[Samba] maybe I should explain what i am after!

[joop gerritse]

I have sent a few messages already, but perhaps I should start from the other 
side, and give a clear indication of what I want to achieve. Well, here 
goes...

I am working for a volunteer organization. They have quite a few Windows 
workstations, most W98, and a few XPs (and, currently, one Vista). There is 
one Linux server, running Samba, and holding all shares. It also acts as the 
PDC, and all users can log in to it.

Now this server begins to be somewhat flaky, and I should like to add a second 
server, initially to act as a BDC, then to take over the operation so I can 
take down the current server and find out what' s wrong with it. Copying the 
data is no problem (it is some 300G, so it took some time), but then?

I started just copying the smb.conf from the primary controller, and setting 
the priority somewhat lower. I assumed that it would just lose the election 
from the PDC, and still stay present, and available.

I am aware of the difficulties of keeping the user directories in sync; this 
would, in due course, require LDAP, but for the moment I decided that the 
user population is quite stable, so I just copy /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow 
and smbpasswd over in the --rare-- event that a user is added or removed.

1. It is quite hard to even make the second controller visible. In fact, I had 
to include a remote announce = <Ip address of PDC>/<workgroup name> line 
before it even showed up in Network Environment. And I am quite unsure 
whether this is the right way, it just worked, to some extent.

2. I am not sure whether the backup domain controller will function as such. 
How could I be? If I take down the primary I might find out, but the server 
is too critical for the whole organization to just try. How can I make sure 
that a BDC will work without taking down the PDC?

3. And then there is the irregular behavior which I mentioned before. 
Sometimes the host is visible, but the shares are inaccessible; sometimes I 
can even get a view of the shares, but I cannot access them. In addition, i 
have a far simpler configuration at home, where I can just read and write to 
the shares. So I know it can be done, but what are the rules?

And I am no Windows expert. I know quite a lot about Linux, but the apparent 
(lack of) logic in Windows baffles me.

That is the background. Maybe it helps to get the right answers. thanks in 
advance for any attempts.

BTW I am quite happy with an RTFM answer, as long as it's accompanied with a 
URL. I have read quite a few FMs, but so far without real enlightenment...