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Samba STF project: Milestone 4 completed

The Samba team at SerNet has completed two key milestones in the ongoing development of SMB over QUIC for Samba. The technology  promises secure, high-performance access to file servers across untrusted networks. These developments are part of the project funded by the Sovereign Tech Agency (STA). The STA supports critical open-source infrastructure to strengthen digital sovereignty and resilience.

Milestone 5.1: Enable QUIC transport in Samba smbd

Samba now supports listening on UDP port 443, enabling a QUIC-based alternative to traditional TCP connections (ports 445 and 139). The groundwork integrates the Linux kernel QUIC driver lxin/quic into Samba's networking logic. This allows Samba to act as a secure “SMB VPN”, ideal for remote work, mobile access, and high-security scenarios.

Milestone 5.2: Enable QUIC testing via socket_wrapper

Testing QUIC implementations without relying on real network interfaces is crucial for fast, automated validation. The team extended socket_wrapper, a tool that emulates network sockets over Unix domain sockets, to simulate QUIC communication using the ngtcp2 userspace library. This approach allows developers to test SMB over QUIC under controlled conditions without kernel dependencies.

With these two milestones, Samba takes a significant step toward full SMB over QUIC support, offering a modern, secure transport layer for the next generation of file services. 

Learn more about the full project and its milestones: https://samba.plus/stf-project


sambaXP 2025 KickOff

All presentations from sambaXP 2025 are now accessible at YouTube, featuring hours of valuable content and expertise in Samba, open-source technologies and much more. Dive into the latest insights shared at the recent on-site conference, held at Hotel Freizeit In in Göttingen from April 7–8.

One highlight of this year's event was the keynote by Mirko Swillus from the Sovereign Tech Agency (STA). He addressed the necessity and complexities of maintaining digital infrastructure, drawing parallels to physical infrastructure: "Digital infrastructure maintenance resembles the upkeep of roads and bridges. It’s crucial yet often invisible. The Sovereign Tech Agency exists precisely to ensure the sustainability of these fundamental building blocks of our digital society."

Swillus further emphasized international collaboration, stating: "Open source doesn't have borders; it’s a global phenomenon. We must work collectively to sustain these critical resources." And that's exactly what STA does whith its Sovereign Tech Fund. For example, STA currently funds a major Samba project managed by SerNet GmbH. The initiative focuses on enhancing Samba’s security, scalability, and functionality.

Thanks to all speakers and to this year’s sponsors for their support, enabling another successful sambaXP.

Missed the event or want to revisit your favorite sessions? Start exploring the sambaXP 2025 playlist today!

And stay tuned for updates on sambaXP 2026 at sambaxp.org.


Samba STF project: Milestone 3 cpmpleted

The Samba team at SerNet has reached the fourth milestone in the Sovereign Tech Agency-funded project: Regression tests and server adjustments for SMB3 UNIX Extensions have been successfully completed and integrated.

This milestone supports Samba’s goal to deliver local filesystem semantics over SMB – especially for Linux clients, but with future potential for broader adoption (e.g., macOS). The extended SMB3 UNIX feature set improves handling of symbolic links, file permissions, and Unix-specific metadata when accessing files over a network. This closes the gap between traditional Unix behavior and the SMB protocol, enhancing cross-platform compatibility. Extensive regression testing ensures that recent enhancements don't introduce unintended side effects.

With this milestone, Samba moves closer to providing seamless UNIX-like behavior over SMB3. All developments are available via the public Samba repositories. Learn more about the full project and all milestones: https://samba.plus/stf-project

The project and the ongoing development is made possible through funding by the Sovereign Tech Agency, which supports critical open-source infrastructure. The STA’s broader mission is to strengthen digital sovereignty, security, and resilience by enabling long-term development and maintenance of critical technologies. SerNet has secured the funding for Samba and manages the milestones.


Welcome to sambaXP at Hotel Freizeit In

It’s official: The detailed program for this year’s sambaXP on April 7–8, 2025 is now available! Visit sambaxp.org for all details. Look forward to a packed two-day schedule full of expert sessions, technical deep dives, and invaluable networking opportunities – once again held on-site at the Hotel Freizeit In in Goettingen, Germany.

Highlights at a Glance

  • Keynote by Mirko Swillus (Sovereign Tech Agency): Get inspired right from the start as we kick off with exciting insights into the open-source and tech funding landscape.
  • SMB3 POSIX Extensions in Samba (current status) – Volker Lendecke
  • Azure Entra ID Auth in Samba: Introducing the Himmelblaud Daemon – David Mulder
  • localkdc – A general local authentication hub – Andreas Schneider, Alexander Bokovoy
  • SMB in Windows Server 2025 and Beyond – Raymond Wang, Genghis Karimov, Dan Cuomo
  • The Rocky Road to SMB3 Directory Leases – Ralph Böhme
  • Unleashing authentication for the Linux CIFS client with gssproxy – Daniel Kobras, Michael Weiser
  • New keytab generation – Pavel Filipenský
  • SID-Filtering, Claims Transformation and Selective-Authentication – Stefan Metzmacher
  • A Deep Dive Into OAuth 2.0 – William Brown & David Mulder
  • The CTDB Report 2025 – Martin Schwenke
  • Accessing remote storage better from Linux – Steve French

Looking Beyond: SMB3 IO Lab

Immediately following sambaXP, from April 8–10, SNIA will host the SMB3 Interoperability Lab EMEA, an exclusive testing and collaboration opportunity that perfectly complements the conference program. Don’t miss the chance to link theory to practice and enhance your SMB3 implementations on the spot. (Additional registration needed:https://www.snia.org/smb3iolabemea)

Register Now!

Ready to dive in? Visit sambaxp.org to view the full agenda, secure your ticket, and find more details on both sambaXP and the SMB3 IO Lab. We look forward to welcoming you in Goettingen for an event packed with open-source tech, cutting-edge developments, and a vibrant community spirit!


Milestone achieved: SMB3 Directory Leases

The Samba team at SerNet GmbH has reached the second milestone (2/17) in the Sovereign Tech Agency.-funded project to enhance Samba’s functionality and interoperability. This milestone focuses on introducing SMB3 Directory Leases, a feature designed to improve performance and efficiency when working with shared files and folders. With this implementation, clients can establish leases on directories, enabling caching of directory contents, reducing network overhead for directory metadata operations, and enhanced responsiveness in shared environments.

The development team conducted in-depth research and testing to ensure compatibility with Microsoft's SMB3 implementation. This led to the identification of multiple bugs and deficiencies in Samba. As a result, the team thoroughly investigated the current SMB2 Leases implementation in Samba, fixing all bugs and enhancing Samba's continuous integration testing framework with rigorous testing.

This highlights the team’s commitment to maintaining seamless interoperability between Samba and Microsoft environments, a cornerstone of the project’s objectives.

The work on this milestone has been published and will be available in the public Samba repositories:

This achievement, like others in the project, ensures that the open-source community and organizations relying on Samba benefit from new features and robust cross-platform compatibility. The ongoing funding secured by SerNet and assigned by the Sovereign Tech Agency (STA, formerly known as Sovereign Tech Fund) enables these advancements, underscoring the collaborative effort behind the project.

For further information about the project, visit https://samba.plus/stf-project. The project is a long-term initiative aimed at strengthening Samba’s role as a critical open-source software for file sharing, interoperability, and identity access management. Over the course of 18 months, the project will complete 17 milestones to enhance Samba’s security, scalability, and functionality. Each milestone’s results are made publicly available, ensuring that the wider open-source community and IT infrastructures worldwide can benefit.


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