[Samba] Suggestions please about what I need.

[Steve Campbell]

On 5/12/2014 9:16 AM, Jack Downes wrote:
> One thing you could do is download the turnkeylinux version of samba - 
> http://www.turnkeylinux.org/fileserver, and if you like it, duplicated 
> it in Centos. They use Webmin for their user/group mgmt, and that's 
> fine for smaller outfits, but if you are in a larger place, you likely 
> have ADS there already, or might want to look at openldap, opends, 
> whatever for convenient user management. Anyway, that little turnkey 
> appliance is slick as can be, might just help you out - at least see 
> how someone else did it, and you can have one right there next to you 
> to compare contrast with how your setup is working/not.
>
> Jack
>
> On 05/12/14 06:33, Steve Campbell wrote:
>> I hate to use that "noob" word, but in this case I think it might be 
>> proper.
>>
>> Our company is getting ready to get rid of Netware and start using 
>> Samba. It will require that users log in and by doing so, have a 
>> login script map drives to particular drive letters base on either 
>> their user or group.
>>
>> I've been administering Centos servers for quite a while. I have no 
>> problem with managing the Linux servers, but Samba appears to be a 
>> completely unique subject on its own, much like Sendmail, etc. I've 
>> read "Using Samba", and about anything else I can get my hands on, 
>> including as much of the "Howto" matter on the Samba site. I still 
>> have no idea how complex of a setup I need (AD or not, things like 
>> that). I don't think we'll be doing things like installing licensed 
>> software from the server, mostly just as I stated above.
>>
>> For now, I'm fairly certain I'll use the Sernet installation. I'll be 
>> retiring soon, and I want to make things as easy as possible for 
>> whomever takes over. It'd be great if whatever I end up with has some 
>> form of GUI for managing users, groups, and shares, but not 
>> necessary. The person managing our Netware will be the one assuming 
>> this Samba responsibilty. No Linux experience, so the Gui would make 
>> it nice as they learn the ropes of LInux.
>>
>> I'm looking for suggestions here for what level of installation I 
>> need. I'm sure once I get something installed, I can determine if 
>> it's the right way or not. Starting over is not off the table, but 
>> it'd be nice to get a clue before starting. Seems the more I read, 
>> the more confused I get. So much to Samba and the way it can be set 
>> up. I'm not much of a Windows server admin, which is perhaps the 
>> biggest problem.
>>
>> Thanks for any pointers.
>>
>> steve campbell
>>
>>
>
Thanks Jack.

I use webmin for my server management for some tasks, so I understand 
user/group management using webmin. Question now is - what is a small 
outfit? I'm guessing we have about 200 users that would need to mount 
from this server. The servers we'll be using are pretty hefty, multiple 
CPUs/cores, tons or RAM, NICs all over the place. It seems some flavors 
of configuration will handle both Samba users and Linux users, while 
other flavors require individual user management for each side.

I meant to mention in the OP, redundancy is a must and possible failover 
would be great. My take on this is that AD is like the Cadillac of 
Samba, and anything less is like Chevy. We'll have two servers for this, 
each a mirror of the other (meaning redundancy). I'm not sure whether I 
need or must have LDAP, or will one of the other password schemes 
suffice for this amount of users? I haven't figured out whether I can do 
all of this with one server (AD/DC) or whether I need two (AD->DC).

There's not a lot of Samba4 reference books out there. Sorry.

steve