Infrastructure Services

Hi,

I want to do an experiment related to infrastructure services.

Currently we have infrastructure services running all on Microsoft services. Like AD to manage users, groups and their security policies and windows desktops and their policies, DNS Services using Windows, DHCP, Exchange for email services and third party apps for email services on mobile.

How this will work in Linux world,

I know we can use FreeIPA for identity Management but what about policies for users and machines, postfix for email services using IMAP and SMTP alternative to exchange, similar bind and DHCP are integrated with Linux so that's not the issue.

And may be fedora for client OS and CentOS for server.

Any suggestions?

I know very little about policies, but perhaps SSSD is the answer.

Exchange: Mail storage solutions (also calendar, tasks) like Cyrus or Courier.

It's not clear what your question is. Do you need suggestions for replacing other Microsoft services?

Originally Posted by Fracker Any suggestions?

No matter what you'll get told on here, if you're managing Windows desktops, making use of MS group policies etc. then MS AD is the best way to do it.

Personally, having done this before myself for a company with 100+ users, I'd outsource your e-mail/calendar/collaboration, we ended up paying around $50 per user per year and the business, which had a policy of doing things Free/OSS where possible, considered this excellent value for the sheer convenience of having everything work across all platforms.

Postfix for IMAP/SMTP is not an alternative to Exchange, it's an OK alternative for e-mail but doesn't include Exchange's calendar / scheduling functionality which may or may not be important to your business. (Yes, you can have other linux products do this for you, but that's yet another application to manage and integrate with your end users who are probably used to using Outlook as a client).

If you're doing this as a personal experiment then pretty much everything is out there in the linux world with plenty of How-To guides. I'd suggest using CentOS for any server style functionality as it's widely supported and all the enterprise RedHat How-To guides can be used verbatim.

Originally Posted by berndbausch I know very little about policies, but perhaps SSSD is the answer. Exchange: Mail storage solutions (also calendar, tasks) like Cyrus or Courier. It's not clear what your question is. Do you need suggestions for replacing other Microsoft services?

Yes, I am doing experiment to replace all Microsoft services with open source. So looking for suggestions what will be the best way to achieve everything .. but in Linux world. Currently it's personal experiment only. So suggestions probably will help in starting things properly.

Originally Posted by TenTenths No matter what you'll get told on here, if you're managing Windows desktops, making use of MS group policies etc. then MS AD is the best way to do it.

Yes I know, I did experiment earlier and failed miserably since I tried to integrate both environment, like using samba and then evolution client with exchange. This time I want to go pure Linux way from scratch. No integration. So it will help in better understand and remove all compatibility issues.

Originally Posted by Fracker Yes I know, I did experiment earlier and failed miserably since I tried to integrate both environment, like using samba and then evolution client with exchange. This time I want to go pure Linux way from scratch. No integration. So it will help in better understand and remove all compatibility issues.

Have you looked into what the city of Munich did when they moved the desktops from MS to Linux? If memory serves, their migration wasn't including 100% of the desktops. I wonder how they dealt with things like IAM (AD, LDAP, etc.) and calendaring?

I keep hearing about how Outlook rules the corporate desktop because of the calendar/scheduling functionality but I've never working in an environment where this was a feature used by more than a tiny fraction of the employees. (Tyranny of the minority? :^) )

Good luck in your explorations.

Cheers...

Originally Posted by rnturn I keep hearing about how Outlook rules the corporate desktop because of the calendar/scheduling functionality but I've never working in an environment where this was a feature used by more than a tiny fraction of the employees. (Tyranny of the minority? :^) )

On a tangent: I have, and I thought Outlook was well designed and integrated Mail/Calendar/Tasks in a seamless and well-thought way. At one point, though, it started sending occasional messages to Nirvana, without a trace, not even in the Send Mail box.

For this very reason I use Thunderbird on Windows now. The user experience is inferior to Outlook in my opinion, except that it does reliably deliver mail.

If you don't mind to use a commercial product, have a look at VAS, Vintela Authentication Services, later named QAS, Quest Authentication Serviced, now owned by One-Identity.
This lets you store and control everything in and from ActiveDirectory, including UID/GID, NIS automount maps, and special policies for Linux/Unix, and single sign on with Windows/AD password.
Also there is an offline mode that lets you login with cached credentials and objects if no AD server is reachable.
http://systemmanager.ru/reporter.en/...amples.6.8.htm

Originally Posted by Fracker Hi, I want to do an experiment related to infrastructure services. Currently we have infrastructure services running all on Microsoft services. Like AD to manage users, groups and their security policies and windows desktops and their policies, DNS Services using Windows, DHCP, Exchange for email services and third party apps for email services on mobile. How this will work in Linux world,

The short answer is, it doesn't.

There is a reason why companies use Windows Server to manage Windows domain environments both for Windows endpoint and their users. There is also a reason why Exchange and cloud derivatives are the standard for enterprise email.

Yes, I'm well aware that there are Linux alternatives/implementations in some of those areas but who is supporting them? You can paint stripes on a dog but that doesn't make it a Zebra.

Now where you WILL have some scope for implementing Linux-based solutions will be for some of the networking stack areas you mentioned, for example DNS/DHCP. However, that is going to make more sense for non-domain DNS e.g. edge. And that's a choice rather than a necessity (plenty of router vendors out there).

For me, server operating systems are very much like a toolbox. Yes you could probably undo a screw with a stanley knife if you wanted to, but why not pick up a screwdriver in the first place?

Linux in my experience has always been a better choice than Windows for web workloads, communications servers, appliance workloads, and of course is big in lots of enterprise/database areas.

You could have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbra as well.