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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.

SerNet's Samba team will participate in the Common Europe Congress (CEC) 2025, taking place from June 2–5 in Gothenburg, Sweden. As one of Europe’s leading conferences for IBM Power Systems technologies, the CEC brings together professionals and experts focused on IBM i, AIX, and Linux on Power.

At the heart of SerNet’s presence: SAMBA+, the professional Samba distribution optimized for enterprise use. SAMBA+ supports platforms such as AIX and various Linux distributions, offering enterprise-grade file and print services along with identity and access management via SMB/CIFS protocols.

While the CEC primarily emphasizes IBM Power technologies, open source plays an important role, particularly in the Linux on Power ecosystem. Here SAMBA+ stands out as a robust solution for organizations seeking flexibility, interoperability, and strengthened digital sovereignty. With extensive support offerings and compatibility with clustered storage solutions like Ceph, GlusterFS, and IBM Spectrum Scale, SAMBA+ delivers the reliability enterprises expect.

With over 300 participants expected, the CEC is an excellent opportunity to engage with decision-makers and Power platform users – and to spotlight how open technologies like SAMBA+ can drive innovation and independence.

SAMBA+ packages version 4.21.5 and 4.20.8 have just been released by the Samba team at SerNet. Packages for variousS USE and Red Hat platforms as well as for Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu and AIX are available now. 

These packages address several issues, which are listed in the release notes: 

• https://www.samba.org/samba/history/samba-4.21.5.html
• https://www.samba.org/samba/history/samba-4.20.8.html

SAMBA+ packages are available as software subscriptions and can be purchased in the SAMBA+ shop. Detailed information and prices can be found at:

• USD Pricing: US SAMBA+ Shop
• EUR Pricing: World SAMBA+ Shop

At SerNet, we remain focused on delivering high-quality solutions tailored to your business needs. Upgrade to SAMBA+ 4.20.7 today and take advantage of the latest improvements. The new SAMBA+ packages are included in the existing subscriptions.

For questions or support requests, please feel free to contact our SAMBA+ team. 

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.