Samba as member server in Win2k domain

[Dan Perik Work]

I've been given the task of evaluating the possiblities of
migrating away from our Novell file server to either
Linux/Samba or Win2000.  I am very much in favor of going
the Linux/Samba route.  I've even gotten the domain logins
from our Win2000 clients working and everything.  There are
some issues, though.  Our soon-to-be implemented accounting
system relies on 2 Win2000 servers and subsequently, clients
of this accounting system rely on the Win2000 domain (DATA)
for their authentication.  Unfortunately, the Win2000 domain
is running Active Directory, not "legacy" WinNT mode.

My question is, can Samba participate in a Win2000 domain as
a member server?  This is the deal, the 2 Win2000 servers
each have 10 client access licenses (which is all we need
for our accounting system).  Our entire network has about 70
clients.  I don't want to go through the expense for another
copy of Win2000 server, and the extra client access licenses
that would be necessary to host the fileserving on Win2000.
So if Samba can be a member server, and if our clients log
in to the domain (authenticate via the Win2000 Domain
Controller) and only access shares on the Samba server, can
we get around having to get the extra client licenses?  I
would rather not do it this way, but if we're going to use
Linux/Samba as the PDC for our file serving, we would
probably need to use a different domain than the Win2000
machines, causing more complexity - the issue we're trying
to avoid.  We Could reinstall the 2 Win2000 servers, and run
the domain in legacy mode, but that's not the most wonderful
option, either.  Especially since that's someone else's
jurisdiction, and they wouldn't go for that too easily.

Any suggestions/answers?

- Dan