Samba 4.23.0rc4 is now available for testing, featuring several new enhancements and improvements, including enabled SMB3 Unix Extensions by default and support for SMB3 over QUIC. The release also includes modern write-time update logic, an initial version of the smb_prometheus_endpoint utility, and updated CTDB features. Additionally, per-share profiling stats have been added, allowing users to collect profile counters at a per-share level. 

Samba 4.23.0rc4 Release Candidate Now Available for Testing

This version is the fourth release candidate (RC) of Samba 4.23, a significant update to the Samba suite. This RC is intended solely for testing purposes and should not be used in production environments.

What's New in Samba 4.23

Samba 4.23 introduces several exciting new features and improvements:

1. Enable SMB3 Unix Extensions by Default: The SMB3 UNIX Extensions, which provide first-class support for POSIX semantics over SMB3, are now enabled by default.
2. Add Support for SMB3 over QUIC: Samba 4.23 allows you to configure SMB3 over QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) using the "client smb transports" and "server smb transport" options.
3. Modern Write Time Update Logic: File timestamp handling has been updated to match modern Windows servers, applying immediate timestamp updates consistent with Windows 10/Server 2016 or newer.
4. Initial Version of smb_prometheus_endpoint: The smb_prometheus_endpoint utility exports Samba server metrics in Prometheus-compatible format, enabling seamless integration into existing Prometheus and Grafana environments.
5. samba-tool domain backup --no-secrets avoids confidential attributes: The "--no-secrets" option creates a back-up without secret attributes (e.g., passwords), suitable for use in a lab domain.

Other Notable Changes

1. CTDB changes: CTDB now supports loading tunables from /etc/ctdb/tunables.d/*.tunables, allowing vendors to ship required tunables settings while still enabling local administrators to add their own settings.
2. Per-share profiling stats: Users can collect profile counters at a per-share level, particularly useful for deployments with a large number of active shares.

Removed Features

1. Changes to smb.conf: The smbd profiling share parameter has been removed, and the default values for both the client smb transports and server smb transport parameters have been updated.

Known Issues

Please refer to the list for a list of known issues.

Reporting Bugs & Development Discussion

We encourage discussion on the samba-technical mailing list, #samba-technical:matrix.org matrix room, or #samba-technical IRC channel on irc.libera.chat. If you report problems, please provide high-quality feedback to help us track down the issue. All bug reports should be filed under the Samba 4.1 and newer product in the project's Bugzilla database ().

Download Details

The uncompressed tarballs and patch files have been signed using GnuPG (ID AA99442FB680B620). The source code can be downloaded from: https://download.samba.org/pub/samba/rc/ 

The release notes are available online at: https://download.samba.org/pub/samba/rc/samba-4.23.0rc4.WHATSNEW.txt