If your network includes a domain controller (either a Windows computer or a Samba server), you can use its user database instead of or in addition to maintaining local login users in a Linux computer's local account database. Doing so requires using a set of tools known as Winbind. This toolset can be handy even for Linux computers that don't run Samba to share files or printers; users with Windows domain accounts can log in at the console or use SSH to access Linux-only features, use POP or IMAP mail servers with Windows domain authentication, and so on.