What is Samba?
As the front page at samba.org says, “Samba is an Open Source/Free Software suite that provides seamless file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients.” Samba is freely available, unlike other SMB/CIFS implementations, and allows for interoperability between Linux/Unix servers and Windows-based clients. (stolen from http://us4.samba.org/samba/what_is_samba.html)
Samba is a server that allows you to map from your computer to storage appliances (I.E. webspace) and work within the space as if you were working on your own computer (this includes printing, editing, dragging from your destop and dropping into the storage space). Here’s a quick tutorial about how to access SSC’s Unix server with Samba: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/classweb/help/samba/samba.html
If you’re using Samba off campus, you might need to run a UCLA VPN client prior to connecting.
Samba connection is not just limited to PC’s! Check out this article: https://kb.ucla.edu/link/344