Configuration Details
Underneath the GUI, a lot of activity
takes place to offer Windows Services. In the non-Server version of
Mac OS X, selecting Windows File Sharing sets the
SMBSERVER parameter in
/etc/hostconfig and triggers the Samba startup
item. In Mac OS X Server, under normal circumstances the Samba
startup item and the SMBSERVER parameter are never
used.
Instead, a process named sambadmind generates
/etc/smb.conf from the configuration specified
in Server Settings and Workgroup Manager and handles starting and
restarting the Samba daemons as necessary. The
sambadmind process is in turn monitored by
watchdog, which keeps an eye on certain
processes and restarts those which fail. The
watchdog utility is configured in
/etc/watchdog.conf, a file similar to a System V
inittab, which specifies how the services under
watchdog’s purview are to be
treated. For example, the line for sambadmind
looks like this:
sambadmin:respawn:/usr/sbin/sambadmind -d # SMB Admin daemon
Using a watchdog-monitored process such as sambadmind to start the Samba daemons, instead of a one-time execution of a startup item, results in more reliable service. In Mac OS X Server, if a Samba daemon dies unexpectedly, it is quickly restarted. (Examples of other services monitored by watchdog are Password Server, Print Service, and the Server Settings daemon that allows remote management.)
There’s another wrinkle in Mac OS X Server: the
Samba configuration settings are not written directly to
/etc/smb.conf, as ...
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