Using Samba, Second Edition

What Can Samba Do for Me?

As explained earlier, Samba can help Windows and Unix computers coexist in the same network. However, there are some specific reasons why you might want to set up a Samba server on your network:

• You don’t want to pay for—or can’t afford—a full-fledged Windows server, yet you still need the functionality that one provides.

• The Client Access Licenses (CALs) that Microsoft requires for each Windows client to access a Windows server are unaffordable.

• You want to provide a common area for data or user directories to transition from a Windows server to a Unix one, or vice versa.

• You want to share printers among Windows and Unix workstations.

• You are supporting a group of computer users who have a mixture of Windows and Unix computers.

• You want to integrate Unix and Windows authentication, maintaining a single database of user accounts that works with both systems.

• You want to network Unix, Windows, Macintosh (OS X), and other systems using a single protocol.

Let’s take a quick tour of Samba in action. Assume that we have the following basic network configuration: a Samba-enabled Unix system, to which we will assign the name toltec, and a pair of Windows clients, to which we will assign the names maya and aztec, all connected via a local area network (LAN). Let’s also assume that toltec also has a local inkjet printer connected to it, lp, and a disk share named spirit—both of which it can offer to the other two computers. A graphic of this network is shown in Figure ...