Need help with samba and linux

[Lost]

At work we are trying to automate the process of adding groups and users. The problem we are having is with the samba server and windows permissions. Is there a SAFE way to edit the smb.conf through linux without fucking everything up?

I stress safe because the drive that we are trying to do this on is 40TB worth of important data.

[Bardicrune]

Not quite comprehending what you mean by "safe". smb.conf should be completely editable manually using 'vi' or you could automate the edits by using a 'sed' script. All you have to do afterwards is run '/etc/init.d/smb reload' to get it to re-read the smb.conf without having to restart the smb process.

[Lost]

I meant safe by if a script we use screws up, the permissions for the whole drive would be lost. When rereading the smb.conf file, does it interrupt usage at all?

[Bockage]

If you're worried about the smb.conf file, just make a copy if it before you do anything.

[Bardicrune]

I meant safe by if a script we use screws up, the permissions for the whole drive would be lost. When rereading the smb.conf file, does it interrupt usage at all?

Nope, that's what the '/etc/init.d/smb reload' command is for. It tells it to re-read the configuration without having to stop/start the daemon. And like the above poster stated, make backups before modifying the file. a simple command like:

cp smb.conf smb.conf.`date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`

will copy the smb.conf to a time-stamped smb.conf.YYYYMMDDHHMMSS which you can revert to if need be.

[Lost]

Thanks I appreciate your help with the matter.