Hello all. I am brand new to linux and have installed and tested out several versions and I have found that the one I like the most is Mandrake. I'm trying to put Linux machines on my windows network. They don't have to be seen on the network by the windows computers for shares and things. I don't care about that. I already set that up easily enough. What I'm having a problem with is the log-in ability of the computers. Obviously, since I'm in a school, having one login name for all the students would be unsafe and impractical. So, my question is, on a windows 2000 network, how could I get Mandrake (or Red Hat. That one looks simple enough to be useable by the students who have only used windows as well) to validate user login information from the windows 2000 server we are running? All of our software is microsoft and all of our software is largely on the defaults for ease of use for the students.

Also, the students all have a folder and some space available on the windows server. Is it possible to have Mandrake or Red Hat auto-mount this space and display it as another hard disc or a folder on their desktop?

I know that's a LOT to ask, but any help (including pointing to a book I can buy that describes it all) is very much appreciated!

Thank you!
~David

You'll be needing Samba. Although I have never used it, many of our members do and, AFAIK, it's fairly straightforward to set up and use.

Yes, Mandrake comes with samba. I have it set-up to show shares and things on the network but I don't know how to use it to authenticate users at login...

In my sig is a link to RUTE - that has sections on setting up and using Samba. Also look at the documentation on the site I linked to above and check out www.tldp.org.

thank you very much for the help! I'll go check it out!

I have a set of documents up on my consulting site, for Active Directory/Linux integration. It will walk you through performing pure LDAP authentication against an Active Directory, as well as the integration of Samba into Active directory, and the ability to leverage the kerberos/AD Domain authentication. You can read the LDAP authLanRx AD/Linux Howto docs Feel free to contact me with questions.

thank you! I believe that is what I was looking for! Thank you very much!