Migrating the ntvfs File Server Back End to s3fs

From SambaWiki

Introduction

During the development of Samba AD, it was planned to include a new file server back end. The ntvfs back end never provided the same features and quality as s3fs. For this reason, the s3fs file server back end was always the only one supported by Samba. However, users of Samba before 4.5 were able to provision a domain controller (DC) using the --use-ntvfs parameter.

The ntvfs feature is no longer build by default in Samba 4.5 and later. Consequently, starting the samba service on a DC using the ntvfs back end failed after the update and the following error is logged:

[2016/09/01 08:00:00.000000,  0, pid=995] ../source4/smbd/service.c:98(server_service_startup)
  Failed to start service 'smb' - NT_STATUS_INVALID_SYSTEM_SERVICE
[2016/09/01 08:00:00.000000,  0, pid=995] ../lib/util/become_daemon.c:111(exit_daemon)
  STATUS=daemon failed to start: Samba failed to start services, error code -1073741796



Verifying if the ntvfs File Server Back End is Enabled

If the server services parameter in your smb.conf file lists the smb option, the ntvfs file server back end is enabled. For example:

server services = ..., smb, ...



Migrating the ntvfs File Server Back End to s3fs

To migrate the back end:

  • Shut down Samba.
  • In the server services parameter of your smb.conf file, replace the the smb option with s3fs. For example:
server services = smb, s3fs, ...
  • Reset the access control lists (ACL) on the Sysvol share:
# samba-tool ntacl sysvolreset
  • Start Samba.