----- Original Message ----- From: "Simon Bryan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hi Simon - I just got tasked with the same neat job you got! > I noticed a discussion here about this topic but it wandered from what I need to know. > > We are currently runinng a Windows NT Domain, we need to move on to an Windows AD > Domain (NT is no longer sujpported etc). A simple option is of course to just put in > a Windows 2003 server - but this then means I have to repurcahse access licences for > all 200 plus workstations, and in fact we set up a test server and were not that > happy with it anyway (too many issues getting it to run). You haven't been contacted by a friendly MS lawyer yet? They'll tell you all about how licensing is done these days. As your a school you'll be covered by the MS Education plan which means they'll practically give the stuff to you so they can get your kids hooked on MS. Not sure if you're covered but contacting the NSW Dept of Ed Info Tech Beaurau would be a good start. Use win 2000/2003 if you want to utilise policy management etc. Pros - Simplified client management, ease of policy distribution etc Cons - $$$, 2003 AD is not compatible with Samba 3 AD clients > > The question is can I go to Samba 3 and completely replace the Windows server - > therefor no access licences to worry about. Has anyone done this that can give me > amy pitfalls to watch out for? Will I need a separate authentication server such as > LDAP or will the SAMBA server do the authentication and user management? Replace being the key word. Samba doesn't run as a BDC so don't expect you can migrate easily with a bdc replication and a domain controller promotion. If only it was that easy! Samba TNG might answer this riddle for you but I've been tinkering with the rpcclient binary that comes with Samba. You can retrieve just about all the user information and dump it onto your linux box. The only thing I haven't been able to access is the hashed up passwords. Can anyone help ME out here? Short list of Samba cans and can'ts: 1. Will not mix in with Windows domain controllers. Samba AINT WINDOWZ! 2. You can run Samba as a PDC and as a backup for the PDC, though they really aren't BDC's. Again Samba ain't windows. 3. Samba can act as an AD Client, not a server. Not even a member server. See last sentence of above point. I think a lot of Linux journo's have been spouting off at the mouth without RTFMing. There are a couple of handy features hidden inside Samba that we have been warned may be removed from future releases. > I don't expect detailed HowTo's (but would be nice) rather just a yes or no that it > is or is not possible. C'mon - we all expect detailed howtos. We're lazy over paid admins! Cheers Nathan -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
