Samba was created as a file and print server for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, enabling these systems to fill an important role on many LANs. Although Samba has grown over the years to take on many other SMB/CIFS duties, such as domain controller and NetBIOS name server, sharing files and printers remains at the core of Samba’s functionality. Creating these shares requires that you understand the basic Samba share-creation parameters. File shares are likely to use many of these options, but printer shares are likely to use a smaller subset of these options, along with a few printer-specific options. Printer shares also require configuring a local Linux printer queue, which in the case of modern Linux distributions usually means CUPS. Actually using printer shares usually requires driver installation on clients, and Samba provides tools to help automate this process.
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