samba - Jan 2003 - Samba Encrypted Passwords

Hello All,

	I am building a redundant secondary server here in the office and I have   
a few questions about how Samba stores the passwords created for the   
Samba accounts.

	If I am not mistaken the smbpasswd file contains the encrypted   
passwords, which would mean, if I copied that file to the correct   
location on the backup server, then the users would be able to access the   
backup server, if I needed to switch things immediately.

	I know, it would be best to move authentication to a centrally   
controlled system, like NIS or OpenLDAP. This is something that I will be   
looking into and configuring, as time avails itself to me. However, I am   
concerned with the immediate future at this time.

	What happens if my main server has a hardware failure tomorrow? Will the   
files I copied over to the backup server allow me to resume services   
immediately?

	What I need to know is what files MUST I copy over from the main to the   
backup server in order to preserve the network services all the users are   
comfortable with?

	Thanks for the assistance.

Regards,
Robert Adkins II
IT Manager/Buyer
Impel Industries, Inc.
Ph. 586-254-5800
Fx. 586-254-5804

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On Tue, 21 Jan 2003, Robert Adkins wrote:
> 	What I need to know is what files MUST I copy over from the main
> to the backup server in order to preserve the network services all the
> users are comfortable with?
I would recommend reading the Samba PDC/BDC howto.  This sounds like what 
you want to do.  It will at least give you an idea of what files to copy.



cheers, jerry
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