Using Samba: A File and Print Server for Heterogeneous Networks - Softcover

Kelly, Peter; Collier-Brown, David; Eckstein, Robert

3.5

84 ratings by Goodreads

9781565924499: Using Samba: A File and Print Server for Heterogeneous Networks

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565924495 ISBN 13: 9781565924499

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 1999

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This book, which has been officially adopted by the Samba team under an open content license, is a comprehensive guide to Samba administration, including such recent additions as integration with Windows NT domains and the SWAT graphic configuration tool.Samba is a cross-platform triumph: it turns a Unix or Linux system into a file and print server for Microsoft Windows network clients. Now you can let users store their files (and even important executables) in a single place for easy sharing and backup, protected by Unix or NT security mechanisms, and still offer such transparent access that PC users don't even realize they're going to another system. The magic behind Samba is that it recognizes and speaks the SMB protocol developed by Microsoft for file and printer sharing on its own systems.Basic Samba configuration is simple, but you'll want to make sure your security settings are just right and find out about the full range of options (how do you like your filenames mangled?). Trouble-shooting, security, connectivity, performance, and logging are thoroughly covered with examples in this book.Samba is so robust, flexible, and secure that many people are choosing it over Windows NT for their file and print services. Furthermore, Samba is proving to be a necessity for the many organizations that have an existing Unix or Linux system and want to tie in PCs running Microsoft software. Samba is also open source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License.The authors present the most common configurations and problems in an easy-to-follow manner, along with instructions for getting the most out of Samba. Whether you're playing on one note or a full three-octave range, this book will give you an efficient and secure server. The included CD-ROM holds sources and ready-to-install binaries, plus other useful information.

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Review:

Samba, the Server Message Block (SMB) server software that makes it relatively easy to integrate Unix or Linux servers into networks of Microsoft Windows workstations, has to date been mostly explained as an afterthought. Most often, it's appeared in the latter chapters of books about Linux. It deserves better, and the authors of Using Samba have delivered exactly that.

This book documents Samba 2.0.4 fully (version 2.0.5, source and binary, appears on the companion CD-ROM), focusing on smbd, nmbd, the command-line tools, and Samba's newfound ability to integrate itself securely with Windows NT domains.

Though it includes a bit of information on the SMB and Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocols that underlie Samba, the emphasis here is on setting up and configuring software. Explicit sections explain how to install Samba on a Unix/Linux system and how to set up Microsoft clients to communicate with the Samba machine. The authors pay lavish attention to the Samba configuration file, smb.conf, and explain exactly what settings you need to include in it to allow disk shares, network browsing, and integration with Windows domains. A highly useful reference that lists all Samba configuration options (along with their valid values, default values, and explanations) appears in an appendix. --David Wall

Topics covered: All aspects of setting up and configuring Samba 2.0 and its variants, including client configuration, file sharing, network browsing, file system differences between Windows and Unix/Linux, security, and the contents of the Samba configuration file.

About the Author:

Robert Eckstein, an editor at O'Reilly, works mostly on Java books (notably Java Swing) and is also responsible for the XML Pocket Reference and Webmaster in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition. In his spare time he has been known to provide online coverage for popular conferences. He also writes articles for JavaWorld magazine. Robert holds bachelor's degrees in computer science and communications from Trinity University. In the past, he has worked for the USAA insurance company and more recently spent four years with Motorola's cellular software division. He is the co-author of Using Samba.

David Collier-Brown is a consulting systems integrator, currently working for the performance and engineering group at Sun Opcom in Toronto. He is also co-author of the first edition of Using Samba. In his spare time he reads assiduously, keeps score for his wife's baseball team and, in the two weeks of the local summer, sails from Toronto's outer harbor.

Peter Kelly works on his own as a Systems Consultant in Toronto, Canada specializing in Internet and network security. Peter is currently finishing exams to be an MCSE, but prefers to work with Linux when he can. When Peter is not working, he enjoys playing golf and reading about security, networking, and Calvin & Hobbes.

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