smbcontrol

smbcontrol daemon facility message

daemon
    The name of the Samba daemon to control (e.g., smbd, nmbd, winbindd, all).

facility
    The facility within the daemon to control (e.g., msg, drs, cache).

message
    The message to send to the daemon/facility (e.g., reload-config, shutdown, debug).

--help
    Display help message.

--usage
    Display brief usage message.

The smbcontrol command is a utility used to send control messages to running Samba daemons like smbd, nmbd, and winbindd. It allows administrators to manage and interact with these daemons at runtime, performing tasks such as reloading the Samba configuration file, shutting down a daemon gracefully, or querying the status of various internal components. The command uses a UNIX domain socket to communicate with the daemons, and requires appropriate permissions to access this socket. smbcontrol provides a standardized interface for managing Samba services, avoiding the need to directly manipulate process signals or use other less reliable methods. It is a powerful tool for Samba administration, allowing for dynamic management and troubleshooting of Samba services without requiring server restarts. It supports sending messages to a particular daemon, all daemons, or even to specific client connections handled by smbd.

Requires root privileges to send commands to most Samba daemons.
The specific facilities and messages available depend on the Samba version and the daemon being controlled.

smbcontrol all reload-config
Reloads the Samba configuration file in all running Samba daemons.
smbcontrol smbd shutdown
Shuts down the smbd daemon gracefully.

Returns 0 on success. Returns non-zero on failure.

smbcontrol has been a part of the Samba suite for many years. It was developed as a more robust and standardized way to manage Samba daemons compared to older methods relying on signal handling or ad-hoc scripts. Its usage has evolved alongside Samba itself, with new facilities and messages being added to support new features and functionality.

smbd(8), nmbd(8), winbindd(8), samba(7)