Configuring Samba as a PDC

[Ben Pitzer]

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Hello,

I've got a relatively interesting problem here, and I need some more
information on how to resolve it before I begin.  Basically, this is the
gist:

I've got a large network, spread over three geographic areas.  We use a
subnetted private IP scheme.  Each area (one office per area) has it's own
10.*.0.0/16 subnet.  Each office also has one server acting as a
DCHP/Samba/NFS host.  We've assigned a workgroup name to each
office/subnet.  Currently, we can mount shares on other subnets by
specifying that host's IP or NetBIOS name, however we cannot browse to
remote shares.  We can browse and mount shares in the local workgroup,
however the remote workgroups do not even appear in the Network
Neighborhood.

The servers are each set up as local master browsers, and are set to
remote sync browse lists with one another, however we still cannot see
other workgroups if they are on separate subnets.  (If someone log gets a
DHCP IP on the local subnet, but has a different workgroup name configured
than the local name, then that workgroup shows up in the Network
Neighborhood.  It's just workgroups on other subnets which are missing.)

I've been told that the way to resolve this is to configure my one of the
Samba servers as a domain controller (there is no NT box on our network to
act as such)  I'm willing to try this, however I'm concerned about one
thing or two:  Will setting my Samba box up as a PDC mean that all of my
hosts must authenticate to that box upon startup?  Or can I simply keep my
authentication schemes the same as they have been (user authentication
performed by the host being accessed)?

My other question is this:  Will this provide me with the ability to
browse workgroups on remote subnets without having to configure individual
hosts and/or lmhosts files on each of my Windows machines?  I'd rather
roll out a central solution on this issue rather than a solution on a
'per host' basis.  That is way too time consuming, and would need me to
update it each time I added or removed a new host from the workgroups
(right?).

In any case, the more information you can provide to me, the better I'll
feel about the situation.  I'm sure that Samba is the way to go here, but
I'm just not sure how much work it'll be in the near term, and I need to
plan my projects and maintenance accordingly.

Regards,
Ben Pitzer

- -- 
Ben Pitzer
Systems Administrator
NeTraverse
http://www.netraverse.com
Email: ben at netraverse.com
Tel:   919-465-6400
Fax:   919-465-6401

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