14.5. Samba Account Information Databases

Plain text backends are nothing more than the /etc/passwd type backends. With a plain text backend, all usernames and passwords are sent unencrypted between the client and the Samba server. This method is very insecure and is not recommended for use by any means. It is possible that different Windows clients connecting to the Samba server with plain text passwords cannot support such an authentication method.

A popular backend used in previous Samba packages, the smbpasswd backend utilizes a plain ASCII text layout that includes the MS Windows LanMan and NT account, and encrypted password information. The smbpasswd backend lacks the storage of the Windows NT/2000/2003 SAM extended controls. The smbpasswd backend is not recommended because it does not scale well or hold any Windows information, such as RIDs for NT-based groups. The tdbsam backend solves these issues for use in a smaller database (250 users), but is still not an enterprise-class solution.

	Warning
	This type of backend may be deprecated for future releases and replaced by the tdbsam backend, which does include the SAM extended controls.

The ldapsam_compat backend allows continued OpenLDAP support for use with upgraded versions of Samba. This option is ideal for migration, but is not required. This tool will eventually be deprecated.

The tdbsam backend provides an ideal database backend for local servers, servers that do not need built-in database replication, and servers that do not require the scalability or complexity of LDAP. The tdbsam backend includes all of the smbpasswd database information as well as the previously-excluded SAM information. The inclusion of the extended SAM data allows Samba to implement the same account and system access controls as seen with Windows NT/2000/2003-based systems.

The tdbsam backend is recommended for 250 users at most. Larger organizations should require Active Directory or LDAP integration due to scalability and possible network infrastructure concerns.

The ldapsam backend provides an optimal distributed account installation method for Samba. LDAP is optimal because of its ability to replicate its database to any number of servers using the OpenLDAP slurpd daemon. LDAP databases are light-weight and scalable, perfect for most organizations, especially large enterprises. LDAP is definitely the "wave of the future" with regards to Samba. Improvements to LDAP are constantly being added into Samba such as easing installation and configuration issues.

The mysqlsam backend uses a MySQL-based database backend. This is useful for sites that already implement MySQL.

The xmlsam backend uses account and password data that are stored in an XML formatted file. This method can be useful for migration of different backend databases or backups.