Thanks again, but no success.
There is a connected NIC, I can webconfig and FTP to the sytem. Indeed, there seems to be no way back once Samba Directory has been installed (and removed). So the only way is re-installing ClearOS which I already intended doing. I think it would be very helpful if the Samba initilizing process would give a clue as to why it's not processing, instead of sitting idle forever.

Roel,

Here is what I do. When first setting up a machine I will set it up and tear it down many many times experimenting each time and breaking something. If a production machine starts acting weirdly and won't respond to tinkering I usually just format and start again. In the case of ClearOS this is a pain so I usually try the saved config backups and those usually fix things.

I have a customer machine that simply won't run the anti-spam daemon so they have to just suffer the spam. I need to format and start again. Big job because of all their things integrated with the server.

In my opinion one of the reasons ClearOS gets screwed up is that everything is done from the web interface with scripts or wizards making it happen behind the scenes. If something goes wrong then not only is the reason hidden it's usually beyond the ability of the operator to fix it. The whole point of ClearOS is to make it easy. It does nothing that a very competent person could not do on the command line with more time. I actually used to run a linux server for a customer that way until they wanted a new server and I built it with ClearOS, much easier.

In a way you're missing the point of ClearOS if you have to get in there and debug what went wrong.

You may have half a chance by running:

/usr/clearos/apps/openldap/deploy/reset-ldap please

rm -f /var/clearos/mode/mode.conf

This works between master/slave and may work with the AD Connector as well, but I have a feeling there is no way back once Samba Directory has been installed.

Also I think there are problems initialising Samba if there are no NIC's connected.

Nick,

I'm ready for re-installing ClearOS but I would really like to understand what's happening. Maybe you could shed some light.

This is what I've done:
- removed Samba Directory after a Win10 upgrade made it inoperable
- installed OpenLDAP and Samba
- tried to configure Samba but it gets stuck in a loop (Connecting ....)
- checked status of slapd and smb

slapd seems OK: green dot. Status returns 2 messages that seem OK to me:
Configuration directory '/etc/openldap/slapd.d' does not exist.
Warning: Usage of a configuration file is obsolete!

Running /bin/systemctl status smb.service
● smb.service - Samba SMB Daemon [dot is not green]
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/smb.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:smbd(8)
man:samba(7)
man:smb.conf(5)

I have read some of your other posts indicating that the problem why Samba cannot initialize might be with the Directory service. As my slapd status seems OK there seems to be some remainer of Samba Directory causing the blocking. Re-installing the system would probably help. Or am I overlooking an obvious issue? (Wouldn't be for the first time :-))

Kind regards, Roel

Yes, Samba Directory of course, sorry for that. I installed it a few years ago by co-incidence. Didn't need it at all but it worked anyway, until now.
SMB vs 1.0 has been removed from my systems long ago. Config backups would bring me back to Samba Directory, that's not an option as I don't use AD at all.
I have read the thorough HowTo on AD and I'm compelled to using it if I can find a good reason for it. My ClearOS systems have all been modified away from the original gateway functions (Clark, 2005) as those functions are all taken over by my ISP's modem/routers. ClearOS for me now is just Linux.
My current problem is only the non-initializing Samba. I think it may be caused by an unsuccessful removal of Samba Directory. That was impossible to do via webconfig so I used yum remove app-samba-directory-core which ran just fine. But some reminiscence of Samba Directory seems to block the new Samba from initializing.
I agree very much to the remarks about SMB and I could add some bad experiences of my own, but this is not about SMB. It does help solidifying my trust in ClearOS, though.
Thanks for the replies. I think a clean reset will be the quickest way to solve the problem.

By Samba Domain do you mean Samba Directory (Beta)? If so you may be out of luck as it was withdrawn a good 18 months ago as it was never going to achieve what was required. I would also be very wary of re-initialising any Directory components of any of the directory options. If I were you, at this point, I'd try restoring a config backup and see if it gets you out of problems. My concern is that the config backup may not have been set up to back up the directory components.

If you do get it up and running, I'd have a look at the smb.conf and see if there are any protocol restrictions, e.g "max protocol = " and remove them. Beyond that I have no ideas as I've never tried Samba Directory.

If you give up on that, there is a HowTo to create an Active Directory Domain Controller. I run it on a mini VM test envornment.

Windows 10 strikes again!
I've had loads of problems networking Windows 10, nightmare.

I don't know the specific answer but here are a few basic things to try.

Can you access the server using a Windows 7 computer or a computer that has not had that update? (XP was always the best for SAMBA)
In Windows File Explorer do \\192.168.1.200 or whatever the IP of your server is. Often the name won't show but it works on the IP
Play with SMB versions. SMB 3 is the one you're supposed to be using but perhaps ClearOS is offering SMB 2 and Windows is set in the registry to ignore that version. DuckDuckGo how to set the SMB version on Windows 10.