[Samba] Use windbind to keep same passwords between NT4 DOM and linux email?

[2snows at mailandnews.com]

Hello--

I'm working my way through setting up an email server for faculty and staff
use at the school my wife teaches at, and while not a Linux whiz, am making
good progress so far. The school has a NT 4 server which is used for domain
authentication, and I am trying to grapple with whether I can achieve the
"holly grail" of synchronized passwords between the email server on Linux
and the NT server.

Looking at using winbind it appears that there are two potential issues:
1. The usernames from Linux perspective will be DOM+USERNAME. I could get
around half the problem this presents with email aliases, but users will
have to learn to log in using this format.

2. Home directories. This is something that I was not quite clear on from
the docs. They say:

=================================
template homedir
When filling out the user information for a Windows NT user, the winbindd
daemon uses this parameter to fill in the home directory for that user. If
the string %D is present it is substituted with the user's Windows NT
domain name. If the string %U is present it is substituted with the user's
Windows NT user name.Default: template homedir = /home/%D/%U

template shell
When filling out the user information for a Windows NT user, the winbindd
daemon uses this parameter to fill in the shell for that user.Default:
template shell = /bin/false
=================================

Is an actual home directory built for the user (in which I could store
email), or is it just an shell that is created on a temporary basis?

Those are the issues I can see from here; maybe the list will see more. I'm
planning on using qmail + courier-imap + squirrelmail and have a test setup
working of these on another machine.

Thanks for your insight and expertise,
Sam