Samba access without unix username/password?
 

Hello all,

I am looking for a solution to my username/password issues. I manage a network in a small office that has a VPN to another office, with an upcoming addition of another office to that VPN, for a total of about 50 users. I currently do not run a PDC, although that may be an option in the future. What I am wondering about is this. In all my reading about Samba I have always read that you must have a UNIX account, even if it does not allow logins, before you can set up a Samba account.

In the office I am currently running 3 samba severs, one for files, one for LAN access to the webserver directories, and one for LAN access to the backup server. These are running on three seperate machines.

In my current setup I have added the same accounts to all three machines and then added those accounts to Samba using smbpasswd. I have read about different password backends, I find the mySQL backend very interesting, but I have been unable to find out if using one of those backends would eliminate the need for me to add each account to all of the linux systems.

I do have to stay with a model of each user having there own username/password so having a "guest" type system will not work.

I would appreciate any and all input into this matter. I apologize if my answer is out there and I have missed it, I have looked

Thanks
mdkelly