[Samba] Re: General Samba question

[Sinner from the Prairy]

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jzemanek at sas.upenn.edu va escriure:

> Greetings to all.

Greetings!
 
> I am currently a bit of a newbie in regards using Linux and Samba. I have

We all have been newbies. Just keep learning.

> worked for several years in the IT/digital divide sector of the nonprofit
> world (particularly in regards to utilizing used and refurbished hardware). I
> am have a couple of CompTIA certs. (A+ and N+) and some experience
> administering Windows 2000 Advanced Server.

Excellent.
 
> I am currently working with a teacher at an inner city public high school.
> Recently the school allocated a significant portion of its budget to building
> a state-of-the-art computer lab. The room contains 30 machines (Gateway
> Pentium 4) loaded with Windows XP.

Oh, well. Are they XP Home or XP Professional?
 
> However, the school did not a purchase a server for the classroom. The
> teacher desperately wants a server in the classroom to centrally hold all
> student classwork. He also wants to implement user level security on this
> server as well as centralized domain security for all the work stations. I
> have procured a Pentium III computer (500 mhz, 256 MB RAM) to be used as a
> server. 

Good machine. The more RAM, the better, though.

> Right now, I have the choice of purchasing a copy of Windows 2000
> Advanced Server or loading it with Linux. My choice will be based price, ease
> of set up, and ease of administration.

Then, you want to use either Mandrake 9.1, Red Hat 9 or SuSE 8.1 (the latest
one)
 
They are all very easy to use. All have good administration tools, both
graphical (like WindowS) and command line. In the end, Linux is Linux is Linux
is Linux.

For example, I use Mandrake and Red Hat servers.

> So the question...can a Linux machine loaded with SAMBA be used as a domain
> controller for a group of Windows-based workstations? 

Yes.

> If so, how difficult is the set up?

It's not trivial, that's true. But it is fairly well documented. Starting
without a previously existing domain, simplifies things quite a lot.

> and maintenance of the domain?

* Install (security/bug) updates as they are released (subscribe to security
lists from Mandrake/SuSe/RedHat). It's very easy, point-and-click, on all of
them (or very simple, with command-line tools).

* Check for disk space and make sure everyone is happy.

That's about it.

I'd recommend you to acquire a boxed distribution with the CDs and *printed*
documentation, to start OK and have the printed documentation to guide you.

It would be a good idea also to contact with your local/near Linux Users Group
(LUG). All the LUGs that I know have very knowledgeable people that can help.

> Any thought and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Hope this helps.
 
> Regrards,
> 
> Jon



Salut,
Sinner
- -- 
http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/
Linux User # 89976     Linux Machine # 38068
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