Samba 4 Preview
Finally Samba has released a preview of the next generation of their software. It has many interesting stuff starting from Active Directory-like working environment with its own small LDAP and Kerberos server included. Integrated SWAT (web-based administration interface to Samba) and many more. Even a one-click migration from Windows 2003 AD-based PDC to samba with all the machines/users and other stuff.
I am waiting for the stable release a lot, since I really like this topic and spend a lot of time around it. So far I have a couple of places where Samba (3) is acting as PDC for Win XP clients and I am happy, but there are some limitations and uncomfortabilities which I hope will be solved in the 4th branch of Samba.
On their site I found manual how to set up network with windows clients. According to manual WINS and NetBIOS are used. So, is it true? And if it is true – why? Can you clarify this, please?
Samba is really capable of working as Wins and NetBIOS server. It supports it for a long time already and is described in the official Samba Howto which you can find in the documentation section of their site.
In addition to Win server, Samba can work as a wins-proxy server.
There are many ways one can set up these things to work and most of them are described either in the Howto or in the maillists and forums. If you need something particular which you can not do – I can help you there.
Actually I was interesting why it use wins and NetBIOS?
Why not? Read more on Samba and what it is doing. It is a Windows File/Print server, Domain Controller and whatever else so that windows clients can work centralized. Wins and NetBIOS can help to serve the purpose as well.
>Why not?
NetBIOS
1.Old
2.Unsecured
3.Limited
Not recommended to use, unless there is serious reason
Wins
1.Old
2.Limite
3.Not required
Not recommended to use
Serious reason to use in Samba?
I told you that samba is not only for Wins or NetBIOS. It is if you want to have an NT Domain or Directory Server with file/print server, central authorization and user management, network profiles and other stuff which seems to be cool in the Windows network, but you are not in the mood to pay so much money for windows server and related software or you have all your servers on Linux (or other non MS OS) and you prefer to keep this for many reasons.
This just gives you an alternative to MS Windows DC and AD. As from my side – I prefer working with Samba on Linux instead of Windows because I get the next benefits:
1. TCO
2. Ease of administration in all the ways (migration, update, general tasks)
3. It fits better in my environment since I am running other servers on Linux
4. I get more control over it even when working remotly.
5. Samba does everything I need (although it does not do some Windows features, whatever it does is more than enough for most of my purposes)
“It is if you want to have an NT Domain or Directory Server with file/print server…”
So, in case if I would like to use Samba with Windows clients I need to have WINS and NetBIOS.
This is what I just wanted to know.
Sashka, I think you are too nervous. I just asked simple question and You gave whole lecture! May be it is because you work too much. What about couple of beer pints? Today or tomorrow? We can drink because of
1. Too much work
2. Start of new semester
3. Start of end of winter
4. For new subjects
In regards to Samba: if you want to use Samba you CAN (but not obliged to) use Wins and NetBIOS. It is all metter of choice – if you want – you do, otherwize you are free to comment it out from the config file and use whatever else you want
Regarding me: I am not nurvous, it is just you who is interested in the subject and do not want to go and RTFM. And I am not giving a lecture, instead I am trying to tell you that in most of the cases there is no mandatory things, they are optional (it is always good to give the alternative). In addition I tried to answer the question why one can use Samba instead of or in addition to Windows server of this kind.
Regarding beer: we will have some sometime ;)
I am Microsoft security person – I do nothing until carefully read the manual. I was interested in scenario where Samba acts as some kind of domain controller for windows clients. But in each single scenario they talk about NetBIOS and WINS. Not good idea but in some cases NetBIOS, so WINS, required – clusters as I remember or for Exchange server in some configurations. So, I was interested in what reason for Samba to use NetBIOS when there is windows client.
Here the page from manual
>WINS stores information that cannot be stored in DNS; >consequently, DNS is a poor substitute for WINS given >that when NetBIOS over TCP/IP is used, Windows clients >are designed to use WINS.”
You may think it is because of windows client was designed in such way. But let’s go further
>”Use of raw SMB over TCP/IP (No NetBIOS layer) can be >done only with Active Directory domains. Samba is not an >Active Directory domain controller: ergo, it is not >possible to run Samba as a domain controller and at the >same time not use NetBIOS.”
Here we have Samba designed in such way that it can not work without NetBIOS for windows clients. But wait read next thing
>”It is possible to operate Samba-3 without NetBIOS over >TCP/IP. If you do this, be warned that if used outside of >MS ADS, this will forgo network browsing support.”
Here we see that Samba can work without NetBIOS. But
>”Use of WINS (either Samba WINS or MS Windows NT Server >WINS) is highly recommended.”
So, you can choose anything you want – windows clients need to use NetBIOS or Samba need to use NetBIOS or they both do not need to use NetBIOS, but it is highly recommended for unknown reason.
All what I am saying that if you read the manual – using NetBIOS and WINS is not an option but requirements where reason for it is unknown!
Where did I ask about reasons to use Samba?
“Regarding beer: we will have some sometime”
If I will die waiting for you that will be your fault!
Highly recomended does not mean required!
What about this?
>it is not possible to run Samba as a domain controller >and at the same time not use NetBIOS
Netbios/WINS is effectively necessary.
You can get around WINS and use DNS instead ONLY if you can guarantee that all your hosts fully qualified domain names (FQDN’s) will be 15 characters or less, which is virtually impossible. In other words, all your machines must have short names like baz1.foobar.com, and you must always refer to these hosts by FQDN when you want to visit a windows file share, eg. “\baz1.foobar.com\some_share”. If you can pull this off, then you can use Samba’s DNS proxy feature to replace WINS.
From this O’reilly guide on Samba Network Browsing:
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/excerpt/samba_chap7/
Now it is a simple matter of using the DNS proxy option to tell Samba to use the DNS server:
[global]
DNS proxy = yes
TIP: Although this allows Windows clients to resolve fully qualified Internet domain names through the Samba WINS server, it will work only for domain names that fit within the 15-character limitation of NetBIOS names. For this reason, we recommend you use DNS proxy only to act as a supplement to your WINS server, rather than as a replacement for a DNS server.
From this Redhat Samba Network Browsing:
All servers (including Samba) should connect to a WINS server to resolve NetBIOS names. Without WINS, browsing only occurs on the local subnet. Furthermore, even if a domain-wide list is somehow obtained, hosts are not resolvable for the client without WINS.
Oops, here is the link to that Redhat Guide on Samba Network Browsing:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/ref-guide/s1-samba-network-browsing.html