LPIC-2 File Sharing and Samba Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are common symptoms of a misconfigured winbind service when Samba is joined to an Active Directory domain?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to assume `wbinfo -u` and `getent passwd` should always return the same results, but they do not realize that `wbinfo` bypasses NSS and directly queries winbind, while `getent` relies on the NSS configuration.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
`getent passwd` does not list domain users.
When winbind is misconfigured, the Name Service Switch (NSS) module may not be properly set up to query winbind for domain users. This means `getent passwd` will not return domain users even if winbind itself can enumerate them via `wbinfo -u`. The core issue is that NSS is not configured to use the `winbind` source in `/etc/nsswitch.conf`, or the winbind service is not correctly communicating with the NSS subsystem.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
`net ads join` fails with 'access denied'.
Why it's wrong here
This is a join-time error, not a winbind symptom.
- ✗
Domain users cannot authenticate via SSH.
Why it's wrong here
SSH authentication depends on PAM configuration, not solely on winbind.
- ✓
`getent passwd` does not list domain users.
Why this is correct
This indicates winbind NSS module is not working.
- ✓
`wbinfo -u` returns a list of domain users but `getent passwd` does not.
Why this is correct
This suggests winbind is running but NSS is misconfigured.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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