SMB.CONF(5)

NAME
smb.conf - configuration file for smbd

SYNOPSIS
smb.conf

DESCRIPTION
The smb.conf file is a configuration file for the Samba suite. smb.conf contains runtime configuration information for the smbd program. The smbd program provides LanManager-like services to clients using the SMB protocol.

FILE FORMAT
The file consists of sections and parameters. A section begins with the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next section begins. Sections contain parameters of the form 'name = value'. The file is line-based - that is, each newline-terminated line represents either a comment, a section name or a parameter. Section and parameter names are not case sensitive. Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal whitespace in section and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace within a parameter value is retained verbatim. Any line beginning with a semicolon is ignored, as are lines containing only whitespace. Any line ending in a \ is "continued" on the next line in the customary UNIX fashion. The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string (no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved in string values. Some items such as create modes are numeric.

SERVICE DESCRIPTIONS
Each section in the configuration file describes a service. The section name is the service name and the parameters within the section define the service's attributes. There are three special sections, [global], [homes] and [printers], which are described under 'special sections'. The following notes apply to ordinary service descriptions. A service consists of a directory to which access is being given plus a description of the access rights which are granted to the user of the service. Some housekeeping options are also specifiable. Services are either filespace services (used by the client as an extension of their native file systems) or printable services (used by the client to access print services on the host running the server). Services may be guest services, in which case no password is required to access them. A specified guest account is used to define access privileges in this case. Services other than guest services will require a password to access them. The client provides the username. As many clients only provide passwords and not usernames, you may specify a list of usernames to check against the password using the "user=" option in the service definition. Note that the access rights granted by the server are masked by the access rights granted to the specified or guest user by the host system. The server does not grant more access than the host system grants. The following sample section defines a file space service. The user has write access to the path /home/bar. The service is accessed via the service name "foo":
     [foo]
         path = /home/bar
         writable = true The following sample section defines a printable service. The service is readonly, but printable. That is, the only write access permitted is via calls to open, write to and close a spool file. The 'guest ok' parameter means access will be permitted as the default guest user (specified elsewhere):
     [aprinter]
         path = /usr/spool/public
         read only = true
         printable = true
         public = true

SPECIAL SECTIONS

  The [global] section
    Parameters in this section apply to the server as a whole, or are defaults for services which do not specifically define certain items. See the notes under 'Parameters' for more information.

  The [homes] section
    If a section called 'homes' is included in the configuration file, services connecting clients to their home directories can be created on the fly by the server. When the connection request is made, the existing services are scanned. If a match is found, it is used. If no match is found, the requested service name is treated as a user name and looked up in the local passwords file. If the name exists and the correct password has been given, a service is created by cloning the [homes] section. Some modifications are then made to the newly created section:
        The service name is changed from 'homes' to the located username If no path was given, the path is set to the user's home directory.
    If you decide to use a path= line in your [homes] section then you may find it useful to use the %S macro. For example path=/data/pchome/%S would be useful if you have different home directories for your PCs than for UNIX access. This is a fast and simple way to give a large number of clients access to their home directories with a minimum of fuss. A similar process occurs if the requested service name is "homes", except that the service name is not changed to that of the requesting user. This method of using the [homes] section works well if different users share a client PC. The [homes] section can specify all the parameters a normal service section can specify, though some make more sense than others. The following is a typical and suitable [homes] section:
         [homes]
             writable = yes An important point:
        If guest access is specified in the [homes] section, all home directories will be accessible to all clients without a password. In the very unlikely event that this is actually desirable, it would be wise to also specify read only access.
Note that the browseable flag for auto home directories will be inherited from the global browseable flag, not the [homes] browseable flag. This is useful as it means setting browseable=no in the [homes] section will hide the [homes] service but make any auto home directories visible.

  The [printers] section
    This section works like [homes], but for printers. If a [printers] section occurs in the configuration file, users are able to connect to any printer specified in the local host's printcap file. When a connection request is made, the existing services are scanned. If a match is found, it is used. If no match is found, but a [homes] section exists, it is used as described above. Otherwise, the requested service name is treated as a printer name and the appropriate printcap file is scanned to see if the requested service name is a valid printer name. If a match is found, a new service is created by cloning the [printers] section. A few modifications are then made to the newly created section:
        The service name is set to the located printer name If no printer name was given, the printer name is set to the located printer name If the service does not permit guest access and no username was given, the username is set to the located printer name.
    Note that the [printers] service MUST be printable - if you specify otherwise, the server will refuse to load the configuration file. Typically the path specified would be that of a world-writable spool directory with the sticky bit set on it. A typical [printers] entry would look like this:
         [printers]
             path = /usr/spool/public
             writable = no
             public = yes
             printable = yes All aliases given for a printer in the printcap file are legitimate printer names as far as the server is concerned. If your printing subsystem doesn't work like that, you will have to set up a pseudo-printcap. This is a file consisting of one or more lines like this:
            alias|alias|alias|alias... Each alias should be an acceptable printer name for your printing subsystem. In the [global] section, specify the new file as your printcap. The server will then only recognise names found in your pseudo-printcap, which of course can contain whatever aliases you like. The same technique could be used simply to limit access to a subset of your local printers. An alias, by the way, is defined as any component of the first entry of a printcap record. Records are separated by newlines, components (if there are more than one) are separated by vertical bar symbols ("|").

PARAMETERS
Parameters define the specific attributes of services. Some parameters are specific to the [global] section (eg., security). Some parameters are usable in all sections (eg., create mode). All others are permissible only in normal sections. For the purposes of the following descriptions the [homes] and [printers] sections will be considered normal. The letter 'G' in parentheses indicates that a parameter is specific to the [global] section. The letter 'S' indicates that a parameter can be specified in a service specific section. Note that all S parameters can also be specified in the [global] section - in which case they will define the default behaviour for all services. Parameters are arranged here in alphabetical order - this may not create best bedfellows, but at least you can find them! Where there are synonyms, the preferred synonym is described, others refer to the preferred synonym.

  VARIABLE SUBSTITUTIONS
Many of the strings that are settable in the config file can take substitutions. For example the option "path = /tmp/%u" would be interpreted as "path = /tmp/john" if the user connected with the username john. These substitutions are mostly noted in the descriptions below, but there are some general substitutions which apply whenever they might be relevant. These are: %S = the name of the current service, if any %P = the root directory of the current service, if any %u = user name of the current service, if any %g = primary group name of %u %U = session user name (the user name that the client wanted, not necessarily the same as the one they got) %G = primary group name of %U %H = the home directory of the user given by %u %v = the Samba version %h = the hostname that Samba is running on %m = the netbios name of the client machine (very useful) %L = the netbios name of the server. This allows you to change your config based on what the client calls you. Your server can have a "dual personality". %M = the internet name of the client machine %d = The process id of the current server process %a = the architecture of the remote machine. Only some are recognised, and those may not be 100% reliable. It currently recognises Samba, WfWg, WinNT and Win95. Anything else will be known as "UNKNOWN". If it gets it wrong then sending me a level 3 log should allow me to fix it. %I = The IP address of the client machine %T = the current date and time There are some quite creative things that can be done with these substitutions and other smb.conf options.

  NAME MANGLING
Samba supports "name mangling" so that DOS and Windows clients can use files that don't conform to the 8.3 format. It can also be set to adjust the case of 8.3 format filenames. There are several options that control the way mangling is performed, and they are grouped here rather than listed separately. For the defaults look at the output of the testparm program. All of these options can be set separately for each service (or globally, of course). The options are: "mangle case = yes/no" controls if names that have characters that aren't of the "default" case are mangled. For example, if this is yes then a name like "Mail" would be mangled. Default no. "case sensitive = yes/no" controls whether filenames are case sensitive. If they aren't then Samba must do a filename search and match on passed names. Default no. "default case = upper/lower" controls what the default case is for new filenames. Default lower. "preserve case = yes/no" controls if new files are created with the case that the client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case. Default no. "short preserve case = yes/no" controls if new files which conform to 8.3 syntax, that is all in upper case and of suitable length, are created upper case, or if they are forced to be the "default" case. This option can be use with "preserve case = yes" to permit long filenames to retain their case, while short names are lowered. Default no.

  COMPLETE LIST OF GLOBAL PARAMETERS
Here is a list of all global parameters. See the section of each parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms. auto services config file deadtime debuglevel default default service dfree command encrypt passwords getwd cache hosts equiv include keepalive lock dir load printers lock directory log file log level lpq cache time mangled stack max log size max packet max xmit message command null passwords os level packet size passwd chat passwd program password level password server preferred master preload printing printcap name protocol read bmpx read prediction read raw read size remote announce root root dir root directory security server string smbrun socket address socket options status strip dot time offset username map use rhosts valid chars workgroup write raw

  COMPLETE LIST OF SERVICE PARAMETERS
Here is a list of all service parameters. See the section of each parameter for details. Note that some are synonyms. admin users allow hosts alternate permissions available browseable case sensitive case sig names copy create mask create mode comment default case delete readonly deny hosts directory dont descend exec fake oplocks force group force user guest account guest ok guest only hide dot files hosts allow hosts deny invalid users locking lppause command lpq command lpresume command lprm command magic output magic script mangle case mangled names mangling char map archive map hidden map system max connections min print space only guest only user path postexec postscript preserve case print command printer driver print ok printable printer printer name public read only read list revalidate root postexec root preexec set directory share modes short preserve case strict locking sync always user username users valid users volume wide links writable write ok writeable write list

  EXPLANATION OF EACH PARAMETER

  admin users (G)
This is a list of users who will be granted administrative privilages on the share. This means that they will do all file operations as the super-user (root). You should use this option very carefully, as any user in this list will be able to do anything they like on the share, irrespective of file permissions. Default:
    no admin users Example:
    admin users = jason

  auto services (G)
This is a list of services that you want to be automatically added to the browse lists. This is most useful for homes and printers services that would otherwise not be visible. Note that if you just want all printers in your printcap file loaded then the "load printers" option is easier. Default:
    no auto services Example:
    auto services = fred lp colorlp

  allow hosts (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts allow'. This parameter is a comma delimited set of hosts which are permitted to access a services. If specified in the [global] section, matching hosts will be allowed access to any service that does not specifically exclude them from access. Specific services my have their own list, which override those specified in the [global] section. You can specify the hosts by name or IP number. For example, you could restrict access to only the hosts on a Class C subnet with something like "allow hosts = 150.203.5.". The full syntax of the list is described in the man page hosts_access(5). You can also specify hosts by network/netmask pairs and by netgroup names if your system supports netgroups. The EXCEPT keyword can also be used to limit a wildcard list. The following examples may provide some help: Example 1: allow all IPs in 150.203.*.* except one
    hosts allow = 150.203. EXCEPT 150.203.6.66 Example 2: allow hosts that match the given network/netmask
    hosts allow = 150.203.15.0/255.255.255.0 Example 3: allow a couple of hosts
    hosts allow = lapland, arvidsjaur Example 4: allow only hosts in netgroup "foonet" or localhost, but deny access from one particular host
     hosts allow = @foonet, localhost
     hosts deny = pirate Note that access still requires suitable user-level passwords. See testparm(1) for a way of testing your host access to see if it does what you expect. Default:
     none (i.e., all hosts permitted access) Example:
     allow hosts = 150.203.5. myhost.mynet.edu.au

  alternate permissions (S)
This option affects the way the "read only" DOS attribute is produced for UNIX files. If this is false then the read only bit is set for files on writeable shares which the user cannot write to. If this is true then it is set for files whos user write bit is not set. The latter behaviour is useful for when users copy files from each others directories, and use a file manager that preserves permissions. Without this option they may get annoyed as all copied files will have the "read only" bit set. Default:
    alternate permissions = no Example:
    alternate permissions = yes

  available (S)
This parameter lets you 'turn off' a service. If 'available = no', then ALL attempts to connect to the service will fail. Such failures are logged. Default:
     available = yes Example:
     available = no

  browseable (S)
This controls whether this share is seen in the list of available shares in a net view and in the browse list. Default:
    browseable = Yes Example:
    browseable = No

  case sig names (G)
See "case sensitive"

  comment (S)
This is a text field that is seen when a client does a net view to list what shares are available. It will also be used when browsing is fully supported. Default:
    No comment string Example:
    comment = Fred's Files

  config file (G)
This allows you to override the config file to use, instead of the default (usually smb.conf). There is a chicken and egg problem here as this option is set in the config file! For this reason, if the name of the config file has changed when the parameters are loaded then it will reload them from the new config file. This option takes the usual substitutions, which can be very useful. If the config file doesn't exist then it won't be loaded (allowing you to special case the config files of just a few clients). Example:
    config file = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m

  copy (S)
This parameter allows you to 'clone' service entries. The specified service is simply duplicated under the current service's name. Any parameters specified in the current section will override those in the section being copied. This feature lets you set up a 'template' service and create similar services easily. Note that the service being copied must occur earlier in the configuration file than the service doing the copying. Default:
     none Example:
     copy = otherservice

  create mask (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'create mode'. This parameter is the octal modes which are used when converting DOS modes to UNIX modes. Note that Samba will or this value with 0700 as you must have at least user read, write and execute for Samba to work properly. Default:
     create mask = 0755 Example:
     create mask = 0775

  create mode (S)
See create mask.

  dead time (G)
The value of the parameter (a decimal integer) represents the number of minutes of inactivity before a connection is considered dead, and it is disconnected. The deadtime only takes effect if the number of open files is zero. This is useful to stop a server's resources being exhausted by a large number of inactive connections. Most clients have an auto-reconnect feature when a connection is broken so in most cases this parameter should be transparent to users. Using this parameter with a timeout of a few minutes is recommended for most systems. A deadtime of zero indicates that no auto-disconnection should be performed. Default:
     dead time = 0 Example:
     dead time = 15

  debug level (G)
The value of the parameter (an integer) allows the debug level (logging level) to be specified in the smb.conf file. This is to give greater flexibility in the configuration of the system. The default will be the debug level specified on the command line. Example:
     debug level = 3

  default (G)
See default service.

  default case (S)
See the section on "NAME MANGLING" Also note the addition of "short preserve case"

  default service (G)
A synonym for this parameter is 'default'. This parameter specifies the name of a service which will be connected to if the service actually requested cannot be found. Note that the square brackets are NOT given in the parameter value (see example below). There is no default value for this parameter. If this parameter is not given, attempting to connect to a nonexistent service results in an error. Typically the default service would be a public, read-only service. Also note that as of 1.9.14 the apparent service name will be changed to equal that of the requested service, this is very useful as it allows you to use macros like %S to make a wildcard service. Note also that any _ characters in the name of the service used in the default service will get mapped to a /. This allows for interesting things. Example:
     default service = pub

        [pub]
             path = /%S

  delete readonly (S)
This parameter allows readonly files to be deleted. This is not normal DOS semantics, but is allowed by UNIX. This option may be useful for running applications such as rcs, where UNIX file ownership prevents changing file permissions, and DOS semantics prevent deletion of a read only file. Default:
     delete readonly = No Example:
     delete readonly = Yes

  deny hosts (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'hosts deny'. The opposite of 'allow hosts' - hosts listed here are NOT permitted access to services unless the specific services have their own lists to override this one. Where the lists conflict, the 'allow' list takes precedence. Default:
     none (i.e., no hosts specifically excluded) Example:
      deny hosts = 150.203.4. badhost.mynet.edu.au

  dfree command (G)
The dfree command setting should only be used on systems where a problem occurs with the internal disk space calculations. This has been known to happen with Ultrix, but may occur with other operating systems. The symptom that was seen was an error of "Abort Retry Ignore" at the end of each directory listing. This setting allows the replacement of the internal routines to calculate the total disk space and amount available with an external routine. The example below gives a possible script that might fulfill this function. The external program will be passed a single parameter indicating a directory in the filesystem being queried. This will typically consist of the string "./". The script should return two integers in ascii. The first should be the total disk space in blocks, and the second should be the number of available blocks. An optional third return value can give the block size in bytes. The default blocksize is 1024 bytes. Note: Your script should NOT be setuid or setgid and should be owned by (and writable only by) root! Default:
     By default internal routines for determining the disk capacity and remaining space will be used. Example:
     dfree command = /usr/local/samba/bin/dfree
    Where the script dfree (which must be made executable) could be
	#!/bin/sh
	df $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $2" "$4}'
    or perhaps (on Sys V)
	#!/bin/sh
	/usr/bin/df -k $1 | tail -1 | awk '{print $3" "$5}'
    Note that you may have to replace the command names with full path names on some systems.

  directory (S)
See path.

  dont descend (S)
There are certain directories on some systems (eg., the /proc tree under Linux) that are either not of interest to clients or are infinitely deep (recursive). This parameter allows you to specify a comma-delimited list of directories that the server should always show as empty. Note that Samba can be very fussy about the exact format of the "dont descend" entries. For example you may need "./proc" instead of just "/proc". Experimentation is the best policy :-) Default:
     none (i.e., all directories are OK to descend) Example:
      dont descend = /proc,/dev

  encrypt passwords (G)
This boolean controls whether encrypted passwords will be negotiated with the client. Note that this option has no effect if you haven't compiled in the necessary des libraries and encryption code. It defaults to no.

  exec (S)
This is an alias for preexec

  force group (S)
This specifies a group name that all connections to this service should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files. Default:
       no forced group Example:
       force group = agroup

  force user (S)
This specifies a user name that all connections to this service should be made as. This may be useful for sharing files. You should also use it carefully as using it incorrectly can cause security problems. This user name only gets used once a connection is established. Thus clients still need to connect as a valid user and supply a valid password. Once connected, all file operations will be performed as the "forced user", not matter what username the client connected as. Default:
       no forced user Example:
       force user = auser

  guest account (S)
This is a username which will be used for access to services which are specified as 'guest ok' (see below). Whatever privileges this user has will be available to any client connecting to the guest service. Typically this user will exist in the password file, but will not have a valid login. If a username is specified in a given service, the specified username overrides this one. One some systems the account "nobody" may not be able to print. Use another account in this case. You should test this by trying to log in as your guest user (perhaps by using the "su -" command) and trying to print using lpr. Note that as of version 1.9 of Samba this option may be set differently for each service. Default:
     specified at compile time Example:
     guest account = nobody

  getwd cache (G)
This is a tuning option. When this is enabled a cacheing algorithm will be used to reduce the time taken for getwd() calls. This can have a significant impact on performance, especially when widelinks is False. Default:
     getwd cache = No Example:
     getwd cache = Yes

  guest ok (S)
See public.

  guest only (S)
If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then only guest connections to the service are permitted. This parameter will have no affect if "guest ok" or "public" is not set for the service. See the section below on user/password validation for more information about this option. Default:
     guest only = no Example:
     guest only = yes

  hide dot files (S)
This is a boolean parameter that controls whether files starting with a dot appear as hidden files. Default:
    hide dot files = yes Example:
    hide dot files = no

  hosts allow (S)
See allow hosts.

  hosts deny (S)
See deny hosts.

  group (S)
This is an alias for "force group" and is only kept for compatibility with old versions of Samba. It may be removed in future versions.

  hosts equiv (G)
If this global parameter is a non-null string, it specifies the name of a file to read for the names of hosts and users who will be allowed access without specifying a password. This is not be confused with allow hosts which is about hosts access to services and is more useful for guest services. hosts equiv may be useful for NT clients which will not supply passwords to samba. NOTE: The use of hosts.equiv can be a major security hole. This is because you are trusting the PC to supply the correct username. It is very easy to get a PC to supply a false username. I recommend that the hosts.equiv option be only used if you really know what you are doing, or perhaps on a home network where you trust your wife and kids :-) Default
    No host equivalences Example
    hosts equiv = /etc/hosts.equiv

  interfaces (G)
This option allows you to setup multiple network interfaces, so that Samba can properly handle browsing on all interfaces. The option takes a list of ip/netmask pairs. The netmask may either be a bitmask, or a bitlength. For example, the following line: interfaces = 192.168.2.10/24 192.168.3.10/24 would configure two network interfaces with IP addresses 192.168.2.10 and 192.168.3.10. The netmasks of both interfaces would be set to 255.255.255.0. You could produce an equivalent result by using: interfaces = 192.168.2.10/255.255.255.0 192.168.3.10/255.255.255.0 if you prefer that format. If this option is not set then Samba will attempt to find a primary interface, but won't attempt to configure more than one interface.

  invalid users (S)
This is a list of users that should not be allowed to login to this service. This is really a "paranoid" check to absolutely ensure an improper setting does not breach your security. A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group. The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the [homes] section. See also "valid users" Default
    No invalid users Example
    invalid users = root fred admin @wheel

  include (G)
This allows you to include one config file inside another. the file is included literally, as though typed in place. It takes the standard substitutions, except %u, %P and %S

  keep alive (G)
The value of the parameter (an integer) represents the number of seconds between 'keepalive' packets. If this parameter is zero, no keepalive packets will be sent. Keepalive packets, if sent, allow the server to tell whether a client is still present and responding. Keepalives should, in general, not be needed if the socket being used has the SO_KEEPALIVE attribute set on it (see "socket options"). Basically you should only use this option if you strike difficulties. Default:
     keep alive = 0 Example:
     keep alive = 60

  load printers (G)
A boolean variable that controls whether all printers in the printcap will be loaded for browsing by default. Default:
    load printers = no Example:
    load printers = yes

  lock directory (G)
This options specifies the directory where lock files will be placed. The lock files are used to implement the "max connections" option. Default:
    lock directory = /tmp/samba Example:
    lock directory = /usr/local/samba/var/locks

  locking (S)
This controls whether or not locking will be performed by the server in response to lock requests from the client. If "locking = no", all lock and unlock requests will appear to succeed and all lock queries will indicate that the queried lock is clear. If "locking = yes", real locking will be performed by the server. This option may be particularly useful for read-only filesystems which do not need locking (such as cdrom drives). Be careful about disabling locking either globally or in a specific service, as lack of locking may result in data corruption. Default:
     locking = yes Example:
     locking = no

  log file (G)
This options allows you to override the name of the Samba log file (also known as the debug file). This option takes the standard substitutions, allowing you to have separate log files for each user or machine. Example:
    log file = /usr/local/samba/var/log.%m

  log level (G)
see "debug level"

  lppause command (S)
This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in order to stop printing or spooling a specific print job. This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and job number to pause the print job. Currently I don't know of any print spooler system that can do this with a simple option, except for the PPR system from Trinity College (ppr-dist.trincoll.edu/pub/ppr). One way of implementing this is by using job priorities, where jobs having a too low priority won't be sent to the printer. See also the lppause command. If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is replaced with the job number (an integer). On HPUX (see printing=hpux), if the -p%p option is added to the lpq command, the job will show up with the correct status, i.e. if the job priority is lower than the set fence priority it will have the PAUSED status, whereas if the priority is equal or higher it will have the SPOOLED or PRINTING status. Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lppause command as the PATH may not be available to the server. Default:
        Currently no default value is given to this string Example for HPUX:
        lppause command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p0

  lpq cache time (G)
This controls how long lpq info will be cached for to prevent the lpq command being called too often. A separate cache is kept for each variation of the lpq command used by the system, so if you use different lpq commands for different users then they won't share cache information. The cache files are stored in /tmp/lpq.xxxx where xxxx is a hash of the lpq command in use. The default is 10 seconds, meaning that the cached results of a previous identical lpq command will be used if the cached data is less than 10 seconds old. A large value may be advisable if your lpq command is very slow. A value of 0 will disable cacheing completely. Default:
    lpq cache time = 10 Example:
    lpq cache time = 30

  lpq command (S)
This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in order to obtain "lpq"-style printer status information. This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name as its only parameter and outputs printer status information. Currently six styles of printer status information are supported; BSD, SYSV, AIX, HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You control which type is expected using the "printing =" option. Some clients (notably Windows for Workgroups) may not correctly send the connection number for the printer they are requesting status information about. To get around this, the server reports on the first printer service connected to by the client. This only happens if the connection number sent is invalid. If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. Otherwise it is placed at the end of the command. Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpq command as the PATH may not be available to the server. Default:
        depends on the setting of "printing =" Example:
     lpq command = /usr/bin/lpq %p

  lpresume command (S)
This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in order to restart or continue printing or spooling a specific print job. This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and job number to resume the print job. See also the lppause command. If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is replaced with the job number (an integer). Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lpresume command as the PATH may not be available to the server. Default:
        Currently no default value is given to this string Example for HPUX:
        lpresume command = /usr/bin/lpalt %p-%j -p2

  lprm command (S)
This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the server host in order to delete a print job. This command should be a program or script which takes a printer name and job number, and deletes the print job. Currently seven styles of printer control are supported; BSD, SYSV, AIX HPUX, QNX, LPRNG and PLP. This covers most UNIX systems. You control which type is expected using the "printing =" option. If a %p is given then the printername is put in its place. A %j is replaced with the job number (an integer). Note that it is good practice to include the absolute path in the lprm command as the PATH may not be available to the server. Default:
        depends on the setting of "printing =" Example 1:
     lprm command = /usr/bin/lprm -P%p %j Example 2:
     lprm command = /usr/bin/cancel %p-%j

  magic output (S)
This parameter specifies the name of a file which will contain output created by a magic script (see magic script below). Warning: If two clients use the same magic script in the same directory the output file content is undefined. Default:
     magic output = <magic script name>.out Example:
     magic output = myfile.txt

  magic script (S)
This parameter specifies the name of a file which, if opened, will be executed by the server when the file is closed. This allows a UNIX script to be sent to the Samba host and executed on behalf of the connected user. Scripts executed in this way will be deleted upon completion, permissions permitting. If the script generates output, output will be sent to the file specified by the magic output parameter (see above). Note that some shells are unable to interpret scripts containing carriage-return-linefeed instead of linefeed as the end-of-line marker. Magic scripts must be executable "as is" on the host, which for some hosts and some shells will require filtering at the DOS end. Magic scripts are EXPERIMENTAL and should NOT be relied upon. Default:
     None. Magic scripts disabled. Example:
     magic script = user.csh

  mangled map (S)
This is for those who want to directly map UNIX file names which are not representable on DOS. The mangling of names is not always what is needed. In particular you may have documents with file extensiosn that differ between DOS and UNIX. For example, under UNIX it is common to use .html for HTML files, whereas under DOS .htm is more commonly used. So to map 'html' to 'htm' you put:
  mangled map = (*.html *.htm) One very useful case is to remove the annoying ;1 off the ends of filenames on some CDROMS (only visible under some UNIXes). To do this use a map of (*;1 *) default:
    no mangled map Example:
    mangled map = (*;1 *)

  mangle case (S)
See the section on "NAME MANGLING"

  mangled names (S)
This controls whether non-DOS names under UNIX should be mapped to DOS-compatible names ("mangled") and made visible, or whether non-DOS names should simply be ignored. See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for details on how to control the mangling process. If mangling is used then the mangling algorithm is as follows:
    - the first (up to) five alphanumeric characters before the rightmost dot of the filename are preserved, forced to upper case, and appear as the first (up to) five characters of the mangled name. - a tilde ("~") is appended to the first part of the mangled name, followed by a two-character unique sequence, based on the origonal root name (i.e., the original filename minus its final extension). The final extension is included in the hash calculation only if it contains any upper case characters or is longer than three characters. Note that the character to use may be specified using the "mangling char" option, if you don't like ~. - the first three alphanumeric characters of the final extension are preserved, forced to upper case and appear as the extension of the mangled name. The final extension is defined as that part of the original filename after the rightmost dot. If there are no dots in the filename, the mangled name will have no extension (except in the case of hidden files - see below). - files whose UNIX name begins with a dot will be presented as DOS hidden files. The mangled name will be created as for other filenames, but with the leading dot removed and "___" as its extension regardless of actual original extension (that's three underscores).
The two-digit hash value consists of upper case alphanumeric characters. This algorithm can cause name collisions only if files in a directory share the same first five alphanumeric characters. The probability of such a clash is 1/1300. The name mangling (if enabled) allows a file to be copied between UNIX directories from DOS while retaining the long UNIX filename. UNIX files can be renamed to a new extension from DOS and will retain the same basename. Mangled names do not change between sessions. Default:
     mangled names = yes Example:
     mangled names = no

  mangling char (S)
This controls what character is used as the "magic" character in name mangling. The default is a ~ but this may interfere with some software. Use this option to set it to whatever you prefer. Default:
     mangling char = ~ Example:
     mangling char = ^

  max disk size (G)
This option allows you to put an upper limit on the apparent size of disks. If you set this option to 100 then all shares will appear to be not larger than 100 MB in size. Note that this option does not limit the amount of data you can put on the disk. In the above case you could still store much more than 100 MB on the disk, but if a client ever asks for the amount of free disk space or the total disk size then the result will be bounded by the amount specified in "max disk size". This option is primarily useful to work around bugs in some pieces of software that can't handle very large disks, particularly disks over 1GB in size. A "max disk size" of 0 means no limit. Default:
    max disk size = 0 Example:
    max disk size = 1000

  max log size (G)
This option (an integer in kilobytes) specifies the max size the log file should grow to. Samba periodically checks the size and if it is exceeded it will rename the file, adding a .old extension. A size of 0 means no limit. Default:
    max log size = 5000 Example:
     max log size = 1000

  max xmit (G)
This option controls the maximum packet size that will be negotiated by Samba. The default is 65535, which is the maximum. In some cases you may find you get better performance with a smaller value. A value below 2048 is likely to cause problems. Default:
    max xmit = 65535 Example:
     max xmit = 8192

  mangled stack (G)
This parameter controls the number of mangled names that should be cached in the Samba server. This stack is a list of recently mangled base names (extensions are only maintained if they are longer than 3 characters or contains upper case characters). The larger this value, the more likely it is that mangled names can be successfully converted to correct long UNIX names. However, large stack sizes will slow most directory access. Smaller stacks save memory in the server (each stack element costs 256 bytes). It is not possible to absolutely guarantee correct long file names, so be prepared for some surprises! Default:
     mangled stack = 50 Example:
     mangled stack = 100

  map archive (S)
This controls whether the DOS archive attribute should be mapped to UNIX execute bits. The DOS archive bit is set when a file has been modified since its last backup. One motivation for this option it to keep Samba/your PC from making any file it touches from becoming executable under UNIX. This can be quite annoying for shared source code, documents, etc... Default:
      map archive = yes Example:
      map archive = no

  map hidden (S)
This controls whether DOS style hidden files should be mapped to UNIX execute bits. Default:
     map hidden = no Example:
     map hidden = yes

  map system (S)
This controls whether DOS style system files should be mapped to UNIX execute bits. Default:
     map system = no Example:
     map system = yes

  max connections (S)
This option allows the number of simultaneous connections to a service to be limited. If "max connections" is greater than 0 then connections will be refused if this number of connections to the service are already open. A value of zero mean an unlimited number of connections may be made. Record lock files are used to implement this feature. The lock files will be stored in the directory specified by the "lock directory" option. Default:
    max connections = 0 Example:
    max connections = 10

  only user (S)
This is a boolean option that controls whether connections with usernames not in the user= list will be allowed. By default this option is disabled so a client can supply a username to be used by the server. Note that this also means Samba won't try to deduce usernames from the service name. This can be annoying for the [homes] section. To get around this you could use "user = %S" which means your "user" list will be just the service name, which for home directories is the name of the user. Default:
    only user = False Example:
    only user = True

  fake oplocks (S)
Oplocks are the way that SMB clients get permission from a server to locally cache file operations. If a server grants an oplock (opportunistic lock) then the client is free to assume that it is the only one accessing the file and it will agressively cache file data. With some oplock types the client may even cache file open/close operations. This can give enormous performance benefits. Samba does not support opportunistic locks because they are very difficult to do under Unix. Samba can fake them, however, by granting a oplock whenever a client asks for one. This is controlled using the smb.conf option "fake oplocks". If you set "fake oplocks = yes" then you are telling the client that it may agressively cache the file data. By enabling this option on all read-only shares or shares that you know will only be accessed from one client at a time you will see a big performance improvement on many operations. If you enable this option on shares where multiple clients may be accessing the files read-write at the same time you can get data corruption. Use this option carefully! This option is disabled by default.

  message command (G)
This specifies what command to run when the server receives a WinPopup style message. This would normally be a command that would deliver the message somehow. How this is to be done is up to your imagination. What I use is:
   message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' & This delivers the message using xedit, then removes it afterwards. NOTE THAT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS COMMAND RETURN IMMEDIATELY. That's why I have the & on the end. If it doesn't return immediately then your PCs may freeze when sending messages (they should recover after 30secs, hopefully). All messages are delivered as the global guest user. The command takes the standard substitutions, although %u won't work (%U may be better in this case). Apart from the standard substitutions, some additional ones apply. In particular: %s = the filename containing the message %t = the destination that the message was sent to (probably the server name) %f = who the message is from You could make this command send mail, or whatever else takes your fancy. Please let me know of any really interesting ideas you have. Here's a way of sending the messages as mail to root: message command = /bin/mail -s 'message from %f on %m' root < %s; rm %s If you don't have a message command then the message won't be delivered and Samba will tell the sender there was an error. Unfortunately WfWg totally ignores the error code and carries on regardless, saying that the message was delivered. If you want to silently delete it then try "message command = rm %s". For the really adventurous, try something like this: message command = csh -c 'csh < %s |& /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient \
                  -M %m; rm %s' & this would execute the command as a script on the server, then give them the result in a WinPopup message. Note that this could cause a loop if you send a message from the server using smbclient! You better wrap the above in a script that checks for this :-) Default:
    no message command Example:
        message command = csh -c 'xedit %s;rm %s' &

  min print space (S)
This sets the minimum amount of free disk space that must be available before a user will be able to spool a print job. It is specified in kilobytes. The default is 0, which means no limit. Default:
    min print space = 0 Example:
    min print space = 2000

  null passwords (G)
Allow or disallow access to accounts that have null passwords. Default:
    null passwords = no Example:
    null passwords = yes

  os level (G)
This integer value controls what level Samba advertises itself as for browse elections. See BROWSING.txt for details.

  packet size (G)
The maximum transmit packet size during a raw read. This option is no longer implemented as of version 1.7.00, and is kept only so old configuration files do not become invalid.

  passwd chat (G)
This string controls the "chat" conversation that takes places between smbd and the local password changing program to change the users password. The string describes a sequence of response-receive pairs that smbd uses to determine what to send to the passwd program and what to expect back. If the expected output is not received then the password is not changed. This chat sequence is often quite site specific, depending on what local methods are used for password control (such as NIS+ etc). The string can contain the macros %o and %n which are substituted for the old and new passwords respectively. It can aso contain the standard macros \n \r \t and \s to give line-feed, carriage-return, tab and space. The string can also contain a * which matches any sequence of characters. Double quotes can be used to collect strings with spaces in them into a single string. If the send string in any part of the chat sequence is a fullstop "." then no string is sent. Similarly, is the expect string is a fullstop then no string is expected. Example:
    passwd chat = "*Enter OLD password*" %o\n "*Enter NEW password*" %n\n \
                      "*Reenter NEW password*" %n\n "*Password changed*" Default:
    passwd chat = *old*password* %o\n *new*password* %n\n *new*password* %n\n *changed*

  passwd program (G)
The name of a program that can be used to set user passwords. This is only necessary if you have enabled remote password changing at compile time. Any occurances of %u will be replaced with the user name. Also note that many passwd programs insist in "reasonable" passwords, such as a minimum length, or the inclusion of mixed case chars and digits. This can pose a problem as some clients (such as Windows for Workgroups) uppercase the password before sending it. Default:
    passwd program = /bin/passwd Example:
    passwd program = /sbin/passwd %u

  password level (G)
Some client/server conbinations have difficulty with mixed-case passwords. One offending client is Windows for Workgroups, which for some reason forces passwords to upper case when using the LANMAN1 protocol, but leaves them alone when using COREPLUS! This parameter defines the maximum number of characters that may be upper case in passwords. For example, say the password given was "FRED". If password level is set to 1 (one), the following combinations would be tried if "FRED" failed: "Fred", "fred", "fRed", "frEd", "freD". If password level was set to 2 (two), the following combinations would also be tried: "FRed", "FrEd", "FreD", "fREd", "fReD", "frED". And so on. The higher value this parameter is set to the more likely it is that a mixed case password will be matched against a single case password. However, you should be aware that use of this parameter reduces security and increases the time taken to process a new connection. A value of zero will cause only two attempts to be made - the password as is and the password in all-lower case. If you find the connections are taking too long with this option then you probably have a slow crypt() routine. Samba now comes with a fast "ufc crypt" that you can select in the Makefile. You should also make sure the PASSWORD_LENGTH option is correct for your system in local.h and includes.h. On most systems only the first 8 chars of a password are significant so PASSWORD_LENGTH should be 8, but on some longer passwords are significant. The includes.h file tries to select the right length for your system. Default:
     password level = 0 Example:
     password level = 4

  password server (G)
By specifying the name of another SMB server (such as a WinNT box) with this option, and using "security = server" you can get Samba to do all its username/password validation via a remote server. This options sets the name of the password server to use. It must be a netbios name, so if the machine's netbios name is different from its internet name then you may have to add its netbios name to /etc/hosts. The password server much be a machine capable of using the "LM1.2X002" or the "LM NT 0.12" protocol, and it must be in user level security mode. NOTE: Using a password server means your UNIX box (running Samba) is only as secure as your password server. DO NOT CHOOSE A PASSWORD SERVER THAT YOU DON'T COMPLETELY TRUST. Never point a Samba server at itself for password serving. This will cause a loop and could lock up your Samba server! The name of the password server takes the standard substitutions, but probably the only useful one is %m, which means the Samba server will use the incoming client as the password server. If you use this then you better trust your clients, and you better restrict them with hosts allow! If you list several hosts in the "password server" option then smbd will try each in turn till it finds one that responds. This is useful in case your primary server goes down.

  path (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'directory'. This parameter specifies a directory to which the user of the service is to be given access. In the case of printable services, this is where print data will spool prior to being submitted to the host for printing. For a printable service offering guest access, the service should be readonly and the path should be world-writable and have the sticky bit set. This is not mandatory of course, but you probably won't get the results you expect if you do otherwise. Any occurances of %u in the path will be replaced with the username that the client is connecting as. Any occurances of %m will be replaced by the name of the machine they are connecting from. These replacements are very useful for setting up pseudo home directories for users. Note that this path will be based on 'root dir' if one was specified. Default:
     none Example:
     path = /home/fred+

  postexec (S)
This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is disconnected. It takes the usual substitutions. The command may be run as the root on some systems. An interesting example may be do unmount server resources: postexec = /etc/umount /cdrom See also preexec Default:
      none (no command executed) Example:
      postexec = echo

  postscript (S)
This parameter forces a printer to interpret the print files as postscript. This is done by adding a %! to the start of print output. This is most useful when you have lots of PCs that persist in putting a control-D at the start of print jobs, which then confuses your printer. Default:
    postscript = False Example:
    postscript = True

  preexec (S)
This option specifies a command to be run whenever the service is connected to. It takes the usual substitutions. An interesting example is to send the users a welcome message every time they log in. Maybe a message of the day? Here is an example: preexec = csh -c 'echo Of course, this could get annoying after a while :-) See also postexec Default:
    none (no command executed) Example:
    preexec = echo

  preferred master (G)
This boolean parameter controls if Samba is a preferred master browser for its workgroup. Setting this gives it a slight edge in elections and also means it will automatically start an election when it starts up. It is on by default.

  preload
This is an alias for "auto services"

  preserve case (S)
This controls if new filenames are created with the case that the client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case. Default:
       preserve case = no See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.

  print command (S)
After a print job has finished spooling to a service, this command will be used via a system() call to process the spool file. Typically the command specified will submit the spool file to the host's printing subsystem, but there is no requirement that this be the case. The server will not remove the spool file, so whatever command you specify should remove the spool file when it has been processed, otherwise you will need to manually remove old spool files. The print command is simply a text string. It will be used verbatim, with two exceptions: All occurrences of "%s" will be replaced by the appropriate spool file name, and all occurrences of "%p" will be replaced by the appropriate printer name. The spool file name is generated automatically by the server, the printer name is discussed below. The full path name will be used for the filename if %s is not preceded by a /. If you don't like this (it can stuff up some lpq output) then use %f instead. Any occurances of %f get replaced by the spool filename without the full path at the front. The print command MUST contain at least one occurrence of "%s" or %f - the "%p" is optional. At the time a job is submitted, if no printer name is supplied the "%p" will be silently removed from the printer command. If specified in the [global] section, the print command given will be used for any printable service that does not have its own print command specified. If there is neither a specified print command for a printable service nor a global print command, spool files will be created but not processed and (most importantly) not removed. Note that printing may fail on some UNIXes from the "nobody" account. If this happens then create an alternative guest account that can print and set the "guest account" in the [global] section. You can form quite complex print commands by realising that they are just passed to a shell. For example the following will log a print job, print the file, then remove it. Note that ; is the usual separator for command in shell scripts. print command = echo Printing %s >> /tmp/print.log; lpr -P %p %s; rm %s You may have to vary this command considerably depending on how you normally print files on your system. Default:
    print command = lpr -r -P %p %s Example:
     print command = /usr/local/samba/bin/myprintscript %p %s

  print ok (S)
See printable.

  printable (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'print ok'. If this parameter is 'yes', then clients may open, write to and submit spool files on the directory specified for the service. Note that a printable service will ALWAYS allow writing to the service path (user privileges permitting) via the spooling of print data. The 'read only' parameter controls only non-printing access to the resource. Default:
     printable = no Example:
     printable = yes

  printing (G)
This parameters controls how printer status information is interpreted on your system, and also affects the default values for the "print command", "lpq command" and "lprm command". Currently six printing styles are supported. They are "printing = bsd", "printing = sysv", "printing = hpux", "printing = aix", "printing = qnx" and "printing = plp". To see what the defaults are for the other print commands when using these three options use the "testparm" program.

  printcap name (G)
This parameter may be used to override the compiled-in default printcap name used by the server (usually /etc/printcap). See the discussion of the [printers] section above for reasons why you might want to do this. For those of you without a printcap (say on SysV) you can just create a minimal file that looks like a printcap and set "printcap name =" in [global] to point at it. A minimal printcap file would look something like this: print1|My Printer 1
print2|My Printer 2
print3|My Printer 3
print4|My Printer 4
print5|My Printer 5 where the | separates aliases of a printer. The fact that the second alias has a space in it gives a hint to Samba that it's a comment. NOTE: Under AIX the default printcap name is "/etc/qconfig". Samba will assume the file is in AIX "qconfig" format if the string "/qconfig" appears in the printcap filename. Default:
     printcap name = /etc/printcap Example:
     printcap name = /etc/myprintcap

  printer (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'printer name'. This parameter specifies the name of the printer to which print jobs spooled through a printable service will be sent. If specified in the [global] section, the printer name given will be used for any printable service that does not have its own printer name specified. Default:
     none (but may be 'lp' on many systems) Example:
     printer name = laserwriter

  printer driver (S)
This option allows you to control the string that clients receive when they ask the server for the printer driver associated with a printer. If you are using Windows95 or WindowsNT then you can use this to automate the setup of printers on your system. You need to set this parameter to the exact string (case sensitive) that describes the appropriate printer driver for your system. If you don't know the exact string to use then you should first try with no "printer driver" option set and the client will give you a list of printer drivers. The appropriate strings are shown in a scrollbox after you have chosen the printer manufacturer. Example:
    printer driver = HP LaserJet 4L

  printer name (S)
See printer.

  protocol (G)
The value of the parameter (a string) is the highest protocol level that will be supported by the server. Possible values are CORE, COREPLUS, LANMAN1, LANMAN2 and NT1. The relative merits of each are discussed in the README file. Normally this option should not be set as the automatic negotiation phase in the SMB protocol takes care of choosing the appropriate protocol. Default:
    protocol = NT1 Example:
    protocol = LANMAN1

  public (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'guest ok'. If this parameter is 'yes' for a service, then no password is required to connect to the service. Privileges will be those of the guest account. See the section below on user/password validation for more information about this option. Default:
     public = no Example:
     public = yes

  read list (S)
This is a list of users that are given read-only access to a service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will not be given write access, no matter what the "read only" option is set to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax. See also the "write list" option Default:
     read list = Example:
     read list = mary, @students

  read only (S)
See writable and write ok. Note that this is an inverted synonym for writable and write ok.

  read prediction (G)
This options enables or disables the read prediction code used to speed up reads from the server. When enabled the server will try to pre-read data from the last accessed file that was opened read-only while waiting for packets.

  Default:
    read prediction = False

  Example:
    read prediction = True

  read raw (G)
This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw reads when transferring data to clients. If enabled, raw reads allow reads of 65535 bytes in one packet. This typically provides a major performance benefit. However, some clients either negotiate the allowable block size incorrectly or are incapable of supporting larger block sizes, and for these clients you may need to disable raw reads. In general this parameter should be viewed as a system tuning tool and left severely alone. See also write raw. Default:
     read raw = yes Example:
     read raw = no

  read size (G)
The option "read size" affects the overlap of disk reads/writes with network reads/writes. If the amount of data being transferred in several of the SMB commands (currently SMBwrite, SMBwriteX and SMBreadbraw) is larger than this value then the server begins writing the data before it has received the whole packet from the network, or in the case of SMBreadbraw, it begins writing to the network before all the data has been read from disk. This overlapping works best when the speeds of disk and network access are similar, having very little effect when the speed of one is much greater than the other. The default value is 2048, but very little experimentation has been done yet to determine the optimal value, and it is likely that the best value will vary greatly between systems anyway. A value over 65536 is pointless and will cause you to allocate memory unnecessarily. Default:
    read size = 2048 Example:
    read size = 8192

  remote announce (G)
This option allows you to setup nmbd to periodically announce itself to arbitrary IP addresses with an arbitrary workgroup name. This is useful if you want your Samba server to appear in a remote workgroup for which the normal browse propogation rules don't work. The remote workgroup can be anywhere that you can send IP packets to. For example:
       remote announce = 192.168.2.255/SERVERS 192.168.4.255/STAFF the above line would cause nmbd to announce itself to the two given IP addresses using the given workgroup names. If you leave out the workgroup name then the one given in the "workgroup" option is used instead. The IP addresses you choose would normally be the broadcast addresses of the remote networks, but can also be the IP addresses of known browse masters if your network config is that stable. This option replaces similar functionality from the nmbd lmhosts file.

  revalidate (S)
This options controls whether Samba will allow a previously validated username/password pair to be used to attach to a share. Thus if you connect to \\server\share1 then to \\server\share2 it won't automatically allow the client to request connection to the second share as the same username as the first without a password. If "revalidate" is True then the client will be denied automatic access as the same username. Default:
    revalidate = False Example:
    revalidate = True

  root (G)
See root directory.

  root dir (G)
See root directory.

  root directory (G)
Synonyms for this parameter are 'root dir' and 'root'. The server will chroot() to this directory on startup. This is not strictly necessary for secure operation. Even without it the server will deny access to files not in one of the service entries. It may also check for, and deny access to, soft links to other parts of the filesystem, or attempts to use .. in file names to access other directories (depending on the setting of the "wide links" parameter). Adding a "root dir" entry other than "/" adds an extra level of security, but at a price. It absolutely ensures that no access is given to files not in the sub-tree specified in the "root dir" option, *including* some files needed for complete operation of the server. To maintain full operability of the server you will need to mirror some system files into the "root dir" tree. In particular you will need to mirror /etc/passwd (or a subset of it), and any binaries or configuration files needed for printing (if required). The set of files that must be mirrored is operating system dependent. Default:
     root directory = / Example:
     root directory = /homes/smb

  security (G)
This option affects how clients respond to Samba. The option sets the "security mode bit" in replies to protocol negotiations 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=SHARE", mainly because that was the only option at one stage. The alternatives are "security = user" or "security = server". If your PCs use usernames that are the same as their usernames on the UNIX machine then you will want to use "security = user". If you mostly use usernames that don't exist on the UNIX box then use "security = share". There is a bug in WfWg that may affect your decision. When in user level security a WfWg client will totally ignore the password you type in the "connect drive" dialog box. This makes it very difficult (if not impossible) to connect to a Samba service as anyone except the user that you are logged into WfWg as. If you use "security = server" then 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". See the "password server" option for more details. Default:
     security = SHARE Example:
     security = USER

  server string (G)
This controls what string will show up in the printer comment box in print manager and next to the IPC connection in "net view". It can be any string that you wish to show to your users. It also sets what will appear in browse lists next to the machine name. A %v will be replaced with the Samba version number. A %h will be replaced with the hostname. Default:
    server string = Samba %v Example:
    server string = University of GNUs Samba Server

  smbrun (G)
This sets the full path to the smbrun binary. This defaults to the value in the Makefile. You must get this path right for many services to work correctly. Default: taken from Makefile Example:
    smbrun = /usr/local/samba/bin/smbrun

  short preserve case (S)
This controls if new short filenames are created with the case that the client passes, or if they are forced to be the "default" case. Default:
       short preserve case = no See the section on "NAME MANGLING" for a fuller discussion.

  root preexec (S)
This is the same as preexec except that the command is run as root. This is useful for mounting filesystems (such as cdroms) before a connection is finalised.

  root postexec (S)
This is the same as postexec except that the command is run as root. This is useful for unmounting filesystems (such as cdroms) after a connection is closed.

  set directory (S)
If 'set directory = no', then users of the service may not use the setdir command to change directory. The setdir comand is only implemented in the Digital Pathworks client. See the Pathworks documentation for details. Default:
     set directory = no Example:
     set directory = yes

  share modes (S)
This enables or disables the honouring of the "share modes" during a file open. These modes are used by clients to gain exclusive read or write access to a file. These open modes are not directly supported by UNIX, so they are simulated using lock files in the "lock directory". The "lock directory" specified in smb.conf must be readable by all users. The share modes that are enabled by this option are DENY_DOS, DENY_ALL, DENY_READ, DENY_WRITE, DENY_NONE and DENY_FCB. Enabling this option gives full share compatability but may cost a bit of processing time on the UNIX server. They are enabled by default. Default:
    share modes = yes Example:
    share modes = no

  socket address (G)
This option allows you to control what address Samba will listen for connections on. This is used to support multiple virtual interfaces on the one server, each with a different configuration. By default samba will accept connections on any address. Example:
    socket address = 192.168.2.20

  socket options (G)
This option (which can also be invoked with the -O command line option) allows you to set socket options to be used when talking with the client. Socket options are controls on the networking layer of the operating systems which allow the connection to be tuned. This option will typically be used to tune your Samba server for optimal performance for your local network. There is no way that Samba can know what the optimal parameters are for your net, so you must experiment and choose them yourself. I strongly suggest you read the appropriate documentation for your operating system first (perhaps "man setsockopt" will help). You may find that on some systems Samba will say "Unknown socket option" when you supply an option. This means you either mis-typed it or you need to add an include file to includes.h for your OS. If the latter is the case please send the patch to me (samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au). Any of the supported socket options may be combined in any way you like, as long as your OS allows it. This is the list of socket options currently settable using this option:
  SO_KEEPALIVE
  SO_REUSEADDR
  SO_BROADCAST
  TCP_NODELAY
  IPTOS_LOWDELAY
  IPTOS_THROUGHPUT
  SO_SNDBUF *
  SO_RCVBUF *
  SO_SNDLOWAT *
  SO_RCVLOWAT * Those marked with a * take an integer argument. The others can optionally take a 1 or 0 argument to enable or disable the option, by default they will be enabled if you don't specify 1 or 0. To specify an argument use the syntax SOME_OPTION=VALUE for example SO_SNDBUF=8192. Note that you must not have any spaces before or after the = sign. If you are on a local network then a sensible option might be socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY If you have an almost unloaded local network and you don't mind a lot of extra CPU usage in the server then you could try socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY If you are on a wide area network then perhaps try setting IPTOS_THROUGHPUT. Note that several of the options may cause your Samba server to fail completely. Use these options with caution! Default:
    no socket options Example:
    socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY

  status (G)
This enables or disables logging of connections to a status file that smbstatus can read. With this disabled smbstatus won't be able to tell you what connections are active. Default:
    status = yes Example:
    status = no

  strip dot (G)
This is a boolean that controls whether to strip trailing dots off filenames. This helps with some CDROMs that have filenames ending in a single dot. NOTE: This option is now obsolete, and may be removed in future. You should use the "mangled map" option instead as it is much more general.

  strict locking (S)
This is a boolean that controls the handling of file locking in the server. When this is set to yes the server will check every read and write access for file locks, and deny access if locks exist. This can be slow on some systems. When strict locking is "no" the server does file lock checks only when the client explicitly asks for them. Well behaved clients always ask for lock checks when it is important, so in the vast majority of cases "strict locking = no" is preferable. Default:
    strict locking = no Example:
    strict locking = yes

  sync always (S)
This is a boolean parameter that controls whether writes will always be written to stable storage before the write call returns. If this is false then the server will be guided by the client's request in each write call (clients can set a bit indicating that a particular write should be synchronous). If this is true then every write will be followed by a fsync() call to ensure the data is written to disk. Default:
    sync always = no Example:
    sync always = yes

  time offset (G)
This parameter is a setting in minutes to add to the normal GMT to local time conversion. This is useful if you are serving a lot of PCs that have incorrect daylight saving time handling. Default:
    time offset = 0 Example:
    time offset = 60

  user (S)
See username.

  username (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'user'. Multiple users may be specified in a comma-delimited list, in which case the supplied password will be tested against each username in turn (left to right). The username= line is needed only when the PC is unable to supply its own username. This is the case for the coreplus protocol or where your users have different WfWg usernames to UNIX usernames. In both these cases you may also be better using the \\server\share%user syntax instead. The username= line is not a great solution in many cases as it means Samba will try to validate the supplied password against each of the usernames in the username= line in turn. This is slow and a bad idea for lots of users in case of duplicate passwords. You may get timeouts or security breaches using this parameter unwisely. Samba relies on the underlying UNIX security. This parameter does not restrict who can login, it just offers hints to the Samba server as to what usernames might correspond to the supplied password. Users can login as whoever they please and they will be able to do no more damage than if they started a telnet session. The daemon runs as the user that they log in as, so they cannot do anything that user cannot do. To restrict a service to a particular set of users you can use the "valid users=" line. If any of the usernames begin with a @ then the name will be looked up in the groups file and will expand to a list of all users in the group of that name. Note that searching though a groups file can take quite some time, and some clients may time out during the search. See the section below on username/password validation for more information on how this parameter determines access to the services. Default:
     The guest account if a guest service, else the name of the service. Examples:
     username = fred
     username = fred, mary, jack, jane, @users, @pcgroup

  username map (G)
This option allows you to to specify a file containing a mapping of usernames from the clients to the server. This can be used for several purposes. The most common is to map usernames that users use on DOS or Windows machines to those that the UNIX box uses. The other is to map multiple users to a single username so that they can more easily share files. The map file is parsed line by line. Each line should contain a single UNIX username on the left then a '=' followed by a list of usernames on the right. The list of usernames on the right may contain names of the form @group in which case they will match any UNIX username in that group. The special client name '*' is a wildcard and matches any name. The file is processed on each line by taking the supplied username and comparing it with each username on the right hand side of the '=' signs. If the supplied name matches any of the names on the right hand side then it is replaced with the name on the left. Processing then continues with the next line. If any line begins with a '#' or a ';' then it is ignored For example to map from the name "admin" or "administrator" to the UNIX name "root" you would use
    root = admin administrator Or to map anyone in the UNIX group "system" to the UNIX name "sys" you would use
    sys = @system You can have as many mappings as you like in a username map file. Note that the remapping is applied to all occurances of usernames. Thus if you connect to "\\server\fred" and "fred" is remapped to "mary" then you will actually be connecting to "\\server\mary" and will need to supply a password suitable for "mary" not "fred". The only exception to this is the username passed to the "password server" (if you have one). The password server will receive whatever username the client supplies without modification. Also note that no reverse mapping is done. The main effect this has is with printing. Users who have been mapped may have trouble deleting print jobs as PrintManager under WfWg will think they don't own the print job. Default
    no username map Example
    username map = /usr/local/samba/lib/users.map

  valid chars (S)
The option allows you to specify additional characters that should be considered valid by the server in filenames. This is particularly useful for national character sets, such as adding u-umlaut or a-ring. The option takes a list of characters in either integer or character form with spaces between them. If you give two characters with a colon between them then it will be taken as an lowercase:uppercase pair. If you have an editor capable of entering the characters into the config file then it is probably easiest to use this method. Otherwise you can specify the characters in octal, decimal or hexidecimal form using the usual C notation. For example to add the single character 'Z' to the charset (which is a pointless thing to do as it's already there) you could do one of the following valid chars = Z valid chars = z:Z valid chars = 0132:0172 The last two examples above actually add two characters, and alter the uppercase and lowercase mappings appropriately. Default
    Samba defaults to using a reasonable set of valid characters
    for english systems Example
        valid chars = 0345:0305 0366:0326 0344:0304 The above example allows filenames to have the swedish characters in them. NOTE: It is actually quite difficult to correctly produce a "valid chars" line for a particular system. To automate the process tino@augsburg.net has written a package called "validchars" which will automatically produce a complete "valid chars" line for a given client system. Look in the examples subdirectory for this package.

  valid users (S)
This is a list of users that should be allowed to login to this service. A name starting with @ is interpreted as a UNIX group. If this is empty (the default) then any user can login. If a username is in both this list and the "invalid users" list then access is denied for that user. The current servicename is substituted for %S. This is useful in the [homes] section. See also "invalid users" Default
    No valid users list. (anyone can login) Example
    valid users = greg, @pcusers

  volume (S)
This allows you to override the volume label returned for a share. Useful for CDROMs with installation programs that insist on a particular volume label. The default is the name of the share

  wide links (S)
This parameter controls whether or not links in the UNIX file system may be followed by the server. Links that point to areas within the directory tree exported by the server are always allowed; this parameter controls access only to areas that are outside the directory tree being exported. Default:
     wide links = yes Example:
     wide links = no

  wins proxy (G)
This is a boolean that controls if nmbd will respond to broadcast name queries on behalf of other hosts. You may need to set this to no for some older clients. Default:
    wins proxy = no

  wins support (G)
This boolean controls if Samba will act as a WINS server. You should normally set this to true unless you already have another WINS server on the network. Default:
    wins support = yes

  wins server (G)
This specifies the DNS name of the WINS server that Samba should register with. If you have a WINS server on your network then you should set this to the WINS servers name. This option only takes effect if Samba is not acting as a WINS server itself. Default:
    wins server =

  workgroup (G)
This controls what workgroup your server will appear to be in when queried by clients. Default:
     set in the Makefile Example:
     workgroup = MYGROUP

  write ok (S)
See writable and read only.

  writable (S)
A synonym for this parameter is 'write ok'. An inverted synonym is 'read only'. If this parameter is 'no', then users of a service may not create or modify files in the service's directory. Note that a printable service ('printable = yes') will ALWAYS allow writing to the directory (user privileges permitting), but only via spooling operations. Default:
     writable = no Examples:
     read only = no
     writable = yes
     write ok = yes

  write list (S)
This is a list of users that are given read-write access to a service. If the connecting user is in this list then they will be given write access, no matter what the "read only" option is set to. The list can include group names using the @group syntax. Note that if a user is in both the read list and the write list then they will be given write access. See also the "read list" option Default:
     write list = Example:
     write list = admin, root, @staff

  write raw (G)
This parameter controls whether or not the server will support raw writes when transferring data from clients. Default:
     write raw = yes Example:
     write raw = no

NOTE ABOUT USERNAME/PASSWORD VALIDATION
There are a number of ways in which a user can connect to a service. The server follows the following steps in determining if it will allow a connection to a specified service. If all the steps fail then the connection request is rejected. If one of the steps pass then the following steps are not checked. If the service is marked "guest only = yes" then steps 1 to 5 are skipped Step 1: If the client has passed a username/password pair and that username/password pair is validated by the UNIX system's password programs then the connection is made as that username. Note that this includes the \\server\service%username method of passing a username. Step 2: If the client has previously registered a username with the system and now supplies a correct password for that username then the connection is allowed. Step 3: The client's netbios name and any previously used user names are checked against the supplied password, if they match then the connection is allowed as the corresponding user. Step 4: If the client has previously validated a username/password pair with the server and the client has passed the validation token then that username is used. This step is skipped if "revalidate = yes" for this service. Step 5: If a "user = " field is given in the smb.conf file for the service and the client has supplied a password, and that password matches (according to the UNIX system's password checking) with one of the usernames from the user= field then the connection is made as the username in the "user=" line. If one of the username in the user= list begins with a @ then that name expands to a list of names in the group of the same name. Step 6: If the service is a guest service then a connection is made as the username given in the "guest account =" for the service, irrespective of the supplied password.

WARNINGS
Although the configuration file permits service names to contain spaces, your client software may not. Spaces will be ignored in comparisons anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem - but be aware of the possibility. On a similar note, many clients - especially DOS clients - limit service names to eight characters. Smbd has no such limitation, but attempts to connect from such clients will fail if they truncate the service names. For this reason you should probably keep your service names down to eight characters in length. Use of the [homes] and [printers] special sections make life for an administrator easy, but the various combinations of default attributes can be tricky. Take extreme care when designing these sections. In particular, ensure that the permissions on spool directories are correct.

VERSION
This man page is (mostly) correct for version 1.9.00 of the Samba suite, plus some of the recent patches to it. These notes will necessarily lag behind development of the software, so it is possible that your version of the server has extensions or parameter semantics that differ from or are not covered by this man page. Please notify these to the address below for rectification. Prior to version 1.5.21 of the Samba suite, the configuration file was radically different (more primitive). If you are using a version earlier than 1.8.05, it is STRONGLY recommended that you upgrade.

OPTIONS
Not applicable.

FILES
Not applicable.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Not applicable.

SEE ALSO
smbd(8), smbclient(1), nmbd(8), testparm(1), testprns(1), lpq(1), hosts_access(5)

DIAGNOSTICS
[This section under construction] Most diagnostics issued by the server are logged in a specified log file. The log file name is specified at compile time, but may be overridden on the smbd command line (see smbd(8)). The number and nature of diagnostics available depends on the debug level used by the server. If you have problems, set the debug level to 3 and peruse the log files. Most messages are reasonably self-explanatory. Unfortunately, at time of creation of this man page the source code is still too fluid to warrant describing each and every diagnostic. At this stage your best bet is still to grep the source code and inspect the conditions that gave rise to the diagnostics you are seeing.

BUGS
None known. Please send bug reports, comments and so on to:
    samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)
        or to the mailing list:
    samba@listproc.anu.edu.au
You may also like to subscribe to the announcement channel:
    samba-announce@listproc.anu.edu.au
To subscribe to these lists send a message to listproc@listproc.anu.edu.au with a body of "subscribe samba Your Name" or "subscribe samba-announce Your Name". Errors or suggestions for improvements to the Samba man pages should be mailed to:
    samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au (Andrew Tridgell)