[Samba] Re: Migrate BACK to WINDOWS -> Talk me out of it QUICK

[Chris McKeever]

I did some tests playing with a centralized termserv  and pulling
large documents to it, and printing large documents across the WAN ...
well, in general if I pulled a 100MB TIF it took about 20 minutes, it
then took about 3 minutes to print and spoll (all going back and forth
over a congested 1/2 T-1)

So - what I think I am going to attempt is to completely revamp my
network from the core up -- right now we are running full t-1's point
to point (hub and spoke) 1/2 data 1/2 digital voice .. for the time
being, I am going to roll some generic W2K servers to a coulpe
branches to see if the thin client concept will work...

If that pans out (which means ultimately I will reduce workstation
maintenance by 10 fold) I will begin to switch each location to a VOIP
solution, change to a 3Mbit DSL and VPN everything to the central
location - and cut the p2p T1.  At the central location I will roll
out a huge central file server as well as a central W2K3 termserv

This would reduce network administration drastically.  The one catch I
forsee is that some laptop users will want access to their files - I
am going to think that the 3Mbit will handle most traffic relatively
well

Outside of almost every computer relying on the central TERMSERV - I
think it is a pretty good solution .. I would most likely keep a
single XP workstation at each location to handle scanning and some
other small little items

Anyone see any major snafu's with this - outside of the large project
.. I dont have to roll out TERMSERVs to every location and I get to
maintain the samba backend (unfortunately its roll dimishes to print
servers)


On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 10:34:53 +1000, Chris Tepaske <chris at lincom.net.au> wrote:
> So what are you thinking? reinstall your remote servers with MS Terminal
> servers instead of Samba I'm assuming that each Samba server is DC and
> authenticated users. If this assumption is correct then you would want the
> terminal server installed as a DC? right. Well this sort of config is
> possible but it is certainly not recommended. You could possible exposing
> the SAM or the AD to the use base a major security hole, and depending on
> how may users you are authenticating you could be putting major strain on
> the server and impacting on performance. In fact you will need to make
> policy changes on your terminal servers to allow users to logon look at the
> following MS article
> (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;247989) basically
> depending on user base at remote sites you would more than likely always
> have some sort of DC; Samba or Microsoft plus any application server
> required i.e. a  terminal server. Basic network design always says limit
> network/authentication traffic over WAN links if you want happy users.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Chris Tepaske
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dragan Krnic [mailto:dkrnic at lycos.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 11:03 PM
> To: rruegner
> Cc: samba at samba.org
> Subject: [Samba] Re: Migrate BACK to WINDOWS -> Talk me out of it QUICK
> 
> If you can't be more specific than
> 
>    "Combine whatever is fitting best to your need and the users needs",
> 
> I don't see what your point is.
> 
> > i see no problem to have
> > different kinds of servers in one Network, if it makes sense from the
> > desired needs, i have serveral Terminal servers and a samba pdc, in
> > different offices and locations.
> > I would warn to make a pseudo religios discussion out of that.
> > Combine whatever is fitting best to your and the users needs.
> > for file services i would preffer samba ever.
> >
> >> I think I'm clear about what this young Jedi knight is asking. His
> >> conundrum is that he'll end up with way too many servers if he
> >> implements both a Windows Terminal Server and a Samba file and
> >> printer server on separate machines. Centralizing the Terminal Server
> >> on a big machine would entail dramatic traffic load on his thin 1/2
> >> T-1 wire, even if he leaves one Samba server on each site for files
> >> and printing. So basically he asks: Does it not make more sense to
> >> just add file and print services to the MS Windows Terminal Servers ?
> >>
> >> And the answer is: Of course, it doesnt!
> >> You don't wanna be on the wrong side of the Force, do you, Chris?
> >>
> >> The way I see it, Chris should put his w2k3 in a vmware sandbox on
> >> his quad opteron samba server, ideally. Then install some NX magic
> >> and live happily ever after, with one central Samba server, (+
> >> stand-by) subleting a couple of w2k3 avatars under vmware. Or vice
> >> versa.
> >>
> >> Let the Force be with you,
> >> Yoda
> >>
> >>
> >>>sorry but i am not clear what is your Question?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>Not thinking about migrating back due to issues, it is more due to
> >>>>implementation needs and a little situation I have been wrestling
> >>>>with for a bit now, and would love some feedback
> >>>>
> >>>>First a little history:
> >>>>
> >>>>We currently have 10 locations connected via a dedicated 1/2 T-1.
> >>>>Last year I migrated from a WINNT domain to a Samba/LDAP domain. It
> >>>>has been running great. Basically did this for license reasons as
> >>>>well as reduced administrative horror.
> >>>>
> >>>>NOW:
> >>>>
> >>>>We have just started to roll out Thinstation thin-clients  that are
> >>>>connecting to Win TSRV servers.
> >>>>What is being planned is 1 Terminal Server per location.
> >>>>This will significantly reduce the adminstrative nightmare on
> >>>>multiple Windows boxes and centralize it.
> >>>>However, this is where I start to feel that I am having too many
> >>>>servers per location, seeing that the windows server could do what
> >>>>the Samba server is doing, I am in debate about moving back to
> >>>>windows (I have will need to licenses and boxes there anyhows)
> >>>>
> >>>>One other option is just ot house a ginormous WIN-TSRV at the
> >>>>central location. However, I am afraid of issues with printing back
> >>>>to the remote locations (pushing large files through the 1/2 T-1 to
> >>>>print).
> >>>>
> >>>>A Another option is to remove the samba servers from the remote
> >>>>location, and just have a samba PDC with authenticating windows tsrv
> >>>>machines. - I dont like this option for some reason
> >>>>
> >>>>I really dont want to move away from the SAMBA backend, but at the
> >>>>same time dont want to stay with it just because I 'like it' and I
> >>>>'want to'. So I am looking for discussion/arguements as to why I
> >>>>should stay with the Samba server and a win-tsrv server, as opposed
> >>>>to just moving to a MS backend.
> >>>>
> >>>>Please Obi-won Kenobi, you are our only help! thanks
> 
> 
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