# Storing Samba's User/Machine Account information in an LDAP Directory

# Purpose

This document describes how to use an LDAP directory for storing Samba user account information normally stored in the smbpasswd(5) file. It is assumed that the reader already has a basic understanding of LDAP concepts and has a working directory server already installed. For more information on LDAP architectures and Directories, please refer to the following sites.

- OpenLDAP - http://www.openldap.org/

- iPlanet Directory Server - http://iplanet.netscape.com/directory

Note that O'Reilly Publishing is working on a guide to LDAP for System Administrators which has a planned release date of early summer, 2002.

It may also be helpful to supplement the reading of the HOWTO with the Samba-PDC-LDAP-HOWTO maintained by Ignacio Coupeau.

# Introduction

Traditionally, when configuring "encrypt passwords = yes" in Samba's `smb.conf` file, user account information such as username, LM/NT password hashes, password change times, and account flags have been stored in the `smbpasswd(5)` file. There are several disadvantages to this approach for sites with very large numbers of users (counted in the thousands).

The first is that all lookups must be performed sequentially. Given that there are approximately two lookups per domain logon (one for a normal session connection such as when mapping a network drive or printer), this is non-optimal. What is needed is an indexed approach such as is used in databases.

The second problem is that administrators who desired to replicate a smbpasswd file to more than one Samba server were left to use external tools such as rsync(1) and ssh(1) and wrote custom, in-house scripts.

And finally, the amount of information which is stored in an smbpasswd entry leaves no room for additional attributes such as a home directory, password expiration time, or even a Relative Identified (RID).

As a result of these defeciencies, a more robust means of storing user attributes used by smbd was developed. The API which defines access to user accounts is referred to as the samdb interface (previously this was called the passdb API, and is still so named in the CVS trees). In Samba 2.2.3, enabling support for a samdb backend (e.g. `--with-ldapsam` or `--with-tdbsam`) requires compile time support.

When compiling Samba to include the `--with-ldapsam` autoconf option, smbd (and associated tools) will store and lookup user accounts in an LDAP directory. In reality, this is very easy to understand. If you are comfortable with using an smbpasswd file, simply replace "smbpasswd" with "LDAP directory" in all the documentation.

There are a few points to stress about what the `--with-ldapsam` does not provide. The LDAP support referred to in the this documentation does not include:

- A means of retrieving user account information from an Windows 2000 Active Directory server.

- A means of replacing /etc/passwd.

The second item can be accomplished by using LDAP NSS and PAM modules. LGPL versions of these libraries can be obtained from PADL Software (http://www.padl.com/). However, the details of configuring these packages are beyond the scope of this document.

# Supported LDAP Servers

The LDAP samdb code in 2.2.3 has been developed and tested using the OpenLDAP 2.0 server and client libraries. The same code should be able to work with Netscape's Directory Server and client SDK. However, due to lack of testing so far, there are bound to be compile errors and bugs. These should not be hard to fix. If you are so inclined, please be sure to forward all patches to samba-patches@samba.org and jerry@samba.org.

# Schema and Relationship to the RFC 2307 posixAccount

Samba 2.2.3 includes the necessary schema file for OpenLDAP 2.0 in `examples/LDAP/samba.schema`. (Note that this schema file has been modified since the experimental support initially included in 2.2.2). The sambaAccount objectclass is given here:

    objectclass ( 1.3.1.5.1.4.1.7165.2.2.2 NAME 'sambaAccount' SUP top STRUCTURAL
         DESC 'Samba Account'
         MUST ( uid $ rid )
         MAY  ( cn $ lmPassword $ ntPassword $ pwdLastSet $ logonTime $
                logoffTime $ kickoffTime $ pwdCanChange $ pwdMustChange $ acctFlags $
                displayName $ smbHome $ homeDrive $ scriptPath $ profilePath $
                description $ userWorkstations $ primaryGroupID ))

The samba.schema file has been formatted for OpenLDAP 2.0. The OID's are owned by the Samba Team and as such is legal to be openly published. If you translate the schema to be used with Netscape DS, please submit the modified schema file as a patch to jerry@samba.org

Just as the smbpasswd file is mean to store information which supplements a user's `/etc/passwd` entry, so is the sambaAccount object meant to supplement the UNIX user account information. A sambaAccount is a `STRUCTURAL` objectclass so it can be stored individually in the directory. However, there are several fields (e.g. uid) which overlap with the posixAccount objectclass outlined in RFC2307. This is by design.

In order to store all user account information (UNIX and Samba) in the directory, it is necessary to use the sambaAccount and posixAccount objectclasses in combination. However, smbd will still obtain the user's UNIX account information via the standard C library calls (e.g. getpwnam(), et. al.). This means that the Samba server must also have the LDAP NSS library installed and functioning correctly. This division of information makes it possible to store all Samba account information in LDAP, but still maintain UNIX account information in NIS while the network is transitioning to a full LDAP infrastructure.

To include support for the sambaAccount object in an OpenLDAP directory server, first copy the samba.schema file to slapd's configuration directory.

`root#` cp samba.schema /etc/openldap/schema/

Next, include the `samba.schema` file in `slapd.conf`. The sambaAccount object contains two attributes which depend upon other schema files. The 'uid' attribute is defined in `cosine.schema` and the 'displayName' attribute is defined in the `inetorgperson.schema` file. Bother of these must be included before the `samba.schema` file.

    ## /etc/openldap/slapd.conf

    ## schema files (core.schema is required by default)
    include	           /etc/openldap/schema/core.schema

    ## needed for sambaAccount
    include            /etc/openldap/schema/cosine.schema
    include            /etc/openldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema
    include            /etc/openldap/schema/samba.schema

    ## uncomment this line if you want to support the RFC2307 (NIS) schema
    ## include         /etc/openldap/schema/nis.schema

    ....

# smb.conf LDAP parameters

The following parameters are available in smb.conf only with `--with-ldapsam` was included with compiling Samba.

- ldap ssl

- ldap server

- ldap admin dn

- ldap suffix

- ldap filter

- ldap port

These are described in the smb.conf(5) man page and so will not be repeated here. However, a sample smb.conf file for use with an LDAP directory could appear as

    ## /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
    [global]
         security = user
         encrypt passwords = yes

         netbios name = TASHTEGO
         workgroup = NARNIA

         # ldap related parameters

         # define the DN to use when binding to the directory servers
         # The password for this DN is not stored in smb.conf.  Rather it
         # must be set by using 'smbpasswd -w secretpw' to store the
         # passphrase in the secrets.tdb file.  If the "ldap admin dn" values
         # changes, this password will need to be reset.
         ldap admin dn = "cn=Manager,dc=samba,dc=org"

         #  specify the LDAP server's hostname (defaults to locahost)
         ldap server = ahab.samba.org

         # Define the SSL option when connecting to the directory
         # ('off', 'start tls', or 'on' (default))
         ldap ssl = start tls

         # define the port to use in the LDAP session (defaults to 636 when
         # "ldap ssl = on")
         ldap port = 389

         # specify the base DN to use when searching the directory
         ldap suffix = "ou=people,dc=samba,dc=org"

         # generally the default ldap search filter is ok
         # ldap filter = "(&(uid=%u)(objectclass=sambaAccount))"

# Security and sambaAccount

There are two important points to remember when discussing the security of sambaAccount entries in the directory.

- Never retrieve the lmPassword or ntPassword attribute values over an unencrypted LDAP session.

- Never allow non-admin users to view the lmPassword or ntPassword attribute values.

These password hashes are clear text equivalents and can be used to impersonate the user without deriving the original clear text strings.

To remedy the first security issue, the "ldap ssl" smb.conf parameter defaults to require an encrypted session (ldap ssl = on) using the default port of 636 when contacting the directory server. When using an OpenLDAP 2.0 server, it is possible to use the use the StartTLS LDAP extended operation in the place of LDAPS. In either case, you are strongly discouraged to disable this security (ldap ssl = off).

The second security precaution is to prevent non-administrative users from harvesting password hashes from the directory. This can be done using the following ACL in `slapd.conf`:

    ## allow users to update their own password, but not to browse others
    access to attrs=userPassword,lmPassword,ntPassword
         by self write
         by * auth

You may of course, add in write access to administrative DN's as necessary.

#

There are currently four sambaAccount attributes which map directly onto `smb.conf` parameters.

- smbHome -> "logon home"

- profilePath -> "logon path"

- homeDrive -> "logon drive"

- scriptPath -> "logon script"

First of all, these parameters are only used when Samba is acting as a PDC or a domain (refer to the Samba-PDC-HOWTO for details on how to configure Samba as a Primary Domain Controller). Furthermore, these attributes are only stored with the sambaAccount entry if the values are non-default values. For example, assume TASHTEGO has now been configured as a PDC and that logon home = \\%L\%u was defined in its `smb.conf` file. When a user named "becky" logons to the domain, the `logon home` string is expanded to \\TASHTEGO\becky.

If the smbHome attribute exists in the entry "uid=becky,ou=people,dc=samba,dc=org", this value is used. However, if this attribute does not exist, then the value of the `logon home` parameter is used in its place. Samba will only write the attribute value to the directory entry is the value is something other than the default (e.g. \\MOBY\becky).

# Example LDIF Entries for a sambaAccount

The following is a working LDIF with the inclusion of the posixAccount objectclass:

    dn: uid=guest2, ou=people,dc=plainjoe,dc=org
    ntPassword: 878D8014606CDA29677A44EFA1353FC7
    pwdMustChange: 2147483647
    primaryGroupID: 1201
    lmPassword: 552902031BEDE9EFAAD3B435B51404EE
    pwdLastSet: 1010179124
    logonTime: 0
    objectClass: sambaAccount
    uid: guest2
    kickoffTime: 2147483647
    acctFlags: [UX         ]
    logoffTime: 2147483647
    rid: 19006
    pwdCanChange: 0

The following is an LDIF entry for using both the sambaAccount and posixAccount objectclasses:

    dn: uid=gcarter, ou=people,dc=plainjoe,dc=org
    logonTime: 0
    displayName: Gerald Carter
    lmPassword: 552902031BEDE9EFAAD3B435B51404EE
    primaryGroupID: 1201
    objectClass: posixAccount
    objectClass: sambaAccount
    acctFlags: [UX         ]
    userPassword: {crypt}BpM2ej8Rkzogo
    uid: gcarter
    uidNumber: 9000
    cn: Gerald Carter
    loginShell: /bin/bash
    logoffTime: 2147483647
    gidNumber: 100
    kickoffTime: 2147483647
    pwdLastSet: 1010179230
    rid: 19000
    homeDirectory: /home/tashtego/gcarter
    pwdCanChange: 0
    pwdMustChange: 2147483647
    ntPassword: 878D8014606CDA29677A44EFA1353FC7

# Comments

Please mail all comments regarding this HOWTO to jerry@samba.org. This documents was last updated to reflect the Samba 2.2.3 release.