HP CIFS Server 3.0b Administrator's Guide version A.02.01.01

LDAP Integration Support
Overview
Chapter 6 111
Overview
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) provides a framework for
the development of a centralized management infrastructure. LDAP
supports directory enabled computing by consolidating applications,
services, user accounts, Windows account and configuration information
into a central LDAP directory.
Samba customer sites with large numbers of users and servers may want
to integrate the HP CIFS Server with LDAP support. Configuring
multiple HP CIFS servers to communicate with the LDAP directory
server provides a centralized and scalable management of user
databases. When you integrate the HP CIFS Server with the LDAP-UX
Integration product on HP-UX, the HP CIFS Server can store user
accounts information on the Netscape Directory Server.The LDAP
database can replace /etc/passwd or NIS and smbpasswd or NT server
user databases.
You can store the Windows user information in an LDAP directory which
had been previously stored in the smbpasswd file. With the LDAP
integration, the SMBD program will use the LDAP directory to look up the
Windows user information during authentication and authorization
processes. Also, when you invoke the smbpasswd program to add, delete
or change Windows user information, updates are made in the LDAP
user database rather than the smbpasswd file.
You can enable the LDAP support with configuration parameters
provided by the HP CIFS Server. HP CIFS Server will access a directory
server for password, user, group, and other data when you specify the
smb.conf passwd backend parameter to either ldapsam or
ldapsam_compat.
HP CIFS Server A.02.* versions differ from A.01.* versions in many
ways. A new object class, sambaSamAccount, has been introduced to
replace the sambaAccount object class used in versions A.01.*. When
updating to A.02.*, existing installations can continue to operate by
specifying the A.01.* compatible backend, ldapsam_compat. Migration
scripts are available and new installations choose ldapsam as the
password backend. For detailed procedures on how to upgrating LDAP
from HP CIFS Server A.01.* versions to A.02.* versions, see “Upgrading
LDAP from HP CIFS Server A.01.* to A.02.*” on page 154.