Samba, which traces its roots to the early 1990s, has been a staple of the Unix world for decades. It provides a vital solution for connecting Linux and other open source operating systems to IT infrastructures based on Microsoft Active Directory, the platform on which virtually every enterprise computing environment today is based.
Until version 4.0 came along, however, Samba wasn’t capable of replicating all of the functionality associated with AD. Now, that has finally changed. According to the project developers, “Samba 4.0 provides everything needed to serve as an Active Directory Compatible Domain Controller for all versions of Microsoft Windows clients currently supported by Microsoft, including the recently released Windows 8.”