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.

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?

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?

Do you need Active Directory? If you are replacing an NT4 domain, you can easily replicate any functionality you currently have with Samba (with considerably increased performance over NT itself). Samba can do AD too, but unless you need the functionality of AD, there is no reason you can't just stick with the NT4 domain style.

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?