This chapter provides information regarding the types of server that Samba may be configured to be. A Microsoft network administrator who wishes to migrate to or use Samba will want to know the meaning, within a Samba context, of terms familiar to the MS Windows administrator. This means that it is essential also to define how critical security modes function before we get into the details of how to configure the server itself.

This chapter provides an overview of the security modes of which Samba is capable and how they relate to MS Windows servers and clients.

A question often asked is, “Why would I want to use Samba?” Most chapters contain a section that highlights features and benefits. We hope that the information provided will help to answer this question. Be warned though, we want to be fair and reasonable, so not all features are positive toward Samba. The benefit may be on the side of our competition.