Samba Won't Run with Package or at all

[Andrew Kaplan]

Hi there --

We have a package that utilizes hp samba and an hp postgres server. Intially the package was working without a problem The system that the package is on, was later configured to be an NIS server. Once that occurred, the package can no longer load with Samba. Additionally, Samba cannot be started manually or independently of the package.

Has anyone seen this, and can tell me what is going on and how to correct it?

[Geoff Wild]

Remove NIS? :)

Ensure that the samba user id's and gid's are in NIS.

What is in the samba logs?

check log.smbd, log.nmbd and log.winbindd in /var/opt/samba

If nothing there, increase logging level in smb.conf

Rgds...Geoff

[Andrew Kaplan]

Hi there --

The smbd and nmbd binaries are owned and operated by root. The root account is in the /etc/passwd file. What Samba user are you referring to?

Also, how would I change the verbosity of the log files to determine what the cause is?

[Andrew Kaplan]

Oops -- Didn't read the entire message:

I checked the log.smbd and I found something--

smbpasswd database is corrupt! username smbnull with uid 101 is not in unix passwd database!

How can I correct this? Thanks.

[Jeff_Traigle]

The following user must exist:

smbnull:*:101:101:DO NOT USE OR DELETE - needed by Samba:/home/smbnull:/sbin/sh

and the following group must exist:

smbnull::101:

Perhaps when the NIS master was created, someone deleted one or both of these from the local files.

[Andrew Kaplan]

Hi there --

Can I change the UID and GID of smbnull safely, or is 101 mandatory for both parts? Thanks.

[Jeff_Traigle]

101 isn't required. I have a couple of systems that use 102 with no ill effects. The important thing is that the user and group exist, not which UID and GID they use.

[Andrew Kaplan]

Hi there --

I created the smbnull user, but I am not sure what password is normally associated with the account. Does anyone know what it is, or is it normally a null password?

[Geoff Wild]

password doesn't matter - as user can NOT sign in.

Rgds...Geoff

[Jeff_Traigle]

It's not an account that is used for login purposes. The account should be locked (* in the password field).

[Andrew Kaplan]

Once I recreated the smbnull account, everything worked fine. Thanks for the help.