System information

26 Deploying Samba on IBM Eserver BladeCenter
2.1 What is Samba?
Samba is a suite of programs that work together to allow UNIX systems to access server file
systems and printers via the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. The two key programs
are smbd and nmbd. These two programs implement the four basic modern-day CIFS
servers:
򐂰 File and print services
򐂰 Authentication and authorization
򐂰 Name resolution
򐂰 Service announcement (browsing)
The smbd program, the SMB Daemon, handles file and print services and share mode and
user mode authentication and authorization. The name resolution and browsing parts are
handled by nmbd.
The other programs in the suite are utilities. The most commonly used of these are:
򐂰 smbclient
A simple FTP-like SMB client. It is used to access SMB shares on other compatible
servers and to allow a submission of print jobs to a printer attached to any SMB server.
򐂰 nmblookup
A NetBIOS name service client. It can be used to find NetBIOS names and look up the IP
address of systems.
򐂰 smbstatus
A tool for accessing information about the current connections to smbd.
򐂰 smbpasswd
A tool for changing LanMan and Windows NT passwords on Samba and Windows NT
servers.
򐂰 SWAT
The Samba Web Administration Tool allows the configuration of Samba using a Web
browser.
2.2 What can you do with Samba?
The Samba Linux server:
򐂰 Can act as a file/print server for Windows networks. It can replace an expensive Windows
NT file/print server in this role, creating a less expensive solution.
򐂰 Can act as a NetBIOS name server (NBNS) in a Windows world, where it is referred to as
WINS - Windows Internet Name Service.
򐂰 Can participate in NetBIOS browsing and master browser elections.
򐂰 Can provide a gateway for synchronizing UNIX and Windows NT passwords.