path: root/docs/docbook/projdoc/Samba-PDC-HOWTO.sgml

<chapter>


<chapterinfo>
	<author>
		<firstname>Gerald (Jerry)</firstname><surname>Carter</surname>
		<affiliation>
			<orgname>VA Linux Systems/Samba Team</orgname>
			<address><email>jerry@samba.org</email></address>
		</affiliation>
	</author>
	<pubdate> (15 Apr 2001) </pubdate>
</chapterinfo>

<title>
How to Configure Samba 2.2.x as a Primary Domain Controller
</title>


<!-- **********************************************************

     Background Information

*************************************************************** -->
<sect1>
<title>
Background
</title>

<para><emphasis>Author's Note :</emphasis> This document
is a combination of David Bannon's Samba 2.2 PDC HOWTO
and the Samba NT Domain FAQ. Both documents are superceeded by this one.
</para>

<para>
Version of Samba prior to release 2.2 had marginal capabilities to
act as a Windows NT 4.0 Primary Domain Controller (PDC).  The following 
functionality should work in 2.2.0:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
	<listitem><para>domain logons for Windows NT 4.0/2000 clients</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>placing a Windows 9x client in user level security</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>retrieving a list of users and groups from a Samba PDC to
	Windows 9x/NT/2000 clients </para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>roving user profiles</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>Windows NT 4.0 style system policies</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
The following pieces of functionality are not included in the 2.2 release:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
	<listitem><para>Windows NT 4 domain trusts</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>Sam replication with Windows NT 4.0 Domain Controllers
	(i.e. a Samba PDC and a Windows NT BDC or vice versa) </para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>Adding users via the User Manager for Domains</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>Acting as a Windows 2000 Domain Controller (i.e. Kerberos
	and Active Directory)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
Please note that Windows 9x clients are not true members of a domain
for reasons outlined in this article.  Therefore the protocol for
support Windows 9x style domain logons is completely different
from NT4 domain logons and has been officially supported for some 
time.
</para>

<para>
Beginning with Samba 2.2.0, we are proud to announce official 
support for Windows NT 4.0 style domain logons from Windows NT
4.0 and Windows 2000 (including SP1) clients.  This article 
outlines the steps necessary for configuring Samba as a PDC.
Note that it is necessary to have a working Samba server
prior to implementing the PDC functionality.  If you have not 
followed the steps outlined in <ulink url="UNIX_INSTALL.html">
UNIX_INSTALL.html</ulink>, please make sure that your server 
is configured correctly before proceeding.  Another good 
resource in the <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html">smb.conf(5) man 
page</ulink>.
</para>

<para>
Implementing a Samba PDC can basically be divided into 2 broad
steps.
</para>

<orderedlist numeration="Arabic">
	<listitem><para>Configuring the Samba Domain Controller
	</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>Creating machine trust accounts
	and joining clients to the domain</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>

<para>
There are other minor details such as user profiles, system
policies, etc...  However, these are not necessarily specific
to a Samba PDC as much as they are related to Windows NT networking
concepts.  They will be mentioned only briefly here.
</para>

</sect1>


<!-- **********************************************************

     Configuring the Samba PDC

*************************************************************** -->

<sect1>
<title>Configuring the Samba Domain Controller</title>

<para>
The first step in creating a working Samba PDC is to 
understand the parameters necessary in smb.conf.  I will not
attempt to re-explain the parameters here as they are more that
adequately covered in <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html"> the smb.conf
man page</ulink>.  For convenience, the parameters have been
linked with the actual smb.conf description.
</para>

<para>
Here is an example smb.conf for acting as a PDC:
</para>

<para><programlisting>
[global]
    ; Basic server settings
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#NETBIOSNAME">netbios name</ulink> = <replaceable>POGO</replaceable>
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#WORKGROUP">workgroup</ulink> = <replaceable>NARNIA</replaceable>

    ; we should act as the domain and local master browser
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#OSLEVEL">os level</ulink> = 64
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#PERFERREDMASTER">preferred master</ulink> = yes
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#DOMAINMASTER">domain master</ulink> = yes
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#LOCALMASTER">local master</ulink> = yes
    
    ; security settings (must user security = user)
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#SECURITYEQUALSUSER">security</ulink> = user
    
    ; encrypted passwords are a requirement for a PDC
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#ENCRYPTPASSWORDS">encrypt passwords</ulink> = yes
    
    ; support domain logons
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#DOMAINLOGONS">domain logons</ulink> = yes
    
    ; where to store user profiles?
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#LOGONPATH">logon path</ulink> = \\%N\profiles\%u
    
    ; where is a user's home directory and where should it
    ; be mounted at?
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#LOGONDRIVE">logon drive</ulink> = H:
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#LOGONHOME">logon home</ulink> = \\homeserver\%u
    
    ; specify a generic logon script for all users
    ; this is a relative path to the [netlogon] share
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#LOGONSCRIPT">logon script</ulink> = logon.cmd

; necessary share for domain controller
[netlogon]
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#PATH">path</ulink> = /usr/local/samba/lib/netlogon
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#WRITEABLE">writeable</ulink> = no
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#WRITELIST">write list</ulink> = <replaceable>ntadmin</replaceable>
    
; share for storing user profiles
[profiles]
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#PATH">path</ulink> = /export/smb/ntprofile
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#WRITEABLE">writeable</ulink> = yes
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#CREATEMASK">create mask</ulink> = 0600
    <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#DIRECTORYMASK">directory mask</ulink> = 0700
</programlisting></para>

<para>
There are a couple of points to emphasize in the above
configuration.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
	<listitem><para>encrypted passwords must be enabled.
	For more details on how to do this, refer to 
	<ulink url="ENCRYPTION.html">ENCRYPTION.html</ulink>.
	</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>The server must support domain logons
	and a <filename>[netlogon]</filename> share</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>The server must be the domain master browser
	in order for Windows client to locate the server as a DC.</para>
	</listitem>
</itemizedlist>    

<para>
As Samba 2.2 does not offer a complete implementation of group mapping between 
Windows NT groups and UNIX groups (this is really quite complicated to explain 
in a short space), you should refer to the <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#DOMAINADMONUSERS">domain 
admin users</ulink> and <ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#DOMAINADMINGROUP">domain 
admin group</ulink> smb.conf parameters for information of creating a Domain Admins 
style accounts.
</para>

</sect1>


<sect1>
<title>Creating Machine Trust Accounts and Joining Clients 
to the Domain</title>

<para>
First you must understand what a machine trust account is and what 
it is used for.
</para>

<para>
A machine trust account is a user account owned by a computer.  
The account password acts as the shared secret for secure 
communication with the Domain Controller.  Hence the reason that
a Windows 9x host is never a true member of a domain because
it does not posses a machine trust account and thus has no shared
secret with the DC.
</para>

<para>
On a Windows NT PDC, these machine trust account passwords are stored
in the registry.  A Samba PDC stores these accounts in he same location
as user LanMan and NT password hashes (currently <filename>smbpasswd</filename>).
However, machine trust accounts only possess the NT password hash.
</para>

<para>
There are two means of creating machine trust accounts.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
	<listitem><para>Manual creation before joining the client
	to the domain.  In this case, the password is set to a known
	value -- the lower case of the machine's netbios name.</para></listitem>
	
	<listitem><para>Creation of the account at the time of 
	joining the domain.  In this case, the session key of the 
	administrative account used to join the client to the domain acts
	as an encryption key for setting the password to a random value.</para>
	</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
Because Samba requires machine accounts to possess a UNIX uid from
which an Windows NT SID can be generated, all of these accounts
will have an entry in <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and smbpasswd.  
Future releases will alleviate the need to create 
<filename>/etc/passwd</filename> entries.
</para>


<para>
The <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> entry will list the machine name 
with a $ appended, won't have a passwd, will have a null shell and no 
home directory. For example a machine called 'doppy' would have an 
<filename>/etc/passwd</filename> entry like this :
</para>

<para><programlisting>
doppy$:x:505:501:NTMachine:/dev/null:/bin/false
</programlisting></para>

<para>
If you are manually creating the machine accounts, it is necessary
to add the <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> (or NIS passwd
map) entry prior to adding the <filename>smbpasswd</filename>
entry.  The following command will create a new machine account
ready for use.
</para>

<para>
<prompt>root# </prompt> smbpasswd -a -m <replaceable>machine_name</replaceable>
</para>

<para>
where <replaceable>machine_name</replaceable> is the machine's netbios
name.
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>If you manually create a machine account, immediately join
the client to the domain.</emphasis>  An open account like this
can allow intruders to gain access to user account information
in your domain.
</para>

<para>
The second way of creating machine trust accounts is to add
them on the fly at the time the client is joined to the domain.
You will need to include a value for the 
<ulink url="smb.conf.5.html#ADDUSERSCRIPT">add user script</ulink>
parameter.  Below is an example I use on a RedHat 6.2 Linux system.
</para>

<para><programlisting>
add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd -d /dev/null -g 100 -s /bin/false -M %u 
</programlisting></para>

<para>
In Samba 2.2.0, <emphasis>only the root account</emphasis> can be used to create
machine accounts on the fly like this.  Therefore, it is required
to create an entry in smbpasswd for <emphasis>root</emphasis>.
The password <emphasis>SHOULD</emphasis> be set to s different
password that the associated <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>
entry for security reasons.
</para>
</sect1>

<!-- **********************************************************

     Common Problems

*************************************************************** -->

<sect1>
<title>Common Problems and Errors</title>

<para>
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>I cannot include a '$' in a machine name.</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
A 'machine name' in (typically) <filename>/etc/passwd</> 	
of the machine name with a '$' appended. FreeBSD (and other BSD 
systems ?) won't create a user with a '$' in their name.
</para>

<para>
The problem is only in the program used to make the entry, once 
made, it works perfectly. So create a user without the '$' and 
use <command>vipw</> to edit the entry, adding the '$'. Or create 
the whole entry with vipw if you like, make sure you use a 
unique uid !
</para>


<para>
<emphasis>I get told "You already have a connection to the Domain...." 
when creating a machine account.</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
This happens if you try to create a machine account from the 
machine itself and use a user name that does not work (for whatever 
reason) and then try another (possibly valid) user name.
Exit out of the network applet to close the initial connection 
and try again.
</para>

<para>
Further, if the machine is a already a 'member of a workgroup' that 
is the same name as the domain you are joining (bad idea) you will 
get this message.  Change the workgroup name to something else, it 
does not matter what, reboot, and try again.
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>I get told "Cannot join domain, the credentials supplied 
conflict with an existing set.."</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
This is the same basic problem as mentioned above, "You already 
have a connection..."
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>
"The system can not log you on (C000019B)...."</emphasis>
</para>

<para>I joined the domain successfully but after upgrading 
to a newer version of the Samba code I get the message, "The system 
can not log you on (C000019B), Please try a gain or consult your 
system administrator" when attempting to logon.
</para>

<para>
This occurs when the domain SID stored in 
<filename>private/WORKGROUP.SID</filename> is 
changed.  For example, you remove the file and <command>smbd</command> automatically 
creates a new one.  Or you are swapping back and forth between 
versions 2.0.7, TNG and the HEAD branch code (not recommended).  The 
only way to correct the problem is to restore the original domain 
SID or 	remove the domain client from the domain and rejoin.
</para> 


<para>
<emphasis>"The machine account for this computer either does not 
exist or is not accessible."</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
When I try to join the domain I get the message "The machine account 
for this computer either does not exist or is not accessible". Whats 
wrong ?
</para>

<para>
This problem is caused by the PDC not having a suitable machine account. 
If you are using the <command>add user script =</> method to create 
accounts then this would indicate that it has not worked. Ensure the domain 
admin user system is working.
</para>

<para>
Alternatively if you are creating account entries manually then they 
have not been created correctly. Make sure that you have the entry 
correct for the machine account in smbpasswd file on the Samba PDC. 
If you added the account using an editor rather than using the smbpasswd 
utility, make sure that the account name is the machine netbios name 
with a '$' appended to it ( ie. computer_name$ ). There must be an entry 
in both /etc/passwd and the smbpasswd file. Some people have reported 
that inconsistent subnet masks between the Samba server and the NT 
client have caused this problem.   Make sure that these are consistent 
for both client and server.
</para>

</sect1>



<!-- **********************************************************

     Policies and Profiles

*************************************************************** -->

<sect1>
<title>
System Policies and Profiles
</title>

<para>
Much of the information necessary to implement System Policies and
Roving User Profiles in a Samba domain is the same as that for 
implementing these same items in a Windows NT 4.0 domain. 
You should read the white paper <ulink url="http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/management/deployment/planguide/prof_policies.asp">Implementing
Profiles and Policies in Windows NT 4.0</ulink> available from Microsoft.
</para>

<para>
Here are some additional details:
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>What about Windows NT Policy Editor ?</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
To create or edit <filename>ntconfig.pol</filename> you must use 
the NT Server Policy Editor, <command>poledit.exe</command>	which 
is included with NT Server but <emphasis>not NT Workstation</emphasis>. 
There is a Policy Editor on a NTws 
but it is not suitable for creating <emphasis>Domain Policies</emphasis>. 
Further, although the Windows 95 
Policy Editor can be installed on an NT Workstation/Server, it will not
work with NT policies because the registry key that are set by the policy templates. 
However, the files from the NT Server will run happily enough on an NTws. 
You need <filename>poledit.exe, common.adm</> and <filename>winnt.adm</>. It is convenient
to put the two *.adm files in <filename>c:\winnt\inf</> which is where
the binary will look for them unless told otherwise. Note also that that 
directory is 'hidden'.
</para>

<para>The Windows NT policy editor is also included with the 
Service Pack 3 (and later) for Windows NT 4.0. Extract the files using 
<command>servicepackname /x</command>, ie thats <command>Nt4sp6ai.exe 
/x</command> for service pack 6a.  The policy editor, <command>poledit.exe</command> and the 
associated template files (*.adm) should
be extracted as well.  It is also possible to downloaded the policy template 
files for Office97 and get a copy of the policy editor.  Another possible 
location is with the Zero Administration Kit available for download from Microsoft.
</para>


<para>
<emphasis>Can Win95 do Policies ?</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
Install the group policy handler for Win9x to pick up group 
policies.   Look on the Win98 CD in <filename>\tools\reskit\netadmin\poledit</filename>. 
Install group policies on a Win9x client by double-clicking 
<filename>grouppol.inf</filename>. Log off and on again a couple of 
times and see if Win98 picks up group policies.  Unfortunately this needs 
to be done on every Win9x machine that uses group policies....
</para> 

<para>
If group policies don't work one reports suggests getting the updated 
(read: working) grouppol.dll for Windows 9x. The group list is grabbed 
from /etc/group.
</para>

<para>
<emphasis>How do I get 'User Manager' and 'Server Manager'</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
Since I don't need to buy an NT Server CD now, how do I get 
the 'User Manager for Domains', the 'Server Manager' ?
</para>

<para>
Microsoft distributes a version of 
these tools called nexus for installation on Windows 95 systems.  The 
tools set includes
</para>
	
<itemizedlist>
	<listitem><para>Server Manager</para></listitem> 
		
	<listitem><para>User Manager for Domains</para></listitem> 

	<listitem><para>Event Viewer</para></listitem> 
</itemizedlist>

<para>
Click here to download the archived file <ulink 
url="ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/NEXUS.EXE">ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/NEXUS.EXE</ulink>
</para>

<para>
The Windows NT 4.0 version of the 'User Manager for 
Domains' and 'Server Manager' are available from Microsoft via ftp 
from <ulink url="ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/SRVTOOLS.EXE">ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/SRVTOOLS.EXE</ulink>
</para>

</sect1>



<!-- **********************************************************

     Getting Help

*************************************************************** -->


<sect1>
<title>What other help can I get ? </title>

<para>
There are many sources of information available in the form 
of mailing lists, RFC's and documentation.  The docs that come 
with the samba distribution contain very good explanations of 
general SMB topics such as browsing.</para> 

<para>
<emphasis>What are some diagnostics tools I can use to debug the domain logon 
process and where can I	find them?</emphasis>
</para>

    <para>
	One of the best diagnostic tools for debugging problems is Samba itself.  
	You can use the -d option for both smbd and nmbd to specifiy what 
	'debug level' at which to run.  See the man pages on smbd, nmbd  and 
	smb.conf for more information on debugging options.  The debug 
	level can range from 1 (the default) to 10 (100 for debugging passwords).
	</para>
	
	<para>
	Another helpful method of debugging is to compile samba using the 
	<command>gcc -g </command> flag.   This will include debug 
	information in the binaries and allow you to attach gdb to the 
	running smbd / nmbd process.  In order to attach gdb to an smbd 
	process for an NT workstation, first get the workstation to make the 
	connection. Pressing ctrl-alt-delete and going down to the domain box 
	is sufficient (at least, on the first time you join the domain) to 
	generate a 'LsaEnumTrustedDomains'. Thereafter, the workstation 
	maintains an open connection, and therefore there will be an smbd 
	process running (assuming that you haven't set a really short smbd 
	idle timeout)  So, in between pressing ctrl alt delete, and actually 
	typing in your password, you can gdb attach and continue.
	</para>

	<para>
	Some useful samba commands worth investigating:
	</para>
	
	<itemizedlist>
		<listitem><para>testparam | more</para></listitem>
		<listitem><para>smbclient -L //{netbios name of server}</para></listitem>
	</itemizedlist>
    
    <para>
	An SMB enabled version of tcpdump is available from 
    <ulink url="http://www.tcpdump.org/">http://www.tcpdup.org/</ulink>.
	Ethereal, another good packet sniffer for UNIX and Win32
	hosts, can be downloaded from <ulink 
	url="http://www.ethereal.com/">http://www.ethereal.com</ulink>.
	</para>
	
	<para>
	For tracing things on the Microsoft Windows NT, Network Monitor 
	(aka. netmon) is available on the Microsoft Developer Network CD's, 
	the Windows NT Server install CD and the SMS CD's.  The version of 
	netmon that ships with SMS allows for dumping packets between any two 
	computers (ie. placing the network interface in promiscuous mode).  
	The version on the NT Server install CD will only allow monitoring 
	of network traffic directed to the local NT box and broadcasts on the 
	local subnet.  Be aware that Ethereal can read and write netmon 
	formatted files.
	</para>

<para>
<emphasis>How do I install 'Network Monitor' on an NT Workstation 
or a Windows 9x box?</emphasis>
</para>
	<para>
	Installing netmon on an NT workstation requires a couple 
	of steps.  The following are for installing Netmon V4.00.349, which comes 
	with Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, on Microsoft Windows NT 
	Workstation 4.0.  The process should be similar for other version of 
	Windows NT / Netmon.  You will need both the Microsoft Windows 
	NT Server 4.0 Install CD and the Workstation 4.0 Install CD.
	</para> 

	<para>
	Initially you will need to install 'Network Monitor Tools and Agent' 
	on the NT Server.  To do this 
	</para>

	<itemizedlist>
		<listitem><para>Goto Start - Settings - Control Panel - 
		Network - Services - Add </para></listitem>
		
		<listitem><para>Select the 'Network Monitor Tools and Agent' and 
		click on 'OK'.</para></listitem> 
		
		<listitem><para>Click 'OK' on the Network Control Panel.
		</para></listitem> 
		
		<listitem><para>Insert the Windows NT Server 4.0 install CD 
		when prompted.</para></listitem> 
	</itemizedlist>

	<para>
	At this point the Netmon files should exist in 
	<filename>%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\netmon\*.*</filename>.    
	Two subdirectories exist as well, <filename>parsers\</filename> 
	which contains the necessary DLL's for parsing the netmon packet 
	dump, and <filename>captures\</filename>.
	</para>

	<para>
	In order to install the Netmon tools on an NT Workstation, you will 
	first need to install the 'Network  Monitor Agent' from the Workstation 
	install CD.
	</para>

	<itemizedlist>
		<listitem><para>Goto Start - Settings - Control Panel - 
		Network - Services - Add</para></listitem> 

		<listitem><para>Select the 'Network Monitor Agent' and click 
		on 'OK'.</para></listitem> 
		
		<listitem><para>Click 'OK' on the Network Control Panel.
		</para></listitem> 
		
		<listitem><para>Insert the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 install 
		CD when prompted.</para></listitem> 
	</itemizedlist>


	<para>
	Now copy the files from the NT Server in %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\netmon\*.* 
	to %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\netmon\*.* on the Workstation and set 
	permissions as  you deem appropriate for your site. You will need 
	administrative rights on the NT box to run netmon.
	</para>

	<para>
	To install Netmon on a Windows 9x box install the network monitor agent 
	from the Windows 9x CD (\admin\nettools\netmon).  There is a readme 
	file located with the netmon driver files on the CD if you need 
	information on how to do this.  Copy the files from a working 
	Netmon installation.
	</para> 

<sect2>
<title>URLs and similar</title>


<itemizedlist>

 	<listitem><para>Home of Samba site <ulink url="http://samba.org">
        http://samba.org</ulink>. We have a mirror near you !</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para> The <emphasis>Development</emphasis> document 
	on the Samba mirrors might mention your problem. If so,
	it might mean that the developers are working on it.</para></listitem>
 
	<listitem><para>See how Scott Merrill simulates a BDC behavior at 
        <ulink url="http://www.skippy.net/linux/smb-howto.html">
        http://www.skippy.net/linux/smb-howto.html</>. </para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>Although 2.0.7 has almost had its day as a PDC, David Bannon will
        keep the 2.0.7 PDC pages at <ulink url="http://bioserve.latrobe.edu.au/samba">
        http://bioserve.latrobe.edu.au/samba</ulink> going for a while yet.</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>Misc links to CIFS information 
        <ulink url="http://samba.org/cifs/">http://samba.org/cifs/</ulink></para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>NT Domains for Unix <ulink url="http://mailhost.cb1.com/~lkcl/ntdom/">
        http://mailhost.cb1.com/~lkcl/ntdom/</ulink></para></listitem>

	<listitem><para>FTP site for older SMB specs: 
        <ulink url="ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/CIFS/">
        ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/CIFS/</ulink></para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect2>


<sect2>
<title>Mailing Lists</title>

<para>
<emphasis>How do I get help from the mailing lists ?</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
There are a number of Samba related mailing lists. Go to <ulink 
url="http://samba.org">http://samba.org</ulink>, click on your nearest mirror
and then click on <command>Support</> and then click on <command>
Samba related mailing lists</>.
</para>

<para>
For questions relating to Samba TNG go to
<ulink url="http://www.samba-tng.org/">http://www.samba-tng.org/</ulink> 
It has been requested that you don't post questions about Samba-TNG to the
main stream Samba lists.</para>
	 
<para>
If you post a message to one of the lists please observe the following guide lines :
</para>

<itemizedlist>

	<listitem><para> Always remember that the developers are volunteers, they are 
		not paid and they never guarantee to produce a particular feature at 
		a particular time. Any time lines are 'best guess' and nothing more.
		</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para> Always mention what version of samba you are using and what 
		operating system its running under. You should probably list the
        relevant sections of your smb.conf file, at least the options 
        in [global] that affect PDC support.</para></listitem>

    <listitem><para>In addition to the version, if you obtained Samba via
        CVS mention the date when you last checked it out.</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para> Try and make your question clear and brief, lots of long, 
		convoluted questions get deleted before	they are completely read ! 
		Don't post html encoded messages (if you can select colour or font 
		size its html).</para></listitem>

	<listitem><para> If you run one of those nifty 'I'm on holidays' things when 
		you are away, make sure its configured	to not answer mailing lists.
		</para></listitem> 

	<listitem><para> Don't cross post. Work out which is the best list to post to 
		and see what happens, ie don't post to both samba-ntdom and samba-technical.
        Many people active on the lists subscribe to more 
		than one list and get annoyed to see the same message two or more times. 
		Often someone will see a message and thinking it would be better dealt 
		with on another, will forward it on for you.</para></listitem>

    <listitem><para>You might include <emphasis>partial</emphasis>
        log files written at a debug level set to as much as 20.  
        Please don't send the entire log but enough to give the context of the 
        error messages.</para></listitem>

    <listitem><para>(Possibly) If you have a complete netmon trace ( from the opening of 
        the pipe to the error ) you can send the *.CAP file as well.</para></listitem> 

    <listitem><para>Please think carefully before attaching a document to an email.
        Consider pasting the relevant parts into the body of the message. The samba
        mailing lists go to a huge number of people, do they all need a copy of your 
        smb.conf in their attach directory ?</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>


<para>
<emphasis>How do I get off the mailing lists ?</emphasis>
</para>

    <para>To have your name removed from a samba mailing list, go to the
        same place you went to to get on it. Go to <ulink url=
        "http://lists.samba.org/">http://lists.samba.org</ulink>, click 
		on your nearest mirror and then click on <command>Support</> and 
		then click on <command> Samba related mailing lists</>. Or perhaps see 
        <ulink url="http://lists.samba.org/mailman/roster/samba-ntdom">here</ulink></para>

    <para>
	Please don't post messages to the list asking to be removed, you will just
        be referred to the above address (unless that process failed in some way...)
    </para>
</sect2>      
</sect1>




<!-- **********************************************************

     Appendix - DOMAIN_CONTROL.txt

*************************************************************** -->

<sect1>
<title>
DOMAIN_CONTROL.txt : Windows NT Domain Control & Samba
</title>

<para>
This appendix was originally authored by John H Terpstra of the Samba Team
and is included here for posterity.
</para>


<para>
<emphasis>NOTE :</emphasis> 
The term "Domain Controller" and those related to it refer to one specific
method of authentication that can underly an SMB domain. Domain Controllers
prior to Windows NT Server 3.1 were sold by various companies and based on 
private extensions to the LAN Manager 2.1 protocol. Windows NT introduced
Microsoft-specific ways of distributing the user authentication database.
See DOMAIN.txt for examples of how Samba can participate in or create
SMB domains based on shared authentication database schemes other than the 
Windows NT SAM.
</para>

<para>
Windows NT Server can be installed as either a plain file and print server
(WORKGROUP workstation or server) or as a server that participates in Domain
Control (DOMAIN member, Primary Domain controller or Backup Domain controller).
</para>

<para>
The same is true for OS/2 Warp Server, Digital Pathworks and other similar
products, all of which can participate in Domain Control along with Windows NT.
However only those servers which have licensed Windows NT code in them can be
a primary Domain Controller (eg Windows NT Server, Advanced Server for Unix.)
</para>

<para>
To many people these terms can be confusing, so let's try to clear the air.
</para>

<para>
Every Windows NT system (workstation or server) has a registry database.
The registry contains entries that describe the initialization information
for all services (the equivalent of Unix Daemons) that run within the Windows
NT environment. The registry also contains entries that tell application
software where to find dynamically loadable libraries that they depend upon.
In fact, the registry contains entries that describes everything that anything
may need to know to interact with the rest of the system.
</para>

<para>
The registry files can be located on any Windows NT machine by opening a
command prompt and typing:
</para>

<para>
<prompt>C:\WINNT\></prompt> dir %SystemRoot%\System32\config
</para>

<para>
The environment variable %SystemRoot% value can be obtained by typing:
</para>

<para>
<prompt>C:\WINNT></prompt>echo %SystemRoot%
</para>

<para>
The active parts of the registry that you may want to be familiar with are
the files called: default, system, software, sam and security.
</para>

<para>
In a domain environment, Microsoft Windows NT domain controllers participate
in replication of the SAM and SECURITY files so that all controllers within
the domain have an exactly identical copy of each.
</para>

<para>
The Microsoft Windows NT system is structured within a security model that
says that all applications and services must authenticate themselves before
they can obtain permission from the security manager to do what they set out
to do.
</para>

<para>
The Windows NT User database also resides within the registry. This part of
the registry contains the user's security identifier, home directory, group
memberships, desktop profile, and so on.
</para>

<para>
Every Windows NT system (workstation as well as server) will have its own
registry. Windows NT Servers that participate in Domain Security control
have a database that they share in common - thus they do NOT own an
independent full registry database of their own, as do Workstations and
plain Servers.
</para>

<para>
The User database is called the SAM (Security Access Manager) database and
is used for all user authentication as well as for authentication of inter-
process authentication (ie: to ensure that the service action a user has
requested is permitted within the limits of that user's privileges).
</para>

<para>
The Samba team have produced a utility that can dump the Windows NT SAM into 
smbpasswd format: see ENCRYPTION.txt for information on smbpasswd and
/pub/samba/pwdump on your nearest Samba mirror for the utility. This 
facility is useful but cannot be easily used to implement SAM replication
to Samba systems.
</para>

<para>
Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, and Windows NT Workstations and Servers
can participate in a Domain security system that is controlled by Windows NT
servers that have been correctly configured. At most every domain will have
ONE Primary Domain Controller (PDC). It is desirable that each domain will
have at least one Backup Domain Controller (BDC).
</para>

<para>
The PDC and BDCs then participate in replication of the SAM database so that
each Domain Controlling participant will have an up to date SAM component
within its registry.
</para>

</sect1>

</chapter>