KB No. 2475: Purging .tdb samba files

The winbind process takes up 100% of the machine's load, and the proxy keeps sending us NTLM basic authentication pop-ups.

Background

Authentication requests (pop-ups) appear in NTLM authentication.

The winbind process consumes 100% of the machine load.

This problem is often related to a sudden restart of the machine (e.g., power outage).

This is a known issue with winbind, and you need to purge the winbind cache to fix it.

Steps

1. First, verify that winbind is using the maximum amount of resources.
2. Kill all winbind processes: #>killall -9 winbind
3. Delete all .tdb files related to winbind:
   • #>rm /var/lib/samba/*.tdb
   • #>rm /var/cache/samba/*.tdb
   • #>rm /var/run/samba/*.tdb
4. Rejoin the Windows domain in Settings > Authentication > Join Windows domain (or run the command manually): #>net ads join -U administrator
5. Restart the winbind service: #>/etc/init.d/winbind restart

Validation

Finally, verify that the winbind process is no longer consuming 100% of the CPU.

#>top

Repeat the tests using the proxy; the authentication pop-ups should no longer appear.