Exploring Samba's new registry-based configuration

Conclusion

With Samba 3.2 and newer, the administrator can choose between traditional text-based configuration and the new registry configuration that brings many new features and opens up many new options. Even though the configuration is stored in a database, net conf lets you manage the configuration easily. This feature is extremely convenient in clustered environments with CTDB. The new configuration system also allows for remote configuration of Samba servers.

With additional work, it will be possible to create dedicated Samba configuration tools for Windows that use the remote registry interface. Then a Windows admin could configure samba servers without learning too much about the underlying Unix systems. At that stage, you might wonder whether you have reached too much interoperability.

Infos

  1. Samba project: http://www.samba.org/
  2. Samba team: http://www.samba.org/samba/team/
  3. TDB: http://tdb.samba.org/
  4. CTDB project: http://ctdb.samba.org
  5. "Samba's New Registry Based Configuration" by Michael Adam http://www.samba.org/~obnox/presentations/linux-kongress-2008/lk2008-obnox.pdf

The Author

Michael Adam is a member of the international Samba developer team [2] and also the maintainer of the Samba software branches with cluster extensions. He works as a software developer and consultant for SerNet GmbH in Göttingen, Germany. He spends his leisure time with his wonderful wife and kids.

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