I just wanted to inform you admins that are looking for a Linux solution for authentication of Windows 2000/XP client machines, that there is a OpenSource Linux based solution.

I have rid myself of AD and taken a different road that seems to be much simpler and more stable than the AD route. I found something called pGina. It is an opensource replacement for the Microsoft's authentication through a domain controller. It allows you to centrally authenticate Win2k/XP users to a standard OpenLDAP server. You install the PGina software on all the clients, make a registry entry like:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\pGina\ldapauth]
"ldapServer"="172.20.10.7"
"ldapPrePend"="uid="
"ldapMethod"="1"
"ldapContext0"="ou=People, dc=oem, dc=doe, dc=gov"

Then when the user logs in they authenticate to the designated LDAP server. Now I don't have to use AD, Domains, and Microsoft's DNS which AD requires. I've had constant AD trouble. My DC's would stop replicating for no apparent reason every few months and the sh*t would hit the fan. Since I started using pGina I have had ZERO problems because the authentication boxes are Linux.

The pGina stuff is at www.xpasystems.com

Regards

Doug P

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out.

I would be very interested to hear about your migration away from Microsoft. You should write a paper on it.

I would also like to read a little about how the migration went.

There is a similar solution using Samba and LDAP:
http://idealx.samba.org/

There is software and a HOWTO.