SNIA Developer Conference September 15-17, 2025 | Santa Clara, CA
Abstract
Clustered Samba presents the illusion of a single system image SMB server using multiple cluster nodes. The SMB protocol is difficult to implement in a cluster due to its share modes and leases. Those protocol features require clusterwide knowledge of all open file handles, contrary to a clustered NFS server for example. A file with thousands of concurrent openers presents challenges to every SMB server, even more so to a clustered one.
This talk will present Samba’s implementation of the share mode and leases databases and improvements that are being worked on to make them much more scalable for contended workloads.
Learning Objectives:
1. SMB protocol features and their effect on a clustered server implementation
2. Understanding of Samba’s internal architecture
3. Architectural improvements for much-improved scalability