path: root/docs/docbook/projdoc/SWAT.xml

<chapter id="SWAT">
<chapterinfo>
	&author.jht;
	<pubdate>April 21, 2003</pubdate>
</chapterinfo>

<title>SWAT &smbmdash; The Samba Web Administration Tool</title>

<para>
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.
</para>

<sect1>
<title>Features and Benefits</title>

<para>
SWAT is a facility that is part of the Samba suite. The main executable is called
<command>swat</command> and is invoked by the inter-networking super daemon.
See <link linkend="xinetd"/> for details.
</para>

<para>
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 <command>man</command> page entries.
</para>

<para>
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.
</para>

<note><para>
Before using SWAT, please be warned &smbmdash; 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.
</para></note>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>Guidelines and Technical Tips</title>

<para>
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.
</para>

<sect2>
<title>Validate SWAT Installation</title>

<para>
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.
</para>

<para>
When you have configrmed that SWAT is installed it is necessary to validate
that the installation includes the binary <command>swat</command> 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
<command>swat</command> binary executable file was installed. 
</para>

<para>
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. 
</para>

<sect3>
<title>Locating the <command>swat</command> File</title>

<para>
To validate that SWAT is installed, first locate the <command>swat</command> binary
file on the system. It may be found under the following directories:
<simplelist>
	<member><filename>/usr/local/samba/bin</filename> &smbmdash; the default Samba location.</member>
	<member><filename>/usr/sbin</filename> &smbmdash; the default location on most Linux systems.</member>
	<member><filename>/opt/samba/bin</filename></member>
</simplelist>
</para>

<para>
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.
</para>

<para>
There are a number methods that may be used to locate the <command>swat</command> binary file.
The following methods may be helpful:
</para>

<para>
If <command>swat</command> 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 <command>swat</command> as shown here:
<screen>
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
</screen>
</para>

</sect3>

<sect3>
<title>Locating the SWAT Support Files</title>

<para>
Now that you have found that <command>swat</command> is in the search path, it is easy
to identify where the file is located. Here is another simple way this may be done:
<screen>
frodo:~ # whereis swat
swat: /usr/sbin/swat /usr/share/man/man8/swat.8.gz
</screen>
</para>

<para>
If the above measures fail to locate the <command>swat</command> binary, another approach
is needed. The following may be used:
<screen>
frodo:/ # find / -name swat -print
/etc/xinetd.d/swat
/usr/sbin/swat
/usr/share/samba/swat
frodo:/ #
</screen>
</para>

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

<para>
We must now check where <command>swat</command> expects to find its support files. This can
be done as follows:
<screen>
frodo:/ # strings /usr/sbin/swat | grep "/swat"
/swat/
...
/usr/share/samba/swat
frodo:/ #
</screen>
</para>

<para>
The <filename>/usr/share/samba/swat/</filename> 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:
<screen>
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:/>
</screen>
</para>

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

</sect3>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="xinetd">
<title>Enabling SWAT for Use</title>

<para>
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 <command>inetd</command>- or
<command>xinetd</command>-based system.
</para>

<para>
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 
<filename>/etc/inetd.conf</filename> or in the directory <filename>/etc/[x]inet[d].d</filename>
or similar.
</para>

<para>
The control entry for the older style file might be:
<indexterm><primary>swat</primary><secondary>enable</secondary></indexterm>
</para>


<para><programlisting>
	# swat is the Samba Web Administration Tool
	swat stream tcp nowait.400 root /usr/sbin/swat swat
</programlisting></para>

<para>
A control file for the newer style xinetd could be:
</para>

<para>
<programlisting>
# 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
}
</programlisting>

</para>

<para>
Both of the above examples assume that the <command>swat</command> binary has been
located in the <filename>/usr/sbin</filename> 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 <filename>/usr/share/samba/swat</filename>. The default
location using Samba defaults will be <filename>/usr/local/samba/swat</filename>.
</para>

<para>
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: <guibutton>HOME</guibutton>, <guibutton>STATUS</guibutton>, <guibutton>VIEW</guibutton>, 
<guibutton>PASSWORD</guibutton>. The only page that allows
change capability in this case is <guibutton>PASSWORD</guibutton>.
</para>

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

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Securing SWAT through SSL</title>


<para>
<indexterm><primary>swat</primary><secondary>security</secondary></indexterm>
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.
</para>

<para>
Modifications to the SWAT setup are as follows: 
</para>

<procedure>
	<step><para>
	Install OpenSSL.
	</para></step>

	<step><para>
	Generate certificate and private key.

<screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>/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</userinput>
</screen></para></step>

	<step><para>
	Remove swat-entry from [x]inetd.
	</para></step>

	<step><para>
	Start <command>stunnel</command>.

<screen>
&rootprompt;<userinput>stunnel -p /etc/stunnel/stunnel.pem -d 901 \
	 -l /usr/local/samba/bin/swat swat </userinput>
</screen></para></step>
</procedure>

<para>
Afterward, simply connect to swat by using the URL <ulink noescape="1" url="https://myhost:901">https://myhost:901</ulink>, accept the certificate
and the SSL connection is up.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Enabling SWAT Internationalization Support</title>

<para>
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.
<para>

<para>
To enable this feature:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
	<listitem><para>
	Install  the proper <command>msg</command> files from the Samba
	<filename>source/po</filename> directory into $LIBDIR.
	</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>
	Set the correct locale value for <smbconfoption><name>display charset</name></smbconfoption>.
	</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>
	Set your browser's language setting.
	</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
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.
</para>

<para>
If you do not like some of messages, or there are no <command>msg</command> files for
your locale, you can create them simply by copying the <command>en.msg</command> files
to the dirertory for <quote>your language ID.msg</quote> and filling in proper strings
to each <quote>msgstr</quote>. For example, in <filename>it.msg</filename>, the
<command>msg</command> file for the Italian locale, just set:
<screen>
msgid "Set Default"
msgstr "Imposta Default"
</screen>
and so on. If you find a mistake or create a new <command>msg</command> file, please email it
to us so we will include this in the next release of Samba.
</para>

</para>
Note that if you enable this feature and the <smbconfoption><name>display charset</name></smbconfoption> 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.
</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>Overview and Quick Tour</title>

<para>
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.
</para>

<sect2>
<title>The SWAT Home Page</title>

<para>
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 <quote>Using Samba.</quote>
</para>

<para>
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 <ulink url="http://www.ethereal.com/"><command>ethereal</command>.</ulink>
</para>

<warning><para>
SWAT can be configured to run in <emphasis>demo</emphasis> 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 <option>-a</option> flag to swat. <emphasis>Do not use this in a
production environment.</emphasis>
</para></warning>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Global Settings</title>

<para>
The <guibutton>GLOBALS</guibutton> button will expose a page that allows configuration of the global parameters
in &smb.conf;. There are two levels of exposure of the parameters:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
	<listitem><para>
	<guibutton>Basic</guibutton> &smbmdash; exposes common configuration options.
	</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>
	<guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> &smbmdash; exposes configuration options needed in more 
	complex environments.
	</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

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

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

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

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Share Settings</title>

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

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

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Printers Settings</title>

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

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

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>The SWAT Wizard</title>

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

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

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

<para>
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.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>The Status Page</title>

<para>
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;.
</para>

<para>
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.
</para>

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

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>The View Page</title>

<para>
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.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>The Password Change Page</title>

<para>
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.
</para>

<para>
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 <emphasis>root</emphasis>, only the new password is
required.
</para>

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

</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>