Re: [PATCH 0/2] ksmbd: NTLM pass-through to a domain controller

[Namjae Jeon]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2026 at 12:52 AM Wang Zhaolong
<wangzhaolong3@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi Ralph,
>
>
> > may I ask: why? What's the benefit over using something mature and Open Source that already does all that and more?
> >
> > Just curious. :)
> >
> > Cheers!
> > -slow
>
>
> Fair question! :)
>
> When I first had this idea, integration between ksmbd and Samba's AD services
> was still fairly limited, so I started thinking about a more tightly
> integrated solution for ksmbd-based NAS systems.
>
> It's great to see the community making progress on this, including Jan's
> recent patches. I'm happy to see that happening.
>
> At the same time, I'd still like to try something different: a small,
> Rust-based AD DC built with ksmbd in mind. I don't know yet whether it'll offer
> any real advantages over Samba, but I think it's worth exploring.
I strongly support this work. The benefit, as I see it, is that a
GPLv2-compatible AD DC implementation integrated with ksmbd could
provide both file sharing and domain-controller services in one
ksmbd-based solution. This could be useful for NAS systems that need
to keep their software stack GPLv2-compatible.

Thanks.