Hi...

I was wondering if anyone knew of a way for users to authenticate to a Windows 2000 / 2003 domain controller from a linux box. I don't want the user to have to log into a local account on the linux box first and then use smb to authenticate. I'd like for it to work exactly as it does on a windows client machine, where the user puts in their network credentials after boot, and gains access to network resources for the entire time they are logged in, as well as the added convenience of having their own workspace (home folder, desktop, etc).

Is this possible or am I living in a fantasy world?

Thanks

By the way. I'm running FC2 on the client side, and W2K server with Active Directory on the server side.

Yes. Authenticating against an Active Directory domain isn't uncommon. The Samba documentation is excellent and covers this.

A key issue is that by default AD doesn't have all of the information needed to perform a UNIX login. So either you store the extra account settings at the server end, or the Linux domain member does it. Since you will want multiple Linux clients to be consistent, it will have to be done server-side. Again, the Samba docs will tell you what to do.

The other issue is providing the home directories. I guess that you would want a home directory from a Windows server to be /home/<username> on the Linux machines. Using the automounter system to mount user home directories on demand might be the right solution.

The only you need is configuring winbind and pam. Samba documentation cover this...