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Old 15th July 2008
cgc2 cgc2 is offline
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Default FBSD emulating pdc w/ AD, exchange and print server?

I currently have a w2k3 server with AD, exchange, and acting as a print server. I have researched doing these things on a FreeBSD box but I see a lot of (sometimes contradictory) information. I realize this question may have been asked here before but I would appreciate any help on this.
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Old 15th July 2008
crayoxide crayoxide is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cgc2 View Post
I realize this question may have been asked here before but ...
You made several statements in your post, but it did not contain any questions.

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Old 15th July 2008
cgc2 cgc2 is offline
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I wanted reproduce this setup using FBSD.
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Old 15th July 2008
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net/samba can act as PDC and print server.

I'm not sure about AD...
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Old 15th July 2008
crayoxide crayoxide is offline
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I wanted reproduce this setup using FBSD.
ack!

Are you sure this is something that you really-really-really want to do? Even though the goal is noble and worthy, because you are asking it betrays a lack of working knowledge of Windows or FBSD or both.

If your PDC is in a stand-alone enviroment and is not in any trusted relationships, you could switch to a BSD sever for file storage and print services. But then you need to consider what services you are potentially losing (ie: DNS, DCHP, etc) and replace those on the FBSD box.

What about your users? How many are auth'ing against this AD box and for what reasons? And since you are getting rid of Exchange, what are you going to replace it with?

POP3 accounts?

Regardless this now means getting a mail server up and running and config'd to how your users are accustomed do doing business. Otherwise you now take on the role of mentor to retrain everyone to the "new" way. And since I am on the subject .. are you prepared to handle additional password resets? Because you cannot have users without password resets!

For all Microsoft's faults, administration of a user base that is in an office enviroment is pretty slick with Active Directory and group policy.

Depending your personal ratio of pain versus having-a-life and if your user base is < 10 ... I would say go for it.
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Old 15th July 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpetsmoker View Post
net/samba can act as PDC and print server.

I'm not sure about AD...
ummmm ... a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) *is* Active Directory.

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Old 15th July 2008
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Well, part of it maybe ... Regardless, samba can run as a PDC, while it can't do many of the other AD stuff...

Either that, or the samba docs are wrong ... Because according to the samba docs I set up a PDC last week...
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Old 15th July 2008
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Quote:
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Because according to the samba docs I set up a PDC last week...
The use of "PDC" in the context of Samba is misleading, IMO. While to some degree, yeah, it does have PDC like qualities, it lacks more than it has and I wish there was a better word/acronym to use instead of PDC.

Quote:
Originally Posted by samba.org
Samba-3 is not, and cannot act as, an Active Directory server. It cannot truly function as an Active Directory PDC. The protocols for some of the functionality of Active Directory domain controllers has been partially implemented on an experimental only basis. Please do not expect Samba-3 to support these protocols. Do not depend on any such functionality either now or in the future. The Samba Team may remove these experimental features or may change their behavior. This is mentioned for the benefit of those who have discovered secret capabilities in Samba-3 and who have asked when this functionality will be completed. The answer is maybe someday or maybe never!

To be sure, Samba-3 is designed to provide most of the functionality that Microsoft Windows NT4-style domain controllers have. Samba-3 does not have all the capabilities of Windows NT4, but it does have a number of features that Windows NT4 domain controllers do not have. In short, Samba-3 is not NT4 and it is not Windows Server 200x: it is not an Active Directory server. We hope this is plain and simple enough for all to understand.
http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/....html#id352849
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Old 15th July 2008
cgc2 cgc2 is offline
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Thanks fr all the responses. First of all, I am keeping my existing server - even though it is my personal learning server. I have a small domain with Exchange set up on it and it is running perfectly. It is for my own education that I want to try to set up something similar on the BSD platform. My overall goal is to have users on MS-based workstations sign on to a domain (with credentials that follow them, etc), just to see if I can do it. I print server, DNS server and a mail server would complete the picture. In the end, if someone can point me to one or more tutorials I woudl appreciate it.
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Old 16th July 2008
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Quote:
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My overall goal is to have users on MS-based workstations sign on to a domain (with credentials that follow them, etc), just to see if I can do it.
The most common recommendation for an open source alternative to Active Directory involves a combination of OpenLDAP and Samba. However, you may have to compromise your goals to fit reality.



I am too lazy to find anything on the subject for you, but I am sure that with google it should not be too hard.
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