Linux Domain w/ Windows Clients
I'm replacing an aging (near dead) Windows NT 4 domain. It has about 80 Windows XP clients. I'd prefer a Linux-Based solution instead of a Windows-based AD solution. I need domain authentication, file serving, and print job handling.
I've considered OpenLDAP + SAMBA + whatever. However, I was wondering if there are any good Linux-based commercial applications that might fit the bill? I found one that looked promising. It was called PowerSMB. Unfortunately, it looks like the company is out of business, as I've made numerous attempts at contacting them. Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone knows of a similar piece of pre-packaged software that might be able to do what I'm looking for. Thanks, rsync |
Anything that exists out there would simply be a wrapper or front end for Samba, so you would be better of just learning to properly configure and manage Samba itself.
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OK. Maybe I should ask a more basic question. Is this a wise move on my part, given that all my clients are Windows XP machines? Would I be better off spending the money and learning AD?
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rsync, I have set up numerous SAMBA Servers as DC's, and all of my customers are happy. I use Slackware and the latest Samba, not the one that comes w/Slack 12.1, (a little buggy). Get the latest Slack Package and upgrade.
Here is a config that I use for my company: [global] lock directory = /var/run netbios name = <insert servername here> workgroup = <insert domain name here> server string = file server hosts allow = 192.168. wins support = yes security = user encrypt passwords = yes socket options = TCP_NODELAY local master = yes os level = 65 domain master = yes domain logons = yes logon path = \\<insert server name here>\netlogon logon home = \\<insert server name here>\homes\profile logon script = %U.BAT # [netlogon] path = /<insert path to netlogon directory here>/netlogon guest ok = yes writeable = no share modes = no # [profiles] path = /<insert path to profiles directory here>/profiles browseable = no guest ok = yes writeable = yes # [homes] comment = home directory browseable = no writeable = yes With the default Slackware Samba package, I was getting errors when a user would move files from one share to another. The server would loose track of the connections, and drop them temporarily. The upgrade solved this issue. Hope this helps. |
bobmac010,
Thanks for the advice. Are you using OpenLDAP for authentication? Also, are there any other gotchas I should be on the look out for? Thanks, rsync |
No, I am not using LDAP. Just SAMBA. It seems to work fine. You do need to create computer accounts.
For example: Computer name = accounting001 Samba Account "$accounting001" needs to be created without a password. |
With SAMBA is it possible to set up some kind of redundancy with regards to the user accounts? For example, if I have two SAMBA servers and SAMBA1 goes down, can users still authenticate against SAMBA2?
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Quote:
As for redundancy, Samba supports acting as both a PDC and BDC in an NT4 domain. Again, anything you can do in NT4 you can do in Samba, plus a whole lot more. |
Thanks...
By the way, is there anything to be gained by using LDAP for authentication in an NT-style domain with multiple domain controllers? Or does it just add to the complexity of the setup? |
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