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| 2 | <!DOCTYPE preface PUBLIC "-//Samba-Team//DTD DocBook V4.2-Based Variant V1.0//EN" "http://www.samba.org/samba/DTD/samba-doc">
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| 3 | <preface id="IntroSMB">
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| 4 | <prefaceinfo>
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| 5 | &author.jht;
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| 6 | <pubdate>June 29, 2003</pubdate>
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| 7 | </prefaceinfo>
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| 8 |
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| 9 | <title>Introduction</title>
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| 10 |
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| 11 | <para><quote>
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| 12 | A man's gift makes room for him before great men. Gifts are like hooks that can catch
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| 13 | hold of the mind taking it beyond the reach of forces that otherwise might constrain it.
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| 14 | </quote> --- Anon.
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| 15 | </para>
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| 16 |
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| 17 |
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| 18 | <para>
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| 19 | This is a book about Samba. It is a tool, a derived work of the labors
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| 20 | of many and of the diligence and goodwill of more than a few.
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| 21 | This book contains material that has been contributed in a persistent belief
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| 22 | that each of us can add value to our neighbors as well as to those who will
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| 23 | follow us.
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| 24 | </para>
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| 25 |
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| 26 | <para>
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| 27 | This book is designed to meet the needs of the Microsoft network administrator.
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| 28 | UNIX administrators will benefit from this book also, though they may complain
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| 29 | that it is hard to find the information they think they need. So if you are a
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| 30 | Microsoft certified specialist, this book should meet your needs rather well.
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| 31 | If you are a UNIX or Linux administrator, there is no need to feel badly &smbmdash; you
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| 32 | should have no difficulty finding answers to your current concerns also.
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| 33 | </para>
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| 34 |
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| 35 | <sect1>
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| 36 | <title>What Is Samba?</title>
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| 37 |
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| 38 | <para>
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| 39 | Samba is a big, complex project. The Samba project is ambitious and exciting.
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| 40 | The team behind Samba is a group of some thirty individuals who are spread
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| 41 | the world over and come from an interesting range of backgrounds. This team
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| 42 | includes scientists, engineers, programmers, business people, and students.
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| 43 | </para>
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| 44 |
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| 45 | <para>
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| 46 | Team members were drawn into active participation through the desire to help
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| 47 | deliver an exciting level of transparent interoperability between Microsoft
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| 48 | Windows and the non-Microsoft information
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| 49 | technology world.
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| 50 | </para>
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| 51 |
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| 52 | <para>
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| 53 | The slogan that unites the efforts behind the Samba project says:
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| 54 | <emphasis>Samba, Opening Windows to a Wider World!</emphasis> The goal
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| 55 | behind the project is one of removing barriers to interoperability.
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| 56 | </para>
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| 57 |
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| 58 | <para>
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| 59 | Samba provides file and print services for Microsoft Windows clients. These
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| 60 | services may be hosted off any TCP/IP-enabled platform. The original deployment
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| 61 | platforms were UNIX and Linux, though today it is in common use across
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| 62 | a broad variety of systems.
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| 63 | </para>
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| 64 |
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| 65 | <para>
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| 66 | The Samba project includes not only an impressive feature set in file and print
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| 67 | serving capabilities, but has been extended to include client functionality,
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| 68 | utilities to ease migration to Samba, tools to aid interoperability with
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| 69 | Microsoft Windows, and administration tools.
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| 70 | </para>
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| 71 |
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| 72 | <para>
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| 73 | The real people behind Samba are users like you. You have inspired the
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| 74 | developers (the Samba Team) to do more than any of them imagined could or should
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| 75 | be done. User feedback drives Samba development. Samba-3 in particular incorporates
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| 76 | a huge amount of work done as a result of user requests, suggestions and direct
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| 77 | code contributions.
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| 78 | </para>
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| 79 |
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| 80 | </sect1>
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| 81 |
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| 82 | <sect1>
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| 83 | <title>Why This Book?</title>
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| 84 |
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| 85 | <para>
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| 86 | There is admittedly a large number of Samba books on the market today and
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| 87 | each book has its place. Despite the apparent plethora of books, Samba
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| 88 | as a project continues to receive much criticism for failing to provide
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| 89 | sufficient documentation. Samba is also criticized for being too complex
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| 90 | and too difficult to configure. In many ways this is evidence of the
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| 91 | success of Samba as there would be no complaints if it was not successful.
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| 92 | </para>
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| 93 |
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| 94 | <para>
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| 95 | The Samba Team members work predominantly with UNIX and Linux, so
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| 96 | it is hardly surprising that existing Samba documentation should reflect
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| 97 | that orientation. The original HOWTO text documents were intended to provide
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| 98 | some tips, a few golden nuggets, and if they helped anyone then that was
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| 99 | just wonderful. But the HOWTO documents lacked structure and context. They were
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| 100 | isolated snapshots of information that were written to pass information
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| 101 | on to someone else who might benefit. They reflected a need to transmit
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| 102 | more information that could be conveniently put into manual pages.
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| 103 | </para>
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| 104 |
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| 105 | <para>
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| 106 | The original HOWTO documents were written by different authors. Most HOWTO
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| 107 | documents are the result of feedback and contributions from numerous
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| 108 | authors. In this book we took care to preserve as much original content as
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| 109 | possible. As you read this book you will note that chapters were written by
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| 110 | multiple authors, each of whom has his own style. This demonstrates
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| 111 | the nature of the Open Source software development process.
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| 112 | </para>
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| 113 |
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| 114 | <para>
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| 115 | Out of the original HOWTO documents sprang a collection of unofficial
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| 116 | HOWTO documents that are spread over the Internet. It is sincerely intended
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| 117 | that this work will <emphasis>not</emphasis> replace the valuable unofficial
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| 118 | HOWTO work that continues to flourish. If you are involved in unofficial
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| 119 | HOWTO production then please continue your work!
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| 120 | </para>
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| 121 |
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| 122 | <para>
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| 123 | Those of you who have dedicated your labors to the production of unofficial
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| 124 | HOWTOs, to Web page information regarding Samba, or to answering questions
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| 125 | on the mailing lists or elsewhere, may be aware that this is a labor
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| 126 | of love. We would like to know about your contribution and willingly receive
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| 127 | the precious pearls of wisdom you have collected. Please email your contribution to
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| 128 | <ulink noescape="1" url="mailto:jht@samba.org">John H. Terpstra (jht@samba.org)</ulink>.
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| 129 | As a service to other users we will gladly adopt material that is technically accurate.
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| 130 | </para>
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| 131 |
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| 132 | <para>
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| 133 | Existing Samba books are largely addressed to the UNIX administrator.
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| 134 | From the perspective of this target group the existing books serve
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| 135 | an adequate purpose, with one exception &smbmdash; now that Samba-3 is out
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| 136 | they need to be updated!
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| 137 | </para>
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| 138 |
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| 139 | <para>
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| 140 | This book, the <emphasis>Official Samba-3 HOWTO and Reference Guide</emphasis>,
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| 141 | includes the Samba-HOWTO-Collection.pdf that ships with Samba.
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| 142 | These documents have been written with a new design intent and purpose.
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| 143 | </para>
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| 144 |
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| 145 | <para>
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| 146 | Over the past two years many Microsoft network administrators have adopted
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| 147 | Samba and have become interested in its deployment. Their information needs
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| 148 | are very different from that of the UNIX administrator. This book has been
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| 149 | arranged and the information presented from the perspective of someone with previous
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| 150 | Microsoft Windows network administrative training and experience.
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| 151 | </para>
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| 152 |
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| 153 | </sect1>
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| 154 |
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| 155 | <sect1>
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| 156 | <title>Book Structure and Layout</title>
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| 157 |
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| 158 | <para>
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| 159 | This book is presented in six parts:
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| 160 | </para>
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| 161 |
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| 162 | <variablelist>
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| 163 | <varlistentry><term>General Installation</term>
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| 164 | <listitem><para>
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| 165 | Designed to help you get Samba-3 running quickly.
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| 166 | The Fast Start chapter is a direct response to requests from
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| 167 | Microsoft network administrators for some sample configurations
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| 168 | that <emphasis>just work</emphasis>.
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| 169 | </para></listitem>
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| 170 | </varlistentry>
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| 171 |
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| 172 | <varlistentry><term>Server Configuration Basics</term>
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| 173 | <listitem><para>
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| 174 | The purpose of this section is to aid the transition from existing
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| 175 | Microsoft Windows network knowledge to Samba terminology and norms.
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| 176 | The chapters in this part each cover the installation of one type of
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| 177 | Samba server.
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| 178 | </para></listitem>
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| 179 | </varlistentry>
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| 180 |
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| 181 | <varlistentry><term>Advanced Configuration</term>
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| 182 | <listitem><para>
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| 183 | The mechanics of network browsing have long been the Achilles heel of
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| 184 | all Microsoft Windows users. Samba-3 introduces new user and machine
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| 185 | account management facilities, a new way to map UNIX groups and Windows
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| 186 | groups, Interdomain trusts, new loadable file system drivers (VFS), and
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| 187 | more. New with this document is expanded printing documentation, as well
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| 188 | as a wealth of information regarding desktop and user policy handling,
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| 189 | use of desktop profiles, and techniques for enhanced network integration.
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| 190 | This section makes up the core of the book. Read and enjoy.
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| 191 | </para></listitem>
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| 192 | </varlistentry>
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| 193 |
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| 194 | <varlistentry><term>Migration and Updating</term>
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| 195 | <listitem><para>
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| 196 | A much requested addition to the book is information on how to migrate
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| 197 | from Microsoft Windows NT4 to Samba-3, as well as an overview of what the
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| 198 | issues are when moving from Samba-2.x to Samba-3.
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| 199 | </para></listitem>
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| 200 | </varlistentry>
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| 201 |
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| 202 | <varlistentry><term>Troubleshooting</term>
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| 203 | <listitem><para>
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| 204 | This short section should help you when all else fails.
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| 205 | </para></listitem>
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| 206 | </varlistentry>
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| 207 |
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| 208 | <varlistentry><term>Reference Section</term>
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| 209 | <listitem><para>
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| 210 | Here you will find a collection of things that are either too peripheral
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| 211 | for most users, or are a little left of field to be included in the
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| 212 | main body of information.
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| 213 | </para></listitem>
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| 214 | </varlistentry>
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| 215 | </variablelist>
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| 216 |
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| 217 | <para>
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| 218 | Welcome to Samba-3 and the first published document to help you and your users to enjoy a whole
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| 219 | new world of interoperability between Microsoft Windows and the rest of the world.
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| 220 | </para>
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| 221 |
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| 222 | </sect1>
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| 223 |
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| 224 | </preface>
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