[Samba] Samba 3 vs 4, User Maintenance

[Richard Hurt]

Hey all,

We are currently using an Apple XServe G5 as a PDC for 150 Windows XP  
Pro machines.  Everything worked well (sorta) under OS X 10.4 (Tiger)  
but when we upgraded to 10.5 (Leopard) it just fell apart.  I  
reinstalled the OS several times and tried everything I could to get  
it to work properly (i.e. log in more than 20 machines at once).  We  
have even opened a ticket with Apple to get some help, but they  
haven't been very responsive at all.

So, I am going to set up my own stand-along Samba box (Debian 4) to  
replace the old XServe.  My question is should I use Samba 3 or 4?  I  
know that 4 is still alpha but we really don't need much - a PDC and  
half a dozen file shares.  What do you think, would 4 be stable enough  
for this?  If not now, any thought as to when the beta period might  
begin?  I probably have until next Fall to really nail this down so I  
am willing to 'play' for a little bit.

On a related note, I noticed that SWAT was being dropped (or at least  
not worked on) for Samba 4.  What is a good replacement?  phpLDAPAdmin  
is great for what it does but it does *not work* in the education  
environment.  That's the one thing that Apple's solution has going for  
it - it looks darn pretty and is easy to use.  What does everyone else  
use for user, group, and share point management?  Is the AD tool kit  
(whatever that is) on Windows an option?

Thanx!
   Richard