When we first asked for suggestions for inclusion in the Samba HOWTO documentation, someone wrote asking for example configurations and lots of them. That is remarkably difficult to do without losing a lot of value that can be derived from presenting many extracts from working systems. That is what the rest of this document does. It does so with extensive descriptions of the configuration possibilities within the context of the chapter that covers it. We hope that this chapter is the medicine that has been requested.

The information in this chapter is very sparse compared with the book “Samba-3 by Example” that was written after the original version of this book was nearly complete. “Samba-3 by Example” was the result of feedback from reviewers during the final copy editing of the first edition. It was interesting to see that reader feedback mirrored that given by the original reviewers. In any case, a month and a half was spent in doing basic research to better understand what new as well as experienced network administrators would best benefit from. The book “Samba-3 by Example” is the result of that research. What is presented in the few pages of this book is covered far more comprehensively in the second edition of “Samba-3 by Example”. The second edition of both books will be released at the same time.

So in summary, the book “The Official Samba-3 HOWTO & Reference Guide” is intended as the equivalent of an auto mechanic's repair guide. The book “Samba-3 by Example” is the equivalent of the driver's guide that explains how to drive the car. If you want complete network configuration examples, go to Samba-3 by Example.