I just configured samba and right now I have to manually start up samba with /usr/sbin/smbd -D etc.

Is there a way for linux to automatically load smbd on boot?

Thanks

Yes, there is, but how you do it depends on what distribution you are using. Some distos use a BSD-style system for starting system services; others use the Sys V style.

Check you /etc directory to see if you have a directory called /etc/rc.d or a directory called /etc/init.d. Take a look at the files in those directories, depending on which one you have, and you can get an idea of how the services are started. The directories contain scripts which are executed at startup and/or shutdown.

You should list your distro in your profile, that way if you forget to include it in your post, (which it looks like you did) then we would see it and could better help you.

I checked, and I have both /etc/rc.d and /etc/init.d. What should I look at?

Well.. in Red Hat 9 the actually services are contained in /etc/rc.d/init.d - just create a symlink from the service and put it in the run level directory that you are using - ie if you are in run level 5 (graphical mode) then put it in /etc/rc.d/rc5.d - give it an order number like S45 at the start of the symlink name - an example with the numlock service under Mandrake

ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/numlock /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S85numlock

this line simply creates a symlink from the numlock service and puts it in /etc/rc.d/rc5.d and renames it as S85numlock.