[Chapter 8] 8.5 Recently Added Options

8.5 Recently Added Options

Samba has several options that appeared around the time of Samba 2.0, but are not entirely supported. However, we will give you a brief overview of their workings in this section. These options are shown in Table 8.9.

Table 8.9: Recently Added Options
Option	Parameters	Function	Default	Scope
`change notify timeout`	numerical (number of seconds)	Sets the interval between checks when a client asks to wait for a change in a specified directory.	`60`	Global
`machine password timeout`	numerical (number of seconds)	Sets the renewal interval for NT domain machine passwords.	`604,800` (1 week )	Global
`stat cache`	boolean	If `yes`, Samba will cache recent name mappings.	`yes`	Global
`stat cache size`	numerical	Sets the size of the stat cache.	`50`	Global

8.5.1 change notify timeout

The change notify timeout global option emulates a Windows NT SMB feature called change notification. This allows a client to request that a Windows NT server periodically monitor a specific directory on a share for any changes. If any changes occur, the server will notify the client.

As of version 2.0, Samba will perform this function for its clients. However, performing these checks too often can slow the server down considerably. This option sets the time period that Samba should wait between such checks. The default is one minute (60 seconds); however, you can use this option to specify an alternate time that Samba should wait between performing checks:

[global]
	change notify timeout = 30

8.5.2 machine password timeout

The machine password timeout global option sets a retention period for NT domain machine passwords. The default is currently set to the same time period that Windows NT 4.0 uses: 604,800 seconds (one week). Samba will periodically attempt to change the machine account password, which is a password used specifically by another server to report changes to it. This option specifies the number of seconds that Samba should wait before attempting to change that password. The following example changes it to a single day, by specifying the following:

[global]
	machine password timeout = 86400

8.5.3 stat cache

The stat cache global option turns on caching of recent case-insensitive name mappings. The default is yes. The Samba team recommends that you never change this parameter.

8.5.4 stat cache size

The stat cache size global option sets the size of the cache entries to be used for the stat cache option. The default here is 50. Again, the Samba team recommends that you never change this parameter.