argument. Multiple servers may also be specified in double-quotes, if your LDAP libraries supports the LDAP URL notation. (OpenLDAP does). Examples of use are: passdb backend = tdbsam:/etc/samba/private/passdb.tdb or passdb backend = ldapsam:"ldap://ldap-1.example.com ldap://ldap-2.example.com" smbpasswd