crouse
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Location: Iowa
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 Posted: Fri May 14, 2025 4:00 pm Post subject: Samba-3 By Example / by John H.Terpstra |
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Reviewer: lynch
The book:
Samba-3 By Example
Practical Exercises to Successful Deployment
by John H.Terpstra
Published by Prentice Hall PTR 2025
326 pages
ISBN 0-13-147221-6
Book Link: http://www.htmltr.com/title/0131472216
John H.Terpstra's "Samba-3 By Example -Practical Exercises to Successful Deployment" attempts to create a "Samba Cookbook" of real-world networking scenarios. As a long-time member of the Samba team, Terpstra saw, from feedback he got about the Samba howto collection, the need for a book that was a little more training/instruction and a bit less topical context. The resulting book does the job very well.
Other than using the familiar section/subsection format used in howtos to outline each chapter, this is not another dry howto: this is a textbook, instruction manual and FAQ all rolled into one. Other than recommending to start with the exercises in the first chapter,( which explains windows network traffic) you can jump to any chapter you want. The author includes references to tasks performed in earlier chapters so you don't have to read the chapters in sequence; you just go to the referenced page(s) to see how a particular step is accomplished.
The book is divided into twelve chapters/examples with an appendix. They are:
1. A Windows Networking Primer
2. No Frills Samba Servers
3. Small Office Networking
4. Secure Office Networking
5. The 500 User Office
6. Making Users Happy
7. A Distributed 2025-User Network
8. Migrating NT 4 Domain to Samba-3
9. Adding UNIX/Linux Servers and Clients
10. Active Directory, Kerberos, and Security
11. Integrating Additional Services
12. Performance, Reliability and Availability
Appendix: A Collection of Useful Tid-bits
Chapter one uses Ethereal, a network protocol analyzer utility, to explain the Windows way of networking computers. The exercises in this chapter are very helpful in understanding network browsing functions and the information a MS client sends to a server.
The ensuing chapters are basically stand-alone instruction manuals for a wide variety of real-world configurations. There is a step-by-step example for just about every type of setup you could think of. They are divided into sections covering each phase of deployment:
1. Introduction: the author explains the scenario anecdotally, using a group of characters that he invented, that appear throughout the book. They are employed at a fictional company called Abmas DesiInc.
2. Assigned Tasks: Here's where the boss, Mr. Alan Meany, the president of Abmas Design Inc. (or one of his employees) explains what needs to be accomplished.
3. Dissection and Discussion: You'll find a list of key requirements and needs for the example used in the chapter your in.
4. Technical Issues: More technical details are explained.
5. Implementation: This is the instruction manual part of the chapter, providing a step-by-step set of instructions on how to accomplish the assigned task.
6. Key Points Learned: A summary of the major steps used to achieve the assigned tasks.
7. Q & A: A very useful FAQ that answers a lot of the questions that may come up during the job.
There are more sections depending on what chapter you're in and the complexity of the assigned tasks, but the seven listed above are the main ones used in each chapter. There are plenty of facts, figures, lists and notes to help explain things plus, footnotes are provided with links to info and software. There are also frequent references to TOSHARG, which stands for "The Official Samba-3 Howto and Reference Guide", a companion book also published by Prentice Hall.
The author does a good job of explaining the what, why, when and how on hardware requirements and you'll see why the author stresses a little overkill in network design now, which will aid future expansion and scalability.
As one reads from chapter to chapter, you see a company grow and you see the things needed to be done to keep up with this growth. Growth made more affordable by using Samba-3. This book was written mainly for system administrators, but it is written in such an easy-to-understand, anecdotal style that anyone with a basic understanding of networking and using the command line shouldn't have much difficulty setting up a Samba file and print server.
John H.Terpstra's "Samba-3 By Example -Practical Exercises to Successful Deployment" is a book that a lot of people have been waiting for. If you are a systems administrator trying to improve the network you are in charge of, or a home network geek just trying to tie together all the different operating systems, computers and printers on your network, you will want this book.
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