[Samba] Samba3 to Samba4 migration: Databases and backend.

[Alexandre Beauclair]

Hi!

We're currently in the process of evaluating an upgrade from our current setup (Samba3 with Kerberos/OpenLDAP and Bind), to Samba4.

When we started reading about the migration process, we were led to believe that OpenLDAP wasn't fully supported in Samba4, and thus decided to use Samba4's builtin solution.
Then upon reading the How-To on the Wiki, the "Migrating from LDAP backend" section shows how to migrate the database into another OpenLDAP database using slapcat and slapadd.
Information on multiple forum threads seem to contradict itself more than once.
Is OpenLDAP really not the way to go anymore, or is the information stating it is somewhat deprecated too old?
Is there any downside as to use OpenLDAP with Samba4 (such as the inability to use GPOs on our Windows clients)?

Since we were not sure about the previous, we decided to try an upgrade in our test environment, and stick with Samba4's builtin database.
Is there a way to import our user and group data from our previous OpenLDAP database into Samba4's builtin database?
I have seen a ldbadd tool which I believe might be what I am looking for, although my attempts at importing the data from my LDIF file have proven unsuccessful.

We would like to be able to migrate from Samba3 to Samba4 while preserving our user information, including passwords. Is it possible to do so from our current setup to Samba4?
Being able to aggregate all the necessary services under Samba4 has a lot of appeal, but I am not sure as how I should proceed.

I have just begun working with Samba and LDAP, and therefore I am sorry if my questions might seem obvious, but I am trying to make sense of it all.

Thank you for any help you can provide!


Alexandre