The first step is to upgrade to the latest version of Samba. This can be acquired from www.samba.org. You will have to build from the new source code. If you have no idea how to do it then here is how. First cd to the directory containing the tar.gz file you downloaded. Then untar and gzip it (try tar -zxf filename or tar -xf filename.) Read the readme file included in the directory for the rest of the instructions.

           Now that you have upgraded you should be able to proceed through the next steps successfully. The first thing you need to do is create a group called machines with the commands:

cd /usr/sbin

groupadd -g 1000 machines

giving the entry machines:x:1001: in the groups file

With those commands you created the group to store the machine accounts in. This allows samba to store the equivelant of a SID for each machine. This is neccisary for the server to communicate properly with the clients when performing authentication.

            The next step is to create a samba account for each machine first you need to gather all of their netBIOS names, these will act as the username. Then you need to create an account for them in the *nix passwd file using adduser useradd or some other command. This can be done in a shell or perl script if you like for speed. Then once the *nix account exists you need to create an identical set of accounts in the smbusers file. this is done with smbadduser command. Examples of fromat:

adduser -u 1001 -g machines -d /dev/null -s/ /bin/bash computername$

creating the entry computername$:x:505:1001::/dev/null:/bin/bash in the /etc passwd file

smbadduser computername$:computername$

creating the entry computername$:505:5B83C509C1709D2143D8F5CCE0B41775:EF3F4E548DB0DFB05ED0BB 1FE3BA4F1C:[UW ]:LCT-3C757636: in the smbpasswd file

now we have the machine accounts setup so that the computers can talk to each other.

         Up until this step there were no options each one had to be executed the same way no matter how your network was to be used. Here you must make some desicsions. 1) Will each user hav a home directory? 2) Will they each have a roaming profile? 3) what other shares will you need? Once these are answered you can begin editing the smb.conf file found in /etc/samba directory. To do this you will need to be logged in as root or have root priveledges on the server. Then using your favorite editor you can open up the smb.conf file and begin the editing. First you need to create a Domain (around line 17). Next you need to inserta domain description ( around line 20.) Then add printer configuration for networked printers (lines 31&32&37.) Now you setup the log files for each machine(lines 45&48.) Next you need to define the security type to user(line 51.) Then you need to activate encryption for the passwords so that it can talk to NT/2000/XP (line 58-59.) Check the socket options on line 108. Set domain logins to yes on line 144. If you are going to have roaming profile than you need to configure that(around line 158). Configure dns proxy to no (line 177). Under share definitions you need to uncomment the shares you need. If you want home directories uncomment [home]. For profiles uncomment [profiles] You must uncomment the [Domain Logins] share so that you can login. Also uncomment [printers] if you are using domain printers. Once you have done that Everything should be ready for the first login.

Good luck.

See our smb.conf file

Linux as an NT Domain Controller With XP clients

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