[Samba] PDC & file server on same machine?

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Wed, 2011-12-07 at 17:03 -0600, John Heim wrote:
> How much of a resource hog is a PDC? My understanding is that authentication 
> is done vs a BDC if available. I configured my new file server as the domain 
> PDC because I figured it would already have to run samba. I have two other 
> machines configured as BDCs to serve as logon servers
> I'm looking for opinions on whether I'm asking for performance problems by 
> making my file server the PDC. Actually, this machine is already serving as 
> PDC but its not in production yet as a file server. So right now, its just 
> the domain PDC. When I log into the domain and "echo %logonserver%", it 
> shows that one of the BDCs was the logon server, not the PDC. It doesn't 
> look like the PDC has to do anything but handle joining machines to the 
> domain.

There really isn't an answer for your question.  The load implied by
being a DC depends on the number of clients and how heavily they are
used.  If you have only a hundred or so clients, in my experience, the
load is pretty mild [for modern hardware/networks].

With Samba3 domain control there isn't really a BDC/PDC distinction.
Every box is a PDC that operates in parallel with the other DCs.  That
is a bit different than a true NT4 domain.