Failing to see a good use for Linux. Something I'm missing?

[CyberNerd]

Most of our user folders depend on it... it is possible to get it working.

 

All our user folders depend on samba, including folder redirection :-)

[Ephelyon]

It works for you then... but it was a thorny one sometime last year if I recall. The main issue I'd have with it at our site is lack of support for multiple DCs (or cross-forest trusts, so if you use a learning platform like LP+ and want to federate your domain to support SSO, that won't work). Alpha releases are now showing the ability to join an existing Windows domain as an additional DC, but there's no mention of multiple DCs in a Samba-only domain yet.

 

Naturally it will improve with time (as will the original technology), but I wouldn't say it's ready for a slot-in AD replace at the enterprise level yet.

[matt40k]

Linux\Unix\Mac\Windows\*BSD is only as good as the person setting it up and maintaining it. I've heard too often that someone has slapped in the disc installed it, got it "working" only and shouted from the roof tops how brilliant it is and how they are never going back for it to go horribly wrong then revert back.

[CyberNerd]

The main issue I'd have with it at our site is lack of support for multiple DCs (or cross-forest trusts, so if you use a learning platform like LP+ and want to federate your domain to support SSO, that won't work). Alpha releases are now showing the ability to join an existing Windows domain as an additional DC, but there's no mention of multiple DCs in a Samba-only domain yet.

.

 

I don't know where your getting this from, certainly not from the manual.

 

Joining a Windows Domain Controller as an Additional DC in a Domain

 

Once you have a Samba domain controller set up, you can choose to join additional domain controllers to the domain, whether they be additional Samba domain controllers, or additional Windows domain controllers.

If you wish to join an additional Samba domain controller to a domain, then please see the Joining a domain as a DC page. The instructions on that page are the same for joining Samba to a Windows domain as they are for joining Samba to an existing Samba domain.

If you wish to join a new Windows domain controller to a Samba domain, then you should use the 'dcpromo' tool on the Windows machine. Please see the normal instructions for installing dcpromo on Windows, with the exception that you should not check the 'DNS server' option box when it is offered. Right now you should either use Windows for DNS, or use Samba and bind9 for DNS. Mixing the two can work, but it is an advanced topic that is beyond the scope of this howto.

[Ephelyon]

That's very strange - my source was the page it links to (both pages on the same site updated on the same date last month) plus a review from a couple of months ago I think. Must have different people writing the docs...

 

Nothing in there about federating either. I'd still say that at the end of the day if you want 100% compatibility in real-time (i.e. Samba has to catch up whenever Microsoft releases a new feature) then get the client and server made by the same people; it's the most logical approach from a development point of view. If that's not a big concern or you're short of cash and the environment can handle it, then tech like Linux, Samba, LAMP all become perfectly viable options (though in Samba's case I wouldn't have said that a couple of years ago).