Using Samba, 2nd Edition

This book is very useful both as a reference book and a conceptual book
for those that are interested in how Samba works, as well as how the SMB
protocol works. At this point, the 2nd Edition is a little outdated, but
it still covers everything except the more complex Windows 2k (and
higher) topics such as Active Directory.

Being the type of person that needs to know how a component works
before being comfortable with using it's actual workings, I found the
conceptual part of the book the most helpful overall. It explained the
evolution of SMB, its various versions, and exactly how compatible Samba
is. There are SMB packet diagrams, discussions on the specific mechanics
of domain master negotiation and various other intricate aspects of the
protocol, and various other fairly involved topics which get covered in
enough depth to have an understanding of what a SMB server does and
when. Having the conceptual knowledge behind the function of an SMB
server is greatly supplimental to the actual implimentation of Samba,
and this book definately helps in that area.

Once the concepts are discussed, the book gets into specific
configuration implimentations, as well as touching up on any
'conceptual' aspects of the specific configuration. There are example
configurations for anything a home user would have interest in, as well
as more advanced topics such as setting up a PDC with roaming profiles,
slave servers, and gateways.

The book concludes with a complete reference of every configuration
option available to Samba, which tells you in which part of the smb.conf
the option should be used, and to what capacity. While every given
scenario isn't covered in the book itself, the appendix/reference part
is more than easily discernable by the time a person gets to the end and
is ready to start implimenting.

The only thing that I found somewhat irritating about Using Samba
is that it didn't talk much about initial system-side permissions when
setting up roaming profiles. While not necessarily part of Samba, it is
a critical step in getting functional roaming profiles, and it was a
step that wasn't quite clear to me, despite having a fairly firm grasp
on Unix filesystem permission schemes. Other than that, the book is
quite complete, well written, and even fairly enjoyable to read - unlike
many technical books out their. Good job, O'Reilly.

Review by Ben Hodgens