InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
April 3, 2000
 Printer ready |
By Stephen Swoyer
But when Microsoft released Windows 2000, it made changes to the Remote Procedure Call authentication protocol that let Samba version 2.0.5 interoperate with Windows NT 4.0. As a result, the free, open-source Samba client was temporarily unable to interoperate with Windows 2000--until Samba Team developers released version 2.0.6 of the software. The Samba Team is made up of about 20 programmers who voluntarily support the open-source tool.
Measurisk.com, a New York company that provides risk-analysis services for investment professionals, relies on an implementation of Samba running on Unix to serve files to the Windows clients used by most of its employees. "The main reason for using Samba is that it does what we need from a central point--one server on the Unix box--as opposed to buying a Network File System program or license for every PC that needs access to the Unix file system," says Dave Oberholzer, manager of data services for Measurisk.com.
Oberholzer says his IT organization ran Samba with no problems until Microsoft modified its interface for Server Message Block in Windows 2000. That required Measurisk.com to upgrade to version 2.0.6. But companies like Measurisk.com have to run Windows 2000 in backward-compatibility mode, because the open-source Server Message Block client can't interoperate with Windows 2000's Active Directory enterprise directory services. Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton, a Samba Team member, says Active Directory integration isn't being actively pursued because the Samba Team is committed at present to ensuring full Samba interoperability with Windows NT 4.0. Samba works well for file sharing, but there still are problems with its use as a domain controller for NT 4.0 domains.
The problem is made all the more acute because the Samba Team historically hasn't gotten much help from Microsoft, says Nico Kadel-Garcia, a consultant with JOA Trades, a Boston systems integrator that has planned Samba implementations for several enterprise clients. Oberholzer agrees that Microsoft hasn't always been particularly interested in Samba implementations. Samba works again for Measurisk .com, he says, "but I don't remember hearing any news from Microsoft letting anyone know that its changes could affect existing third-party tools."
Peter Houston, group product manager for Windows 2000, says that while he can't comment on Samba interoperability, Windows 2000's interoperability with Unix platforms is generally good. "Our Windows 2000 Services for Unix provide an NFS client, NFS server, and NFS gateway," says Houston, "which will enable you to use Windows 2000 in an NFS network where you're doing standard Unix file-sharing."
amba, an open-source implementation of Microsoft's Server Message Block protocol that facilitates file-sharing between Unix or Linux systems and Windows clients and servers, is not immune to interoperability problems with Windows 2000. The Samba.org group estimates thousands of users use the technology.
Return to main story, "Windows 2000 Creates Interoperability Questions."
Back to This Week's Issue
Send Us Your Feedback
Top of the Page
Hebrew Senior Life seeking Network Analyst in Dedham, MA
True Circuits seeking Mixed-Signal IC Layout Engineer in Los Altos, CA
BP seeking Desktop Strategy and Planning Manager in Houston, TX
ITT seeking Senior Staff Engineer, Systems in Fort Wayne, IN
Agilent Technologies seeking Marketing Manager in Melbourne, AU
For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services, please visit our Career Center.
