LinuxQuestions.org - Samba and Active Directory question(s)

Hello all,

I have some questions about Samba and Active Directory.

First a little backround:
I am curently a Jr. Network Administrator at my company. We are running Windows Server 2003 w/ Windows XP cliens. I am currently going to school (finishing up my bacholers), and I have been using Linux for school and home.

I have Fedora 6 installed at home. I use Fedora 5 at school (external HD). And, I have CentOS installed on one of my PC's (I have a KVM) at work so that I can play around with that.

So I've been a Linux user for a while now (about 1 1/2 to 2 years) and I really want to get into System Administraton

Now my "problem" (sorry for the long backround):
I've done some research on the Net (google), and some reading on the Samba.org website (HOWTO). And I'm a little confused. All I seem to read is how to make Samba act Like a PDC. I want to know is there a way to make it act Like a Active Directory machine?

My goal is this:

Server side; To manage users computers and shares on a Linux Machine.

Client Side; Add a Windows XP machine to the "Linux" Domain (...you know right click My Computer>Properties Computer Name tab...)

Summary:
Does it matter that if I use Samba like a NT 4.0 machine (PDC method) for Windows XP Clients?

If it does...how do I make Samba act Like an Active Directory machine?

Sorry for the long post...but ANY help (or a point in the right direction) would be GREAT! thanks.

-custangro
---------------------------------------------------------

Also is there a GOOD book on Samba out there?