-What's new in Samba4 Technology Preview
-=======================================
+What's new in Samba 4 alpha2
+============================
-Samba 4 is the ambitious next version of the Samba suite that is being
-developed in parallel to the stable 3.0 series. The main emphasis in
-this branch is support for the AD logon protocols used by Windows 2000
-and above.
+Samba 4 is the ambitious next version of the Samba suite that is being
+developed in parallel to the stable 3.0 series. The main emphasis in
+this branch is support for the Active Directory logon protocols used
+by Windows 2000 and above.
Samba 4 is currently not yet in a state where it is usable in
production environments. Note the WARNINGS below, and the STATUS file,
which aims to document what should and should not work.
-With 3 years of development under our belt since tridge firs proposed
-a new VFS layer for Samba3 (a project which eventually lead to our AD
-efforts), it was felt that we should create something we could 'show
-off' to our users. This is a Technology Preview (TP), aimed at allowing
-users, managers and developers to see how we have progressed, and to
-invite feedback and support.
+Samba4 alpha2 follows on from our first alpha release, made in
+September, and the Technology Preview series we have offered for some
+time now.
WARNINGS
========
-Samba4 TP is currently a pre-alpha technology. It may eat your cat, but
-is far more likely to choose to munch on your password database. In
-particular if you are upgrading from Samba3, you should backup all
-configuration and data.
+Samba4 alpha2 is not a final Samba release. That is more a reference
+to Samba4's lack of the features we expect you will need than a
+statement of code quality, but clearly it hasn't seen a broad
+deployment yet. If you were to upgrade Samba3 (or indeed Windows) to
+Samba4, you would find many things work, but that other key features
+you may have relied on simply are not there yet.
-We expect that format changes will require that the user database be
-rebuilt from scratch a number of times before we make a final release,
-loosing password data.
+For example, while Samba 3.0 is an excellent member of a Active
+Directory domain, Samba4 is happier as a domain controller: (This is
+where we have done most of the research and development).
-Samba4 TP includes basic ACL protection on the main user database, but
-due to time constraints, none on the registry at this stage. We do
-not currently have ACLs on the SWAT web-based management tool.
-
-Filesystem access should occour as the logged in user, much as Samba3
-does.
-
-We strongly recommend against use in a production environment at this
-stage.
+While Samba4 is subjected to an awesome battery of tests on an
+automated basis, and we have found Samba4 to be very stable in it's
+behaviour, we have to recommend against upgrading production servers
+from Samba 3 to Samba 4 at this stage. If you are upgrading an
+experimental server, or looking to develop and test Samba, you should
+backup all configuration and data.
NEW FEATURES
============
-Samba4 supports the server-side of the AD logon environment
-used by Windows 2000 and later, as evidenced by domain join
-and domain logon operations.
+Samba4 supports the server-side of the Active Directory logon environment
+used by Windows 2000 and later, so we can do full domain join
+and domain logon operations with these clients.
Our Domain Controller (DC) implementation includes our own built-in
-LDAP server, KDC as well as the logon services provided over CIFS. We
-correctly generate the Kerberos PAC, and include it with the kerberos
-tickets we issue.
-
-SWAT is the new user-freindly interface to Samba4 managment, and
-provides access to our setup and migration functionality. In
-particular, we can migrate windows domains in Samba4 from this
-interface. This allows setup of initial user databases, and upgrades
-from Samba3.
-
-The new NTFVS features in Samba4, the project that started this all,
-is concerned with providing 'exact' semantics for basic file
-operations, and is backed by an extensive client testsuite.
-
-A new scripting interface has been added to Samba4, allowing
-JavaScript programs to interface to Samba's internals. This is also
-used for the SWAT GUI.
-
-Samba4 is strongly based around an LDAP-like backend, which includes
-an implementation against the actual LDAP protocol. With the addition
-of modules on directory servers and in Samba, we hope this can allow
-Samba4 to be a powerful frontend to vendor directories, much as Samba3
-is.
+LDAP server and Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) as well as the
+Samba3-like logon services provided over CIFS. We correctly generate
+the infamous Kerberos PAC, and include it with the Kerberos tickets we
+issue.
-CHANGES
-=======
+The new VFS features in Samba 4 adapts the filesystem on the server to
+match the Windows client semantics, allowing Samba 4 to better match
+windows behaviour and application expectations. This includes file
+annotation information (in streams) and NT ACLs in particular. The
+VFS is backed with an extensive automated test suite.
+
+A new scripting interface has been added to Samba 4, allowing
+Python programs to interface to Samba's internals.
+
+The Samba 4 architecture is based around an LDAP-like database that
+can use a range of modular backends. One of the backends supports
+standards compliant LDAP servers (including OpenLDAP), and we are
+working on modules to map between AD-like behaviours and this backend.
+We are aiming for Samba 4 to be powerful frontend to large
+directories.
+
+CHANGES SINCE Alpha 1
+=====================
+
+In the time since Samba4 Alpha1 was released in September 2007, Samba has
+continued to evolve, but you may particularly notice these areas:
+
+ MMC Support: The Active Directory Users and Computers console now
+ handles group membership correctly.
+
+ member/memberOf: These and other linked attributes are now kept in
+ sync
-Those familiar with Samba 3 can find a list of user-visible changes
-since that release series in the NEWS file.
+ subtree renames: Renaming a subtree of LDAP objects is now possible,
+ with all linked attributes being kept consistant.
-In particular, standalone server and domain member roles are not
-currently supported. While we have much of the infrustructure
-required, we have not collected these peices togeather.
+ Python Bindings: Bindings for a future move to Python as the
+ internal scripting language have been created.
-There is no printing support in the current release.
+ Shared library use: In support of projects such as OpenChange,
+ which depend on Samba4, more of Samba4 is built as shared libraries.
+
+These are just some of the highlights of the work done in the past few
+months. More details can be found in our SVN history.
+
+
+CHANGES
+=======
+
+Those familiar with Samba 3 can find a list of user-visible changes
+since that release series in the NEWS file.
KNOWN ISSUES
============
-- SWAT can be painful with <TAB> and forms. Just use the mouse, as
- the JS layer doing this will change.
+- Domain member support is in it's infancy, and is not comparable to
+ the support found in Samba3.
+
+- There is no printing support in the current release.
+
+- The Samba4 port of the CTDB clustering support is not yet complete
-- Domain logons (using Kerberos) from windows clients incorrectly
- state that the password expires today.
+- Clock Synchronisation is critical. Many 'wrong password' errors are
+ actually due to Kerberos objecting to a clock skew between client
+ and server.
RUNNING Samba4
==============
DEVELOPMENT and FEEDBACK
========================
-Bugs can be filed at https://bugzilla.samba.org/. Please
-look at the STATUS file before filing a bug to see if a particular
-is supposed to work yet.
+Bugs can be filed at https://bugzilla.samba.org/ but please be aware
+that many features are simply not expected to work at this stage.
-Development and general discussion about Samba 4 happens mainly on
-the #samba-technical IRC channel (on irc.freenode.net) and
-the samba-technical mailing list (see http://lists.samba.org/ for
-details).
+The Samba Wiki at http://wiki.samba.org should detail some of these
+development plans.
+Development and general discussion about Samba 4 happens mainly on
+the #samba-technical IRC channel (on irc.freenode.net) and
+the samba-technical mailing list (see http://lists.samba.org/ for
+details).
git.samba.org / samba.git / blobdiff