Adding users with samba tool

From SambaWiki

Adding Users into Samba Active Directory


There are a couple of ways you can create AD users with samba-tool:

  • You can create users that are only Windows users.
  • You can creates users that are Windows and Unix users.



Creating a Windows user

To create an Windows user, use the following command:

/usr/local/samba/bin/samba-tool user create user1

You can, if you so wish, add further options:

Option Explanation
--given-name User's given name.
--surname User's surname.
--initials User's initials.
--userou DN of alternative location (without domainDN counterpart) to default CN=Users in which new user object will be created. E. g. 'OU=<OU name>.
--profile-path User's profile path.
--script-path User's logon script path.
--home-drive User's home drive letter.
--home-directory User's home directory path.



Creating a Windows and Unix user


To create a Unix user, you use the same command used to create a Windows, but you must add these options:

Option Explanation
--nis-domain User's Unix/RFC2307 NIS domain.
--uid-number User's Unix/RFC2307 numeric UID.
--login-shell User's Unix/RFC2307 login shell.
--unix-home User's Unix/RFC2307 home directory.
--gid-number User's Unix/RFC2307 primary GID number.


There are two other options available, if you do not supply these, they will be set for you:

Option Explanation
--uid User's Unix/RFC2307 username.
--gecos User's Unix/RFC2307 GECOS field.



Further options available

There are several other options available, these are applicable whether you are creating a Windows or a Unix user:

Option Explanation
--must-change-at-next-login Force password to be changed on next login.
--use-username-as-cn Force use of username as user's CN.
--smartcard-required Require a smartcard for interactive logons.
--job-title User's job title.
--department User's department.
--company User's company.
--description User's description.
--mail-address User's email address.
--internet-address User's home page.
--telephone-number User's phone number.
--physical-delivery-office User's office location.


Adding Unix attributes to a Windows user

If you create a Windows user and then need to make it a Unix user as well, you can do it this way:

Find the SID allocated to the user by using the following command on a Samba DC:

$ /usr/local/samba/bin/wbinfo --name-to-sid user1

It should display something like this:

S-1-5-21-4036476082-4153129556-3089177936-1005 SID_USER (1)

Now use this SID to find the users 'xidNumber' :

$ /usr/local/samba/bin/wbinfo --sid-to-uid S-1-5-21-4036476082-4153129556-3089177936-1005

Again, the command should return something like this:

3000011

This user is mapped to the ID '3000011', this is only valid on a DC. If your user will only connect to files stored the DC, you can stop here.


If your user will connect to a Unix domain member and you will be using the winbind 'ad' backend, you must add 'uidNumber' and 'gidNumber' attributes to the users object in /usr/local/samba/private/sam.ldb

One way of doing this, is with the Samba tool 'ldbedit:

$ ldbedit -e emacs -H /usr/local/samba/private/sam.ldb objectsid=S-1-5-21-4036476082-4153129556-3089177936-1005


Find the record for 'user1', it will start like this:

dn: CN=user1,CN=Users,DC=samdom,DC=example,DC=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: person
objectClass: organizationalPerson
objectClass: user
cn: user1


If you add attributes similar to these:

uidNumber: 10000
gidNumber: 10000

Then save and exit, Samba will then use ID '10000' for the users Unix ID and the group ID '10000'. Before Samba 4.6.0, you will also have to give 'Domain Users' the 'gidNumber' '10000', but from 4.6.0, you can use the 'gidNumber' for any Unix group you have created in AD and this wil become the users primary Unix group.