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1. The Official Samba-3 HOWTO and Reference Guide

1.1 5/5 Must Have

John H. Terpstra, Jelmer R. Vernooij
2006, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-188222-8
$54.99 USD

1.2  Overview

This is an updated version of the original book. So it's probably not much improved. WRONG! This book is well worth the price, whether buying for the first time or merely upgrading to the 2nd Edition. John Terpstra (et.al.) has a way of explaining things is a very clear and straightforward manner. However the true strengths of this book are not limited to a comprehensive discussion of Samba-3.

This book has just about everything in it. And this is NOT the Samba by Example book! This book tips all the scales at 873 pages. Even though that may sound too large for a book, this book is not full of fluff. Each page presents something new and/or relevant.

1.3  Credit Where Due

Andrew Tridgell, Jelmer Vernooij, John Terpstra (hi John), Karl Auer (hi Karl), Dan Shearer, Gerald Carter, David Bannon Guenther Deschner, Volker Lendecke, Jeremy Allison, Olivier Lemaire, Jean Francois Micouleau, Eric Roseme, Rafal Szczesniak, Stephen Langasek, Shirish Kalele, Kurt Pfeifle, Ciprian Vizitiu, Tim Potter, Simo Sorce, Alexander Bokovoy, Stefan Metzmacher, Ed Riddle, Naag Mummaneni, John Trostel, TAKAHASHI Montonobu, Jim McDonough, Paul Cochrane... all of these are given credit for the compilation of the content of this book.

We should thank John and Jelmer for their awesome editing and organization though.

1.4  Getting Started Fast

The book starts out fairly quickly with a section for the "impatient". This is good because it's not some dumbed down intro, but rather a pretty quick overview of several different scenarios. It's like a miniaturized "Samba by Example." Obviously, if this is all you got the book for, you'll be missing out on a lot... a whole lot! But still, it's nice that a book of this size doesn't leave out the "impatient."

1.5  Server Basics

The book does an excellent job covering the elements of Widows networking. Includes invaluable information about how Windows machines discover each other (NetBIOS, browse masters), Primary Domains Controllers (PDC) and Backup Domain Controllers (BDC). While Samba may seem to be a very old project (with respect to other open source projects), Samba can only serve as a NT4-like PDC. Notice I said "NT4-like". The truth is that Samba runs a limited subset of the commands needed... specifically, the book points out that full SAM replication isn't handled yet. Therefore a Samba BDC ideally is a BDC of a Samba PDC and not a true Windows NT4 PDC.

1.6  Advanced Configuration

Most of the meat of the book is in the section. It covers everything from understanding more about how Windows network protocols work to password database backends to security considerations. The level of detail in the section is fantastic. Just as an example, you'll learn more about the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) than you will from their web site and all the books written on CUPS combined! Yes, it's that good. Want to learn about Pluggable Authentication Modules? Grab your Official Samba-3 HOWTO and Reference Guide! This book truly tries to leave no stone unturned. Learn about DNS, nsswitch.conf, Unicode, high availability configurations, Windows login and profile management. It's all in there. WOW! Even so, occasionally the book will refer you to another source of information... but I tell you, it does pretty well standing on its own.

All you have to remember is, "It's in the Samba book!"

1.7  Conclusion

Front to back, this book is jam packed with excellent information and examples. One of the best reference books ever written. Destined to be a classic. This one keeps getting better with every revision.

My only complaint.... it's HUGE! Not sure what will happen in the next revision. Might have to figure out a way to break this up into volumes.

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