Hi All,

Looking for a little advice and hoping someone can help.

First, a little background:
I've currently got these hosts in my home network -

• OpenWRT-based Linksys Wireless router configured for:
  • DHCP & DNS (dnsmasq)
  • Firewall (iptables)
  • DMZ for Web server
  • Wireless AP
• FreeBSD Apache web server
• FC4 workstation / media centre
• 2 x Windows XP laptops (using wireless)

Other than 1 of the laptops, which is a work-supplied machine and thus a member of a corporate domain, I've got each one set up with it's own local accounts.

Now the situation:
I've recently aqcuired another second-hand machine (fairly low spec - PII 900MHz) and would like to use it to implement a single authentication mechanism for all hosts on the network, and then extend this to 802.1x (port-based authentication) for the wireless network too.

Personally, I'm very familiar with the Windows Domain possibilities, but would like to steer clear of them for this 'project' (and I don't want to buy a Windows Server license!)

I understand that SAMBA can operate as an NT4-style DC, and it seems that this would be simple enough to configure, and possibly the obvious choice with the Windows clients involved, but I would like to evaluate and learn about other options.

Any thoughts out there??