SAMBA Essentials for Windows Administrators

Rating:
Summary: Great For Windows Admins
Review: I am a Windows admin wanting to set up some easily managable Samba servers to complement the current setup. I find that this book doesn't baby me but explains how to get the tasks i know I want to do, done. However I am a little disappointed that the section on Winbind is a bit brief and left me a little confused.

Rating:
Summary: Best Samba book for beginners
Review: I was rather impressed by this book. I know Windows networking, but I want to learn Samba. It is definitely the future of networking. It does Windows networking without all the fees and licensing hassles, which will get even worse with XP. Anyway, I had started setting up a Samba server and had one of the other books on the market. It was a good one and not just one that lists all of the options without any further explanation. But even the best book I had found still assumed that I understood Unix. So I was having trouble. This book is really different. It makes everything understandable, not in a simple-minded "dummies" way, but in a technically proficient way so that you can understand what it means, no matter what your background. If you are going to buy a book on Samba, this is the one to start with. By the way, it doesn't say on the cover (or on Amazon for that matter), but the book covers Samba version 2.2.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Samba Book So Far
Review: Kudos to Gary Wilson!

This is by far the most concise and useful guide to setting up and managing a samba server that I have read so far.

The author's focus on using Webmin... as the practical way to remotely manage your samba server from any desktop pc with a web browser is excellent. Your linux /samba box becomes a transparent fileserving appliance. It looks just like another windows server, yet is much more flexibly managed thru the webmin utility.

Excellent tips on tuning samba shares for a particular use: like shared MS Access databases, and shares only accessible by a distinct group of users.

His chapter on optimization will satisfy your "geek" urge to tweak the last bit of performance from your linux / samba box.

Tips on compiling and installing the latest samba release were very useful and -- more importantly -- they worked!

Overall -- an organized, well-researched, highly readable book... buy it!

Rating:
Summary: Good for IT Tech who like to use the Web Admin Approach
Review: Only a 3. This book has some interesting topics about it, most has to do with Administering a Samba Server from the Web. Not from a Prompt. I was looking for more of a "Tricks of the Trade" kind of book. But this one does have some good points to it about web administering. But, what happens when the web is broke?
You are going to SSH into the box and fix it from a prompt not from a Web Page. Otherwise this book IS GOOD but not GREAT!

Rating:
Summary: Good for IT Tech who like to use the Web Admin Approach
Review: Only a 3. This book has some interesting topics about it, most has to do with Administering a Samba Server from the Web. Not from a Prompt. I was looking for more of a "Tricks of the Trade" kind of book. But this one does have some good points to it about web administering. But, what happens when the web is broke?
You are going to SSH into the box and fix it from a prompt not from a Web Page. Otherwise this book IS GOOD but not GREAT!

Rating:
Summary: Samba for Windows/Web Administration people
Review: This book is relatively well written and well thought out.
IT contains usefull samba information. Here is what I didn't like.
I felt like half the book is dedicated to setting up interfaces to configure and maintain samba, ie SWAT and Webmin. WASTE OF TIME!!!! There are plenty of more in depth issues that I felt this book didn't cover in greater depth. I was recently in a situation where I had to integrade a Windows 98, Windows 2000,NT 4.0 and AS/400 clients with a SCO Unix Server. There were many authentication issues related to Windows 2000 that the book didn't cover. If you are a windows admin and you like flashy interfaces and you are just looking to set up simple file sharing between Unix and smb clients. Then get this book. It will help you do that. However, I don't think the text delves deeply enough into the integration challenges that Unix/NT admins face everyday. Overall a good book. But too much focus on web tools and not enough on scenario planning and architecture. Another problem with this focus is alot of people understand the classic unix approach.
The /etc/smb.conf file is very straight forward and self referencing. I find it much easier to deal with that file and not have to worry about all sorts of flashy stuff that take the focus away from the task at hand.
Making windows clients happy.

Rating:
Summary: Samba Essentials for Windows Administrators
Review: Very Very Good Book!! Beyond Excellent!! Beyond 500 stars!! I am very new to Linux and this book made it a breeze to get Samba running. Very refreshing to see such a useful reference tool available for the Linux community.