[Samba] Re: what to do ??

[paul kölle]

Greg Andrews wrote:
> The school has the ability to obtain a microsoft solution at no cost (
> except for the new hardware required, which is the reason for this email
> in the first place ).
So a different solution would only make sense if it doesn't need new 
hardware...
> 
> Advice and opinions are sought on the following points
> 
> 1. do I go microsoft
> 2. do I stick with novell ( I am aware of a "misty" who recently migrated
> from netware to linux ) and perhaps move to netware 6 ( cost about $3000 )
If that's cheaper than new hardware for $MS, I'd do that.

> 3. do I move to samba.
AFAIK, you can use NDS through LDAP, (at least with recent versions) as 
backend for samba (extending the schema in NDS), or use another LDAP 
product...

> 4. do I make a hybrid and pick the eyes out of each system
> 
> Now I fully expect most people to say go linux  and whilst I am all for it
> I need to be able to justify my decision . I am capable of administering a
> netware system and have a rudimentry samba server system running at
> another place  ( no ldap ) so am familiar with samba to some degree but
> have ( up until now ) steered clear  of the inferior microsoft server
> packages ( also have little experience with them ).So some traing costs in
>  samba and microsoft should be included in the mix. Netware I am
> conversant with.
Personally, I found (Open)LDAP hard to grasp, there are still small 
details/constraints/pitfalls I'm picking up time by time, which are 
important for the big picture one should know (unfortunately you need 
that knowledge upfront when designing your directory, it's generally 
hard to change things later). It's a great piece of software with 
endless flexibility and possibilities but that doesn't come for free... ;)

> 
> One major consideration will be that I would like to be able to run a
> single  user database. ldap I think will accomplish this. I am currently
> using netware's nds to do this.
Evaluate what you need to do/by to use NDS with samba, AFAIK support for 
samba and "Netware universal password" has been added recently, you may 
ask here for details.

> can samba run as a susserver ?
Nope, but you can install SUS on a normal XP box by "hacking" the 
installer...

hth
  Paul