samba-mirror/WHATSNEW.txt

Release Announcements
=====================

This is the first preview release of Samba 4.9.  This is *not*
intended for production environments and is designed for testing
purposes only.  Please report any defects via the Samba bug reporting
system at https://bugzilla.samba.org/.

Samba 4.9 will be the next version of the Samba suite.


UPGRADING
=========


NEW FEATURES/CHANGES
====================


net ads setspn
---------------

There is a new 'net ads setspn' sub command for managing Windows SPN(s)
on the AD. This command aims to give the basic functionality that is
provided on windows by 'setspn.exe' e.g. ability to add, delete and list
Windows SPN(s) stored in a Windows AD Computer object.

The format of the command is:

net ads setspn list [machine]
net ads setspn [add | delete ] SPN [machine]

'machine' is the name of the computer account on the AD that is to be managed.
If 'machine' is not specified the name of the 'client' running the command
is used instead.

The format of a Windows SPN is
  'serviceclass/host:port/servicename' (servicename and port are optional)

serviceclass/host is generally sufficient to specify a host based service.

net ads keytab changes
----------------------
net ads keytab add no longer attempts to convert the passed serviceclass
(e.g. nfs, html etc.) into a Windows SPN which is added to the Windows AD
computer object. By default just the keytab file is modified.

A new keytab subcommand 'add_update_ads' has been added to preserve the
legacy behaviour. However the new 'net ads setspn add' subcommand should
really be used instead.

net ads keytab create no longer tries to generate SPN(s) from existing
entries in a keytab file. If it is required to add Windows SPN(s) then
'net ads setspn add' should be used instead.

Local authorization plugin for MIT Kerberos
-------------------------------------------

This plugin controls the relationship between Kerberos principals and AD
accounts through winbind. The module receives the Kerberos principal and the
local account name as inputs and can then check if they match. This can resolve
issues with canonicalized names returned by Kerberos within AD. If the user
tries to log in as 'alice', but the samAccountName is set to ALICE (uppercase),
Kerberos would return ALICE as the username. Kerberos would not be able to map
'alice' to 'ALICE' in this case and auth would fail.  With this plugin account
names can be correctly mapped. This only applies to GSSAPI authentication,
not for the getting the initial ticket granting ticket.

VFS audit modules
-----------------

The vfs_full_audit module has changed it's default set of monitored successful
and failed operations from "all" to "none". That helps to prevent potential
denial of service caused by simple addition of the module to the VFS objects.

Also, modules vfs_audit, vfs_ext_audit and vfs_full_audit now accept any valid
syslog(3) facility, in accordance with the manual page.

Database audit support
----------------------

Changes to the Samba AD's sam.ldb database are now logged to Samba's debug log
under the "dsdb_audit" debug class and "dsdb_json_audit" for JSON formatted log
entries.

Transaction commits and roll backs are now logged to Samba's debug logs under
the "dsdb_transaction_audit" debug class and "dsdb_transaction_json_audit" for
JSON formatted log entries.

Password change audit support
-----------------------------

Password changes in the AD DC are now logged to Samba's debug logs under the
"dsdb_password_audit" debug class and "dsdb_password_json_audit" for JSON
formatted log entries.

Group membership change audit support
-------------------------------------

Group membership changes on the AD DC are now logged to
Samba's debug log under the "dsdb_group_audit" debug class and
"dsdb_group_json_audit" for JSON formatted log entries.

Log Authentication duration
---------------------------

For NTLM and Kerberos KDC authentication, the authentication duration is now
logged. Note that the duration is only included in the JSON formatted log
entries.

JSON library Jansson required for the AD DC
-------------------------------------------

By default the Jansson JSON library is required for Samba to build.
It is strictly required for the Samba AD DC, and is optional for
builds --without-ad-dc by specifying --without-json-audit at configure
time.

New Experimental LMDB LDB backend
---------------------------------

A new experimental LDB backend using LMDB is now available. This allows
databases larger than 4Gb (Currently the limit is set to 6Gb, but this will be
increased in a future release). To enable lmdb, provision or join a domain using
the --backend-store=mdb option.

This requires that a version of lmdb greater than 0.9.16 is installed and that
samba has not been built with the --without-ldb-lmdb option.

Please note this is an experimental feature and is not recommended for
production deployments.

Password Settings Objects
-------------------------
Support has been added for Password Settings Objects (PSOs). This AD feature is
also known as Fine-Grained Password Policies (FGPP).

PSOs allow AD administrators to override the domain password policy settings
for specific users, or groups of users. For example, PSOs can force certain
users to have longer password lengths, or relax the complexity constraints for
other users, and so on. PSOs can be applied to groups or to individual users.
When multiple PSOs apply to the same user, essentially the PSO with the best
precedence takes effect.

PSOs can be configured and applied to users/groups using the 'samba-tool domain
passwordsettings pso' set of commands.

Domain backup and restore
-------------------------
A new samba-tool command has been added that allows administrators to create a
backup-file of their domain DB. In the event of a catastrophic failure of the
domain, this backup-file can be used to restore Samba services.

The new 'samba-tool domain backup online' command takes a snapshot of the
domain DB from a given DC. In the event of a catastrophic DB failure, all DCs
in the domain should be taken offline, and the backup-file can then be used to
recreate a fresh new DC, using the 'samba-tool domain backup restore' command.
Once the backed-up domain DB has been restored on the new DC, other DCs can
then subsequently be joined to the new DC, in order to repopulate the Samba
network.

Domain rename tool
------------------
Basic support has been added for renaming a Samba domain. The rename feature is
designed for the following cases:
1). Running a temporary alternate domain, in the event of a catastrophic
failure of the regular domain. Using a completely different domain name and
realm means that the original domain and the renamed domain can both run at the
same time, without interfering with each other. This is an advantage over
creating a regular 'online' backup - it means the renamed/alternate domain can
provide core Samba network services, while trouble-shooting the fault on the
original domain can be done in parallel.
2). Creating a realistic lab domain or pre-production domain for testing.

Note that the renamed tool is currently not intended to support a long-term
rename of the production domain. Currently renaming the GPOs is not supported
and would need to be done manually.

The domain rename is done in two steps: first, the 'samba-tool domain backup
rename' command will clone the domain DB, renaming it in the process, and
producing a backup-file. Then, the 'samba-tool domain backup restore' command
takes the backup-file and restores the renamed DB to disk on a fresh DC.

New samba-tool options for diagnosing DRS replication issues
------------------------------------------------------------

The 'samba-tool drs showrepl' command has two new options controlling
the output. With --summary, the command says very little when DRS
replication is working well. With --json, JSON is produced. These
options are intended for human and machine audiences, respectively.

The 'samba-tool visualize uptodateness' visualizes replication lag as
a heat-map matrix based on the DRS uptodateness vectors. This will
show you if (but not why) changes are failing to replicate to some DCs.

Automatic site coverage and GetDCName improvements
--------------------------------------------------

Samba's AD DC now automatically claims otherwise empty sites based on
which DC is the nearest in the replication topology.

This, combined with efforts to correctly identify the client side in
the GetDCName Netlogon call will improve service to sites without a
local DC.

Improved samba-tool computer command
------------------------------------

The 'samba-tool computer' command allow manipulation of computer
accounts including creating a new computer and resetting the password.
This allows an 'offline join' of a member server or workstation to the
Samba AD domain.

Samba performance tool now operates against Microsoft Windows AD
----------------------------------------------------------------

The Samba AD performance testing tool traffic_reply can now operate
against a Windows based AD domain.  Previously it only operated
correctly against Samba.

DNS entries are now cleaned up during DC demote
-----------------------------------------------

DNS records are now cleaned up as part of the 'samba-tool domain
demote' including both the default and --remove-other-dead-server
modes.

Additionally DNS records can be automatically cleaned up for a given
name with the 'samba-tool dns cleanup' command, which aids in cleaning
up partially removed DCs.

samba-tool ntacl sysvolreset is now much faster
-----------------------------------------------

The 'samba-tool ntacl sysvolreset' command, used on the Samba AD DC,
is now much faster than in previous versions, after an internal
rework.

Samba now tested with CI GitLab
-------------------------------

Samba developers now have pre-commit testing available in GitLab,
giving reviewers confidence that the submitted patches pass a full CI
before being submitted to the Samba Team's own autobuild system.

Dynamic DNS record scavenging support
-------------------------------------

It is now possible to enable scavenging of DNS Zones to remove DNS
records that were dynamically created and have not been touched in
some time.

This support should however only be enabled on new zones or new
installations.  Sadly old Samba versions suffer from BUG 12451 and
mark dynamic DNS records as static and static records as dynamic.
While a dbcheck rule may be able to find these in the future,
currently a reliable test has not been devised.

Finally, there is not currently a command-line tool to enable this
feature, currently it should be enabled from the DNS Manager tool from
Windows. Also the feature needs to have been enabled by setting the smb.conf
parameter "dns zone scavenging = yes".

CTDB changes
------------

There are many changes to CTDB in this release.

* Configuration has been completely overhauled

  - Daemon and tool options are now specified in a new ctdb.conf
    Samba-style configuration file.  See ctdb.conf(5) for details.

  - Event script configuration is no longer specified in the top-level
    configuration file.  It can now be specified per event script.
    For example, configuration options for the 50.samba event script
    can be placed alongside the event script in a file called
    50.samba.options.  Script options can also be specified in a new
    script.options file.  See ctdb-script.options(5) for details.

  - Options that affect CTDB startup should be configured in the
    distribution-specific configuration file.  See ctdb.sysconfig(5)
    for details.

  - Tunable settings are now loaded from ctdb.tunables.  Using
    CTDB_SET_TunableVariable=<value> in the main configuration file is
    no longer supported.  See ctdb-tunables(7) for details.

  A script to convert an old-style configuration to a new one will be
  available for release but is not yet available.

* The following configuration variables and corresponding ctdbd
  command-line options have been removed and not replaced with
  counterparts in the new configuration scheme:

    CTDB_PIDFILE                     --pidfile
    CTDB_SOCKET			     --socket
    CTDB_NODES			     --nlist
    CTDB_PUBLIC_ADDRESSES	     --public-addresses
    CTDB_EVENT_SCRIPT_DIR	     --event-script-dir
    CTDB_NOTIFY_SCRIPT		     --notification-script
    CTDB_PUBLIC_INTERFACE	     --public-interface
    CTDB_MAX_PERSISTENT_CHECK_ERRORS --max-persistent-check-errors

  - The compile-time defaults should be used for the first 6 of these.
  - Use a symbolic link from the configuration directory to specify a
    different location for nodes or public_addresses (e.g. in the
    cluster filesystem).
  - Executable notification scripts in the notify.d/ subdirectory of
    the configuration directory are now run by unconditionally.
  - Interfaces for public IP addresses must always be specified in the
    public_addresses file using the currently supported format.

  Some related items that have been removed are:

  - The ctdb command's --socket command-line option
  - The ctdb command's CTDB_NODES environment variable

  When writing tests there are still mechanisms available to change
  the locations of certain directories and files.

* Event scripts have moved to the scripts/legacy subdirectory of the
  configuration directory

  Event scripts must now end with a ".script" suffix.

* The following service-related event script options have been
  removed:

    CTDB_MANAGES_SAMBA
    CTDB_MANAGES_WINBIND

    CTDB_MANAGES_CLAMD
    CTDB_MANAGES_HTTPD
    CTDB_MANAGES_ISCSI
    CTDB_MANAGES_NFS
    CTDB_MANAGES_VSFTPD

    CTDB_MANAGED_SERVICES

  Event scripts for services are now disabled by default.  To enable
  an event script and, therefore, manage a service use a command like
  the following:

    ctdb event script enable legacy 50.samba

* Notification scripts have moved to the scripts/notification
  subdirectory of the configuration directory

  Notification scripts must now end with a ".script" suffix.

* Support for setting CTDB_DBDIR=tmpfs has been removed

  This feature has not been implemented in the new configuration
  system.  If this is desired then a tmpfs filesystem should be
  manually mounted on the directory pointed to by the "volatile
  database directory" option.  See ctdb.conf(5) for more details.

* Support for the NoIPHostOnAllDisabled tunable has been removed

  If all nodes are unhealthy or disabled then CTDB will not host
  public IP addresses.  That is, CTDB now behaves as if
  NoIPHostOnAllDisabled were set to 1.

* The onnode command's CTDB_NODES_FILE environment variable has been
  removed

  The -f option can still be used to specify an alternate node file.

* The 10.external event script has been removed

* The CTDB_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT configuration variable has been removed

  As with other daemons, if ctdbd does not shut down when requested
  then manual intervention is required.  There is no safe way of
  automatically killing ctdbd after a failed shutdown.

* CTDB_SUPPRESS_COREFILE and CTDB_MAX_OPEN_FILES configuration
  variable have been removed

  These should be setup in the systemd unit/system file or, for SYSV
  init, in the distribution-specific configuration file for the ctdb
  service.

* CTDB_PARTIALLY_ONLINE_INTERFACES incompatibility no longer enforced

  11.natgw and 91.lvs will no longer fail if
  CTDB_PARTIALLY_ONLINE_INTERFACES=yes.  The incompatibility is,
  however, well documented.  This option will be removed in future and
  replaced by sensible behaviour where public IP addresses simply
  switch interfaces or become unavailable when interfaces are down.

* Configuration file /etc/ctdb/sysconfig/ctdb is no longer supported


REMOVED FEATURES
================



smb.conf changes
================

As the most popular Samba install platforms (Linux and FreeBSD) both
support extended attributes by default, the parameters "map readonly",
"store dos attributes" and "ea support" have had their defaults changed
to allow better Windows fileserver compatibility in a default install.

  Parameter Name                     Description             Default
  --------------                     -----------             -------
  map readonly                       Default changed              no
  store dos attributes               Default changed             yes
  ea support                         Default changed             yes
  full_audit:success                 Default changed            none
  full_audit:failure                 Default changed            none

VFS interface changes
=====================

The VFS ABI interface version has changed to 39. Function changes
are:

SMB_VFS_FSYNC: Removed: Only async versions are used.
SMB_VFS_READ: Removed: Only PREAD or async versions are used.
SMB_VFS_WRITE: Removed: Only PWRITE or async versions are used.
SMB_VFS_CHMOD_ACL: Removed: Only CHMOD is used.
SMB_VFS_FCHMOD_ACL: Removed: Only FCHMOD is used.

Any external VFS modules will need to be updated to match these
changes in order to work with 4.9.x.

KNOWN ISSUES
============

https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Release_Planning_for_Samba_4.9#Release_blocking_bugs


#######################################
Reporting bugs & Development Discussion
#######################################

Please discuss this release on the samba-technical mailing list or by
joining the #samba-technical IRC channel on irc.freenode.net.

If you do report problems then please try to send high quality
feedback. If you don't provide vital information to help us track down
the problem then you will probably be ignored.  All bug reports should
be filed under the Samba 4.1 and newer product in the project's Bugzilla
database (https://bugzilla.samba.org/).


======================================================================
== Our Code, Our Bugs, Our Responsibility.
== The Samba Team
======================================================================