What are the major benefits that clustered Samba using CTDB offers?

High availability, so when a node fails it just keeps going, plus high scalability, so you can have tens of thousands of users on one Samba server.

What difference could CTDB make to the enterprise?

Enterprises usually have hundreds of NAS boxes, which makes data management a huge headache. Now they can have one super NAS box.

Who should consider using CTDB and why?

People with large data sets who need a highly available, very fast storage server for Windows or Unix clients.

Apparently you enjoy molesting TCP packets. Would you say this is your favourite activity? Does anything else come close, and if so what?

Yes, I love looking at the details of network protocols on the wire! I do love other things too (Sailing, travel, bushwalking etc), but it's great having a job where I get to do one of my favourite things.

You are a very popular speaker at the Linux conference. How many times have you spoken at the event and why do they keep asking you to return?

I have given at least one talk every year. I love giving talks, and I usually find something new to talk about, so maybe that's enough to keep people interested.

For more information on CTDB read: http://ctdb.samba.org/ and also http://samba.org/~tridge/ctdb_movies/ which shows you some movies of CTDB in action.