[Samba] NT4 Roaming Profiles

[Rowland Penny]

On Wed, 2022-06-15 at 09:16 -0400, Philippe LeCavalier via samba wrote:
> On Wed., Jun. 15, 2022, 7:10 a.m. Michael Tokarev via samba, <
> samba at lists.samba.org> wrote:
> 
> > 15.06.2022 13:18, Andrea Venturoli via samba wrote:
> > 
> > > In my experience Roaming Profiles have never worked vaguelly
> > > fine.
> > > With Windows 10, it's even worse, as, as you say, they never
> > > completely
> > load (althoug this is mostly a non critical error).
> > 
> > We've been using roaming profiles since samba 2.x times,
> > with all versions of windows since winXP. Used them a lot
> > on many networks, small and large(ish), including NT domains
> > and - starting with this year - AD.
> > 
> > And I can say it all definitely works and works exactly as
> > intended.  Yes we had one or another issue here and there
> > over the years, that's for sure, but that's kinda expected
> > too.
> > 
> > FWIW.
> > 
> > /mjt
> 
> 
> I agree with this and have also been using them with good success for
> over
> a decade now and at least 5 years on AD
> 
> What Andrea mentions about permissions isn't without value but set
> correctly in accordance with the wiki roaming profiles will work with
> no
> error for the majority of desktops and environments. The whole apps
> vs
> installed programs is a big issue with all things and personally
> would
> avoiding the whole app approach. Certain processes for tmp files can
> cause
> issue such as Outlook attachments but with proper education your
> users can
> avoid that and the profiles will load cleanly and quickly. Last but
> not
> least, don't forget about redirected folders! Without that aspect
> roaming
> profiles are a complete nightmare.

Yes, roaming profiles can be a nightmare, especially if your users
never delete anything.

A bigger problem is coming though, NT4 domains are going away, it is
not a case of if, but of when and that could be sooner than you think
or realise.

I suggest that anyone still running an NT4 domain, if they are not
already doing so, starts making plans to upgrade to AD.

It is doubtful that you will just be cut adrift. It is likely that an
'LTS' type Samba version that uses SMBv1 will be released, but this
release will probably only be maintained for a number of years and is
unlikely to get the 'love' that the standard version does. 
Note: this is just my interpretation of what I have read in various
places, it could be totally different in the end, but there will be
major changes.

Rowland