Horrible problem with SAMBA -- Does Karmic work?

[Brian McKee]

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 5:27 PM, Pete Clapham <pclapham at windstream.net> wrote:
> the /etc/samba/smbpasswd file to reload it.  Now there isn't an
> /etc/samba/smbpasswd file at all, so the accounts must be stored elsewhere.

I believe the default on all newer versions of Samba (nothing to do
with Ubuntu per se) is to use a database rather than a password file.
The old functionality is still available, just not on by default.

quoting from the website

 smbpasswd
    This option allows continued use of the smbpasswd file that
maintains a plain ASCII (text) layout that includes the MS Windows
LanMan and NT-encrypted passwords as well as a field that stores some
account information. This form of password backend does not store any
of the MS Windows NT/200x SAM (Security Account Manager) information
required to provide the extended controls that are needed for more
comprehensive interoperation with MS Windows NT4/200x servers.

    This backend should be used only for backward compatibility with
older versions of Samba. It may be deprecated in future releases.
ldapsam_compat (Samba-2.2 LDAP Compatibility)

Samba-3 introduces a number of new password backend capabilities.

tdbsam

    This backend provides a rich database backend for local servers.
This backend is not suitable for multiple domain controllers (i.e.,
PDC + one or more BDC) installations.

    The tdbsam password backend stores the old smbpasswd information
plus the extended MS Windows NT/200x SAM information into a binary
format TDB (trivial database) file. The inclusion of the extended
information makes it possible for Samba-3 to implement the same
account and system access controls that are possible with MS Windows
NT4/200x-based systems.

    The inclusion of the tdbsam capability is a direct response to
user requests to allow simple site operation without the overhead of
the complexities of running OpenLDAP. It is recommended to use this
only for sites that have fewer than 250 users. For larger sites or
implementations, the use of OpenLDAP or of Active Directory
integration is strongly recommended.