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NetBackup™ Web UI Microsoft SQL Server Administrator's Guide

Last Published: 2023-10-23

Product(s): NetBackup & Alta Data Protection (10.3.0.1, 10.3)

Configure Samba users for SQL Server instant access

A NetBackup client may need Samba user credentials to access Samba shares. You can configure Samba local users for SQL Server instant access on the corresponding storage server.

If the Samba service on a storage server is part of Windows domain, the Windows domain users can be used as Samba users.

For Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) cloud platforms, only Samba local user can access Samba share. You must add Samba users to access the Samba share.

During SQL Server instant access, the SQL Server service needs to access the Samba share. If a Windows user is specified to start the instant access database, that Windows user also needs to access the Samba share.

How to make Samba shares available to a Windows user

If the Windows user is a domain user and is in the same domain as the storage server:
The Windows user can directly access the Samba share and no configuration is required.
If the Windows user is not a domain user, or is not in the same domain as the storage server:
Save the Samba user credentials for the Windows user by running the following command and enter the Samba account password:
cmdkey /add:<Samba hostname> /user:<Samba account username> /pass
The Windows user accesses the Samba share using the credentials.

How to make Samba shares available to a SQL Server service

If the SQL Server service logs on as a Windows user, refer to the following topic:
See How to make Samba shares available to a Windows user.
If the SQL Server service logs on as a service account (for example, NT Service\MSSQLSERVER)
- If the SQL Server Windows host is in the same domain as the storage server:
  SQL Server service is authenticated as the domain host and no configuration is required.
- If the SQL Server Windows host is not in any domain and Samba guest access is not disabled, the SQL Server service can access the share as guest and no configuration is required.
- For all other scenarios, create a Samba session for the SQL Server service account by running following SQL statement:
  xp_cmdshell 'net use \\<Samba hostname>\<sharename> <Samba account password> /user:<Samba account username>'
  The SQL Server service accesses the Samba share using the provided Samba user credentials. The share name must be a share that is available on the storage server. If there is no share at the time, you must create one.
  The Samba session is valid until the next restart. You must run the command again after restart to get Samba access.
  If xp_cmdshell is not enabled for the SQL Server, use the following commands to enable or disable xp_cmdshell.
```
    -- enable xp_cmdshell
                EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', '1'
                RECONFIGURE
                EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', '1'
                RECONFIGURE
```
```
    -- disable xp_cmdshell
                EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', '1'
                RECONFIGURE
                EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', '0'
                RECONFIGURE
```

The following table describes how to add or manage Samba users if the Samba service is not part of Windows domain.

Table: Steps to add or manage Samba users

User	Steps
For NetBackup Appliance users	For NetBackup Appliance, local users are also Samba users. To manage local users, logon to CLISH and select Main > Settings > Security > Authentication > LocalUser. The Samba password is the same as the appliance local user's logon password.
For Flex Appliance users	For a Flex Appliance application instance, log in to the instance and add any local user to Samba, as follows: If you want, create a new local user with the following commands: #useradd <username> #passwd <username> You can also use an existing local user. Run the following commands to create user credentials for Samba and enable the user: smbpasswd -a <username> smbpasswd -e <username>
For Build Your Own (BYO) users	For new users: Create a Linux user, then add the user to Samba. For example, the following commands create a `test_samba_user` for Samba service only. # adduser --no-create-home -s /sbin/nologin test_samba_user # smbpasswd -a test_samba_user Enter a new SMB password. Enter the new SMB password again. The new user is added. For existing users: If you want to add an existing user to the Samba service, run the following command: smbpasswd -a test_samba_user
For AKS and EKS platform users	For new users: Log in to the MSDP engine pod in a cluster using kubectl. Run the following command to log in to `rshell` in the MSDP engine. su - msdpadm Run the following `rshell` command to add a Samba user. setting samba add-user username=[samba user name] password=[samba password] For example, msdp-16.1] > setting samba add-user username=test_samba_user password=Te@Pss1fg0 You can use the same command to update the password for an existing user. In AKS and EKS cloud platforms, the Samba `rshell` command configures Samba servers in all MSDP engines in a cluster.

To automatically start the SQL Server database, ensure that you can access the share when you log on with the instance credentials from the web UI.

For the cloud platforms such as AKS and EKS, add the Samba user and each MSDP engine host name in Windows credential manager. This action allows the NetBackup client can connect to the Instant Access Samba share automatically.