Editing Server Message Block (section)

=== Samba ===
{{Main article|Samba (software)}}
{{Update section|date=April 2016}}

In 1991, [[Andrew Tridgell]] started the development of Samba, a [[free-software]] re-implementation (using [[reverse engineering]]) of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol for [[Unix-like]] systems,  initially to implement an SMB server to allow PC clients running the [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[Pathworks]] client to access files on [[SunOS]] machines.<ref name='tridgemyths' /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rxn.com/services/faq/smb/samba.history.txt|title=A bit of history and a bit of fun|author=Tridgell, Andrew|author-link=Andrew Tridgell|date=June 27, 1997|access-date=July 26, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717071846/http://www.rxn.com/services/faq/smb/samba.history.txt|archive-date=July 17, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Because of the importance of the SMB protocol in interacting with the widespread [[Microsoft Windows]] platform, Samba became a popular [[free software]] implementation of a compatible SMB client and server to allow non-Windows operating systems, such as [[Unix-like]] operating systems, to interoperate with Windows.

As of version 3 (2003), Samba provides file and print services for Microsoft Windows clients and can integrate with a [[Windows NT 4.0]] server domain, either as a [[Primary Domain Controller]] (PDC) or as a domain member. Samba4 installations can act as an [[Active Directory]] domain controller or member server, at Windows 2008 domain and [[Active Directory|forest]] functional levels.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://samba.2283325.n4.nabble.com/Samba-4-functional-levels-td3322760.html |title=Samba 4 functional levels <!--copy of Google Goups(?), not |publisher=Samba.2283325.n4.nabble.com --> |date=February 25, 2011 |access-date=January 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729014411/http://samba.2283325.n4.nabble.com/Samba-4-functional-levels-td3322760.html |archive-date=July 29, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Package managers in Linux distributions can search for the ''cifs-utils'' package.  The package is from the Samba maintainers.