Which parameter in the smb.conf defines how long the winbind daemon will cache user and group information?

Devraj B.Jun 19, 2026

The correct answer is C, winbind cache time, because that is the exact smb.conf parameter winbindd reads to determine how many seconds it holds cached entries for domain users and groups before querying the domain controller again. The other options are distractors, nscd cache time belongs to the Name Service Cache Daemon config, not smb.conf, and neither cache time nor idmap cache time are valid standalone parameters for this purpose.

Ingrid P.Oct 30, 2025

The answer is C, winbind cache time. That is the smb.conf parameter that controls how many seconds the winbind daemon holds onto cached user and group information before refreshing it, and it is the one you want on a card with the default value of 300 seconds on one side so you do not confuse it with the unrelated nscd settings.

Imani T.Jun 19, 2026

C is right - but do you know what the default value is?

Fatima Z.Oct 20, 2025

Okay I'll be honest, my eye went straight to D because "idmap" sounded so official and specific, but then I remembered my anchor image: picture a little "W" shaped bird (winbind) sitting on a clock (cache time), and that bird is ONLY called by its full name, "winbind cache time," the whole thing, right there in smb.conf. Once that image clicked, C was the only answer that made sense, because the parameter name literally just describes what it does, winbind plus cache plus time, no abbreviations, no shortcuts.

Anjali D.Nov 11, 2025

Our group spent a solid chunk of last week's session debating the cache-related smb.conf parameters, and this one actually tripped up a few people who confused it with nscd options. The correct answer is C, winbind cache time, which is the parameter that controls how long winbindd holds onto cached user and group information before going back to the domain controller to refresh it. The other options are either not real smb.conf parameters at all or are people mixing up idmap-specific settings with the general winbind cache behavior. On my actual exam I second-guessed myself and almost went with B thinking "cache time" sounded generic enough to be the right one, but then I remembered that Samba naming conventions are usually explicit about which subsystem owns the parameter, so winbind cache time made the most sense and that is what I went with. Has anyone else run into this one? Would love to know if people are getting tripped up by idmap cache time as a distractor or if it is more the nscd confusion pulling people toward A.

Grace U.May 29, 2026

That one trips people up because the naming feels almost redundant, like why would Samba need to spell out "winbind" when you're already inside a winbind-related configuration. But that specificity is exactly the point, each service in Samba's ecosystem tends to have its own namespace to avoid collisions, so the parameter that controls how long winbind holds onto cached user and group lookups is going to carry the winbind prefix right in its name. The distractors here are clever because nscd is a real caching daemon but it lives outside smb.conf entirely, and idmap cache time does exist in smb.conf but it controls something narrower, the mapping between Windows SIDs and Unix IDs, not general user and group info. Once you anchor on "this parameter lives in smb.conf and belongs to winbind specifically," the field narrows fast. Here is my question for you, and I ask because it changes how you reason about tuning this value: do you know what actually happens on the network side when this cache expires and a user or group lookup comes in? Thinking through that flow might help you remember not just the parameter name but why the default value is what it is.

Nina C.Jun 15, 2026

I actually guessed B at first because "cache time" felt like the simplest, most generic name Samba would use. But then I remembered that winbind has its own dedicated parameters prefixed with "winbind" to separate them from other Samba settings, so "winbind cache time" in smb.conf is specifically what controls how long the winbind daemon holds onto cached user and group info.

Carlos M.Jun 6, 2026

I actually went with B at first because "cache time" seemed like the obvious generic parameter, but when I looked it up in the smb.conf man page the actual parameter is "winbind cache time" since Samba namespaces its winbind-specific settings with that prefix. C is the one.