Over the last few years, the Samba project has undergone a major transformation. From a small project used only by people who dream in machine code, Samba has grown to be an integral part of the IT infrastructure of many businesses. Along with the growth in the popularity of Samba there has been a corresponding growth in the ways that it can be used, and a similar growth in the number of configuration options and the interactions between them.

To address this increasing complexity a wealth of documentation has been written on Samba, including numerous HOWTOs, diagnostic tips, manual pages, and explanations of important pieces of technology that Samba relies on. While it has been gratifying to see so much documentation being written, the sheer volume of different types of documentation has proved difficult to navigate, thus reducing its value to system administrators trying to cope with the complexity.

This book gathers together that wealth of information into a much more accessible form, to allow system administrators to quickly find what they need. The breadth of technical information provided ensures that even the most demanding administrators will find something helpful.

I am delighted that the Samba documentation has now developed to the extent that it can be presented usefully as a book, and I am grateful for the efforts of the many people who have contributed so much toward this result. Enjoy!