kmosx3: How to Enable swat in Mac OS X 10.3

How to Enable swat in Panther (Mac OSX 10.3)

Swat is the Samba Web Administration Tool and provides a convenient way to modify the Samba configuration file, smb.conf, through a web browser interface.

Samba is the opensource program included in Jaguar and Panther that provides Mac OSX 10.2+ with its Windows File Sharing and Windows Printer sharing capabilities.

Swat is accessed by any user through any web browser at the address http://127.0.0.1:901. Enter root user name and password.

Swat is included in the Samba distribution and now in Panther. It was not included by default in Jaguar. A couple of additional steps are required in Panther to fully enable swat.

Swat also provides extensive documentation and help to smb.conf parameters.

The steps are:

1. Ensure the service "swat" is defined in Netinfo Manager
2. Edit/correct the swat configuration file in /etc/xinetd.d

Step 1. Configure service "swat" in NetInfo
Start Netinfo Manager and authenticate.
Create and save a new Service called swat as follows:
Name = swat
port = 901
protocol = tcp

Step 2. Log on as Root and modify the swat configuration file in /private/etc/xinetd.d using TextEdit:

replace the line "disable = yes" with the line "disable = no"

The resulting configuration file should look like:

service swat
{
port = 901
socket_type = stream
wait = no
only_from = localhost
user = root
server = /usr/bin/swat
log onfailure += USERID
groups = yes
disable = no
}

WARNING : When using the swat interface, all non-essential lines are removed including configuration parameters that are the defauts and all comment lines. Swat does not make a backup of the smb.conf file - which is a highly recommended step.