| 1 | <html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><title>Introduction</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../samba.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.75.2"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Official Samba 3.5.x HOWTO and Reference Guide"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The Official Samba 3.5.x HOWTO and Reference Guide"><link rel="prev" href="TOSHpreface.html" title="Preface"><link rel="next" href="introduction.html" title="Part I. General Installation"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Introduction</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="TOSHpreface.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center"> </th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="introduction.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="preface" title="Introduction"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a name="IntroSMB"></a>Introduction</h2></div><div><div class="author"><h3 class="author"><span class="firstname">John</span> <span class="othername">H.</span> <span class="surname">Terpstra</span></h3><div class="affiliation"><span class="orgname">Samba Team<br></span><div class="address"><p><code class="email"><<a class="email" href="mailto:jht@samba.org">jht@samba.org</a>></code></p></div></div></div></div><div><p class="pubdate">June 29, 2003</p></div></div></div><div class="toc"><p><b>Table of Contents</b></p><dl><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="IntroSMB.html#id323832">What Is Samba?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="IntroSMB.html#id280609">Why This Book?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="IntroSMB.html#id324017">Book Structure and Layout</a></span></dt></dl></div><p><span class="quote">“<span class="quote">
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| 2 | A man's gift makes room for him before great men. Gifts are like hooks that can catch
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| 3 | hold of the mind taking it beyond the reach of forces that otherwise might constrain it.
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| 4 | </span>”</span> --- Anon.
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| 5 | </p><p>
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| 6 | This is a book about Samba. It is a tool, a derived work of the labors
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| 7 | of many and of the diligence and goodwill of more than a few.
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| 8 | This book contains material that has been contributed in a persistent belief
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| 9 | that each of us can add value to our neighbors as well as to those who will
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| 10 | follow us.
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| 11 | </p><p>
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| 12 | This book is designed to meet the needs of the Microsoft network administrator.
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| 13 | UNIX administrators will benefit from this book also, though they may complain
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| 14 | that it is hard to find the information they think they need. So if you are a
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| 15 | Microsoft certified specialist, this book should meet your needs rather well.
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| 16 | If you are a UNIX or Linux administrator, there is no need to feel badly you
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| 17 | should have no difficulty finding answers to your current concerns also.
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| 18 | </p><div class="sect1" title="What Is Samba?"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="id323832"></a>What Is Samba?</h2></div></div></div><p>
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| 19 | Samba is a big, complex project. The Samba project is ambitious and exciting.
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| 20 | The team behind Samba is a group of some thirty individuals who are spread
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| 21 | the world over and come from an interesting range of backgrounds. This team
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| 22 | includes scientists, engineers, programmers, business people, and students.
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| 23 | </p><p>
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| 24 | Team members were drawn into active participation through the desire to help
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| 25 | deliver an exciting level of transparent interoperability between Microsoft
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| 26 | Windows and the non-Microsoft information
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| 27 | technology world.
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| 28 | </p><p>
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| 29 | The slogan that unites the efforts behind the Samba project says:
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| 30 | <span class="emphasis"><em>Samba, Opening Windows to a Wider World!</em></span> The goal
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| 31 | behind the project is one of removing barriers to interoperability.
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| 32 | </p><p>
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| 33 | Samba provides file and print services for Microsoft Windows clients. These
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| 34 | services may be hosted off any TCP/IP-enabled platform. The original deployment
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| 35 | platforms were UNIX and Linux, though today it is in common use across
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| 36 | a broad variety of systems.
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| 37 | </p><p>
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| 38 | The Samba project includes not only an impressive feature set in file and print
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| 39 | serving capabilities, but has been extended to include client functionality,
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| 40 | utilities to ease migration to Samba, tools to aid interoperability with
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| 41 | Microsoft Windows, and administration tools.
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| 42 | </p><p>
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| 43 | The real people behind Samba are users like you. You have inspired the
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| 44 | developers (the Samba Team) to do more than any of them imagined could or should
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| 45 | be done. User feedback drives Samba development. Samba-3 in particular incorporates
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| 46 | a huge amount of work done as a result of user requests, suggestions and direct
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| 47 | code contributions.
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| 48 | </p></div><div class="sect1" title="Why This Book?"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="id280609"></a>Why This Book?</h2></div></div></div><p>
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| 49 | There is admittedly a large number of Samba books on the market today and
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| 50 | each book has its place. Despite the apparent plethora of books, Samba
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| 51 | as a project continues to receive much criticism for failing to provide
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| 52 | sufficient documentation. Samba is also criticized for being too complex
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| 53 | and too difficult to configure. In many ways this is evidence of the
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| 54 | success of Samba as there would be no complaints if it was not successful.
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| 55 | </p><p>
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| 56 | The Samba Team members work predominantly with UNIX and Linux, so
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| 57 | it is hardly surprising that existing Samba documentation should reflect
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| 58 | that orientation. The original HOWTO text documents were intended to provide
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| 59 | some tips, a few golden nuggets, and if they helped anyone then that was
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| 60 | just wonderful. But the HOWTO documents lacked structure and context. They were
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| 61 | isolated snapshots of information that were written to pass information
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| 62 | on to someone else who might benefit. They reflected a need to transmit
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| 63 | more information that could be conveniently put into manual pages.
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| 64 | </p><p>
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| 65 | The original HOWTO documents were written by different authors. Most HOWTO
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| 66 | documents are the result of feedback and contributions from numerous
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| 67 | authors. In this book we took care to preserve as much original content as
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| 68 | possible. As you read this book you will note that chapters were written by
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| 69 | multiple authors, each of whom has his own style. This demonstrates
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| 70 | the nature of the Open Source software development process.
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| 71 | </p><p>
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| 72 | Out of the original HOWTO documents sprang a collection of unofficial
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| 73 | HOWTO documents that are spread over the Internet. It is sincerely intended
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| 74 | that this work will <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> replace the valuable unofficial
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| 75 | HOWTO work that continues to flourish. If you are involved in unofficial
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| 76 | HOWTO production then please continue your work!
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| 77 | </p><p>
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| 78 | Those of you who have dedicated your labors to the production of unofficial
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| 79 | HOWTOs, to Web page information regarding Samba, or to answering questions
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| 80 | on the mailing lists or elsewhere, may be aware that this is a labor
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| 81 | of love. We would like to know about your contribution and willingly receive
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| 82 | the precious pearls of wisdom you have collected. Please email your contribution to
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| 83 | <a class="ulink" href="mailto:jht@samba.org" target="_top">John H. Terpstra (jht@samba.org)</a>.
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| 84 | As a service to other users we will gladly adopt material that is technically accurate.
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| 85 | </p><p>
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| 86 | Existing Samba books are largely addressed to the UNIX administrator.
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| 87 | From the perspective of this target group the existing books serve
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| 88 | an adequate purpose, with one exception now that Samba-3 is out
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| 89 | they need to be updated!
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| 90 | </p><p>
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| 91 | This book, the <span class="emphasis"><em>Official Samba-3 HOWTO and Reference Guide</em></span>,
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| 92 | includes the Samba-HOWTO-Collection.pdf that ships with Samba.
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| 93 | These documents have been written with a new design intent and purpose.
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| 94 | </p><p>
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| 95 | Over the past two years many Microsoft network administrators have adopted
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| 96 | Samba and have become interested in its deployment. Their information needs
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| 97 | are very different from that of the UNIX administrator. This book has been
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| 98 | arranged and the information presented from the perspective of someone with previous
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| 99 | Microsoft Windows network administrative training and experience.
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| 100 | </p></div><div class="sect1" title="Book Structure and Layout"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="id324017"></a>Book Structure and Layout</h2></div></div></div><p>
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| 101 | This book is presented in six parts:
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| 102 | </p><div class="variablelist"><dl><dt><span class="term">General Installation</span></dt><dd><p>
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| 103 | Designed to help you get Samba-3 running quickly.
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| 104 | The Fast Start chapter is a direct response to requests from
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| 105 | Microsoft network administrators for some sample configurations
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| 106 | that <span class="emphasis"><em>just work</em></span>.
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| 107 | </p></dd><dt><span class="term">Server Configuration Basics</span></dt><dd><p>
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| 108 | The purpose of this section is to aid the transition from existing
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| 109 | Microsoft Windows network knowledge to Samba terminology and norms.
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| 110 | The chapters in this part each cover the installation of one type of
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| 111 | Samba server.
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| 112 | </p></dd><dt><span class="term">Advanced Configuration</span></dt><dd><p>
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| 113 | The mechanics of network browsing have long been the Achilles heel of
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| 114 | all Microsoft Windows users. Samba-3 introduces new user and machine
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| 115 | account management facilities, a new way to map UNIX groups and Windows
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| 116 | groups, Interdomain trusts, new loadable file system drivers (VFS), and
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| 117 | more. New with this document is expanded printing documentation, as well
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| 118 | as a wealth of information regarding desktop and user policy handling,
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| 119 | use of desktop profiles, and techniques for enhanced network integration.
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| 120 | This section makes up the core of the book. Read and enjoy.
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| 121 | </p></dd><dt><span class="term">Migration and Updating</span></dt><dd><p>
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| 122 | A much requested addition to the book is information on how to migrate
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| 123 | from Microsoft Windows NT4 to Samba-3, as well as an overview of what the
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| 124 | issues are when moving from Samba-2.x to Samba-3.
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| 125 | </p></dd><dt><span class="term">Troubleshooting</span></dt><dd><p>
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| 126 | This short section should help you when all else fails.
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| 127 | </p></dd><dt><span class="term">Reference Section</span></dt><dd><p>
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| 128 | Here you will find a collection of things that are either too peripheral
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| 129 | for most users, or are a little left of field to be included in the
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| 130 | main body of information.
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| 131 | </p></dd></dl></div><p>
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| 132 | Welcome to Samba-3 and the first published document to help you and your users to enjoy a whole
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| 133 | new world of interoperability between Microsoft Windows and the rest of the world.
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| 134 | </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="TOSHpreface.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"> </td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="introduction.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Preface </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Part I. General Installation</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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