Understanding Samba security modes

“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.”

Complete Story