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In my ubuntu workstation I use /etc/samba/smb.conf and /etc/sssd/sssd.conf with /etc/krb5.conf in order to join active directory on a corporate network.

sudo service samba-ad-dc status
# inactive

sudo service sssd status
# active (running)

However I cannot yet tell what is the difference between samba and sssd. Can someone explain what are the differences between these two services and where do they overlap?

  • Can sssd work even without samba. Does it directly read smb.conf?
  • How do they depend to each other?

I have read the documentation, but I need a simpler explanation.

Marinos An
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  • Samba is (primarily) a service to provide windows filesharing. SSSD provides a unified authentication platform. – davidgo Dec 25 '19 at 05:58

1 Answers1

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Samba is Windows servers and clients for UNIX. Provides SMB file and print services, domain controller functions. And Winbind, an emulation of a Windows client for ID and auth.

SSSD is an authentication stack for Linux that knows LDAP, Kerberos, and Active Directory.

Either can provide names to NSS, and auth via PAM. Only Samba does the file and print SMB stuff.

Discuss with whomever documented this scheme what they intended to do. These identity, auth, and file share components can be configured in several combinations.

John Mahowald
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