"If you have read any of the Samba content here on Ghacks you probably will have noticed that within the smb.conf configuration file a line that begins with security =. This is a very important part of Samba setup and generally the section that gives users the most problems. Although the security mode would seem fairly straight-forward, it is certainly worth explaining.
"In this article I will discuss what the security mode feature does and what the different modes are. By the end of this article there should be no confusion as to which mode your Samba setup should use.
"What are security modes?
I like to think of security modes as a means to inform the server just how a client will authenticate. You know about authentication from many sources. You can authenticate at a local level, as part of a domain, using Active Directory, and more. How you authenticate is generally dictated by your IT department (or by yourself if you are personal or home user). Because of the different types of authentication, Samba needs a way to know how this authentication is going to happen."
