Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 3rd Edition

Chapter 16. Samba

The presence of Microsoft Windows machines in the network environment is often unavoidable for the Linux network administrator, and often interoperability is critical. Fortunately, a group of developers has been hard at work for the last 10 years, and has created one of the most advanced Windows-to-UNIX interoperability packages—Samba. It has, in fact, become so successful and practical that system administrators can completely replace Windows servers with Samba servers, keeping all functionality, while adding additional stability.

Samba—An Introduction

Samba, still actively developed in order to maintain feature compatibility with the ever-changing Microsoft software, provides a framework to allow Linux machines to access Windows network resources, such as shared drives and printers. Samba not only lets Linux machines access these services, but also allows Linux to offer these same services to Windows machines. With Samba, it’s possible to completely replace a Windows-based file server, a Windows print server, and even, with advanced options, replace the Primary Domain Controller (PDC). Recent versions of Samba even allow Active Directory compatibility. The open-source flexibility of Samba means that development will be able to continue, and new features will be introduced when the Windows architecture changes. More information on Samba can be found in Using Samba, Second Edition (O’Reilly), by Jay Ts, Robert Eckstein, and David Collier-Brown.

SMB, CIFS, and ...