Samba

Samba is Linux based file and print server. The rather interesting thing about Samba is that it is interoperable with Windows systems; meaning a Windows client can access the server as if it were accessing a Windows server. This interoperability is achieved by the use of the TCP/IP protocol stack. This is the same protocol stack that computer use to communicate over the Internet.

Newer releases of Samba now include active directory. Active directory allows network administrators to make global changes to the network by making those changes only on the server. Changes such as permissions and updates can be pushed out to clients in this fashion saving the network administrator significant amounts of time.

Businesses can use Samba to allow users to share files, thereby reducing network traffic because users don't need to email or ftp those files to each other.

Samba is release under the GNU public license and is free and open source.