November 16, 2009, 4:08 PM — Getting a little tired of one Windows SMB (Server Message Block) security problem after another? Want a reliable and fast file and print server without the Windows server headaches? Then, may I strongly recommend that you give Samba on Linux a try? Samba is an open-source program that had provided file and print services to SMB/CIFS (Common Internet File System) clients for more than a decade. This is the same core functionality that Windows Server had provided since NT roamed the Earth. Thus, Samba can provide file and printer services for any version of Windows. Samba runs on essentially all Linux/Unix servers. Indeed, it's a rare Linux distribution that doesn't include the Samba server as a ready-to-run option.
Why Samba
Why would you bother? There are several good reasons to move to Samba. The first is cost. Not only is Samba free, it can run on hardware that Windows Server 2008 R2 would roll over and die on. In addition, there are no CAL (client access license) fees.
Samba is also fast. When I first tested Samba in 1999, it was already delivering files faster than NT. It's only gotten better since then. In informal tests at my office, I've found Samba 3.4.3, the latest version to be as fast as Server 2008 R2 on the same servers at delivering files.
Samba, AD, and Domains
You don't have to make an either/or decision if you want to try Samba on your network. Samba can work with AD (Active Directory) servers. If you're still using the older-style Windows Domain system for your network, Samba can be used with Domains or even dropped in a replacement for a Windows PDCs (Primary Domain Controllers).
At this time, you still can't run Samba as a standalone AD domain controller. That won't happen until Samba 4.0 appears, hopefully sometime in 2010. Since Samba now has legal access to Windows networking protocols, that's only a matter of time. Samba will also be delivering support for Microsoft's SMB2. In theory, SMB2, available on Vista and later versions of Windows, delivers better network performance, but it's been troubled with security problems.
In the meantime, you can join Samba servers to an AD tree as a member server in Windows 2000 native-mode. This is a backwards compatible mode, which enables you to run run Samba 3.x, W2K (Windows 2000) server, Server 2003, and Server 2008 on the same LAN. For authentication purposes, your AD server must support LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) and Kerberos.
Once you have Kerberos working, either MIT or Heimdal Kerberos on the Linux side, you must manually enter the Samba 3 Server information into AD. For full details on how to do that, check out Join Samba 3 to Your Active Directory Domain. With that done, your Samba's file shares and printers should then appear in the AD management consoles and to Windows clients.
Solo Samba
Of course, you don't have to go to all that trouble. Whether you're running a SOHO (small office/home office) or a Fortune 50 company, you can just use Samba for all your file and print needs. For your basic Samba setup, simply install Samba on your Linux server. Once in place, turn it on, make sure your firewall doesn't get in the way of the SMB/CIFS protocols, and you're ready to start setting it up.
Most server-oriented Linux distributions, like Novell's openSUSE and SUSE Linux Server and Red Hat's Fedora and RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), come with GUIs (graphical user interfaces) to help you set Samba up. Use them. They'll make your life much easier.
