Why Is This Book Necessary?

This book is the result of observations and feedback. The feedback from the Samba-HOWTO-Collection has been positive and complimentary. There have been requests for far more worked examples, a "Samba Cookbook," and for training materials to help kickstart the process of mastering Samba.

The Samba mailing lists users have asked for sample configuration files that work. It is natural to question one's own ability to correctly configure a complex tool such as Samba until a minimum necessary knowledge level has been attained.

The Samba-HOWTO-Collection as does The Official Samba-3 HOWTO and Reference Guide documents Samba features and functionality in a topical context. This book takes a completely different approach. It walks through Samba network configurations that are working within particular environmental contexts, providing documented step-by-step implementations. All example case configuration files, scripts, and other tools are provided on the CD-ROM. This book is descriptive, provides detailed diagrams, and makes deployment of Samba-3 a breeze.