[Samba] Registering hostnames with an AD server?

[Paul Smith]

It seems like most people here are asking pretty advanced questions, and
I don't think this is one--but I've read a lot of documentation and I
can't come up with an answer.

We have a 100% Windows-based IT infrastructure here, including using AD
to manage hostname mapping.  I know hardly anything about Windows, since
I've been a UNIX person for 20+ years and I've been overwriting any
Windows installation with Linux for a lot of those years.

Our IT folks say that they don't add hostnames directly to AD, like you
would with BIND or similar; instead (they say) the desktop owner sets
the hostname in some Windows system dialog, and that hostname is then
forwarded to the AD server (I assume), which makes it available through
DNS for non-Windows systems.  This does appear to work: I can ping, etc.
to peoples' Windows desktops.

So now I want to add my Linux desktop and have the same hostname setting
happen... but I can't figure out how to get it to work.  Most of the
docs I see are all about configuring Samba servers, but I don't have or
want a Samba server; I need my Linux client to talk to a Windows server.
The howto's that talk about Linux as a Windows client discuss mounting
SMB shares (which I have done and works fine) and/or hooking up
password/group/etc. databases to AD (which I don't need to do since our
IT folks have installed Windows for UNIX or whatever, and I get all that
through NIS which works fine).

All I need to do is get my hostname set up properly so other people can
access my system.  Can I do that?  Can someone either tell me how or
point me in the right direction in the docs (which Samba tool would be
used, for example)?

Thanks!

-- 
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 Paul D. Smith <psmith at netezza.com>                       http://netezza.com
 "Please remain calm--I may be mad, but I am a professional."--Mad Scientist
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      These are my opinions--Netezza takes no responsibility for them.