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Samba HowTo Guide
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Important Administrative Information

Administrative rights are necessary in two specific forms:

  1. For Samba-3 domain controllers and domain member servers/clients.

  2. To manage domain member Windows workstations.

Versions of Samba up to and including 3.0.10 do not provide a means for assigning rights and privileges that are necessary for system administration tasks from a Windows domain member client machine, so domain administration tasks such as adding, deleting, and changing user and group account information, and managing workstation domain membership accounts, can be handled by any account other than root.

Samba-3.0.11 introduced a new privilege management interface (see User Rights and Privileges) that permits these tasks to be delegated to non-root (i.e., accounts other than the equivalent of the MS Windows Administrator) accounts.

Administrative tasks on a Windows domain member workstation can be done by anyone who is a member of the Domain Admins group. This group can be mapped to any convenient UNIX group.

Applicable Only to Versions Earlier than 3.0.11

Administrative tasks on UNIX/Linux systems, such as adding users or groups, requires root-level privilege. The addition of a Windows client to a Samba domain involves the addition of a user account for the Windows client.

Many UNIX administrators continue to request that the Samba Team make it possible to add Windows workstations, or the ability to add, delete, or modify user accounts, without requiring root privileges. Such a request violates every understanding of basic UNIX system security.

There is no safe way to provide access on a UNIX/Linux system without providing root-level privileges. Provision of root privileges can be done either by logging on to the Domain as the user root or by permitting particular users to use a UNIX account that has a UID=0 in the /etc/passwd database. Users of such accounts can use tools like the NT4 Domain User Manager and the NT4 Domain Server Manager to manage user and group accounts as well as domain member server and client accounts. This level of privilege is also needed to manage share-level ACLs.

Samba HowTo Guide
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