Samba adding to a Server 03 environment

[Bobo]

Right, here is a quick question. I'm sure everyone knows about the thin client type linux laptops going around since the end of last year.

Well a school I work at wants to get a trolley of these to add to the network. We use ranger but that is no biggie, we mainly want the laptops to connect to AD through wireless PEAP encryption. Really they want to be able to authenticate wirelessly and see their my documents and access VLEs and the such.

Would this require a Samba server? We have a server sort of spare which could get it put on and they could act like thin clients, is this all possible do you guys think?

Thanks for your time.

[CyberNerd]

We use a plugin for moodle so students can browse their home directories through the browser - the browser handles authentication. This way they access documents through the VLE, at home or in school -regardless of the platform.

[bossman]

you might be better off connecting them to a terminal server with all the drives mapped, then using a linux rdp client authenticate using AD as the TS server would be within that domain.
They would then get a desktop of your choice which can be configured using GPO's.
Any core progs such as MS office can be installed on the TS server.
Doing this you would not need to use Samba to authenticate.
Hope this makes sense.

[Bobo]

The school want to access their in-house documents through the clients, unfortunately, they need to authenticate on the network otherwise that would work.

[Bobo]

you might be better off connecting them to a terminal server with all the drives mapped, then using a linux rdp client authenticate using AD as the TS server would be within that domain.
They would then get a desktop of your choice which can be configured using GPO's.
Any core progs such as MS office can be installed on the TS server.
Doing this you would not need to use Samba to authenticate.
Hope this makes sense.

That would be fantastic if it were not for the money factor, there is no TS on site that I could use, and buying an MS TS would not be a factor at all, money is the key, unless there is a free TS that would still work?

[Geoff]

The school want to access their in-house documents through the clients, unfortunately, they need to authenticate on the network otherwise that would work.

pam_mount will do this for you if you share home directories on a per user basis (the old NT4 way, \\server\username$\). Alternatively re-export your windows home share via NFS (eg, you have \\server\shares\username\) and mount the re-exported share as /home/ on your clients. More complex setups will require some symlinks or unionfs added in to glue it all together.

[CyberNerd]

The school want to access their in-house documents through the clients, unfortunately, they need to authenticate on the network otherwise that would work.

Get a VLE that authenticates to your network (active directory) then you should be able to access the files through the browser on the clients.
Moodle: Modules and plugins

[Bobo]

pam_mount will do this for you if you share home directories on a per user basis (the old NT4 way, \\server\username$\). Alternatively re-export your windows home share via NFS (eg, you have \\server\shares\username\) and mount the re-exported share as /home/ on your clients. More complex setups will require some symlinks or unionfs added in to glue it all together.

That is definitely something to look at, so it would be as simple for the kids to log into linux and it immediately mount their home drive? That would be good.


They dont use moodle and with VLEs changing every five seconds down here the school are not willing to get all involved (they use fronter), in that way and want something permanent... if you catch my drift, so its just done locally, then worry about VLEs properly at a later date.

[Geoff]

That is definitely something to look at, so it would be as simple for the kids to log into linux and it immediately mount their home drive? That would be good.

Yes, the mapping would happen at logon if you used pam_mount or at machine startup if your used NFS. Plus another side effect of this is that their application settings follow them around (as they are stored in their home folder in hidden dot files/directories).

[Bobo]

Yes, the mapping would happen at logon if you used pam_mount or at machine startup if your used NFS. Plus another side effect of this is that their application settings follow them around (as they are stored in their home folder in hidden dot files/directories).

I dont understand how this would work with kerberos and AD though, would linux just then sit there and when it felt like it authenticate with any authenticatable account to the DC with no problem?

[Geoff]

Yes, assuming you configure samba/kerberos/winbind on Linux correctly then AD/Linux is none the wiser. Linux thinks it's using local accounts and AD thinks it's talking to an NT Server...

[Bobo]

Yes, assuming you configure samba/kerberos/winbind on Linux correctly then AD/Linux is none the wiser. Linux thinks it's using local accounts and AD thinks it's talking to an NT Server...

Ahh so I would still need a Samba server as such, my jaw dropped at the thought of just being able to mount drives on a server 2003 server by just logging into a linux workstation. pam_mount I will definitely look into, thanks

[CyberNerd]

Ahh so I would still need a Samba server as such, my jaw dropped at the thought of just being able to mount drives on a server 2003 server by just logging into a linux workstation. pam_mount I will definitely look into, thanks

You wouldn't need a samba server in this scenario as long as the linux clients are on the windows domain.

[Bobo]

You wouldn't need a samba server in this scenario as long as the linux clients are on the windows domain.

Ahh, well.... that's great, my linux knowledge is terribly limited, which I've always found was a terrible hinderance, was half hoping to need to set up a Samba server just to get more stuck in, then the lazy half of me kicks in and hopes there is a simple solution.... where to start is the problem.

[CyberNerd]

IMHO the simple solution is to get a web-based frontend to your windows fileserver and use the browser on the client.

The difficulty depends upon what OS you are using on the client - if its something like ubuntu 8.04 or SuSE then they pretty much work with windows AD out of the box (minus the pam_mount on 8,04 which I am struggling with on an LTSP server).
If you want to use default xandros on an eeepc then you will need to do additional hacking - some of it has been wiki'ed EeePC - Linux OS - EduGeek.net Wiki