Debian Sarge Samba LDAP configuration

I'm trying to set up a Debian/Sarge server as a PDC using Samba and
LDAP. I've been following the Spokane Linux User Group howto on the
subject
(http://www.spokanelinux.org/modules/...hp/LdapOnSarge) and
everything works - almost - until I get to the part about populating the
database using the smbldap-tools.

When I say almost, I also can't seem to use net getlocalsid to react
properly. It returns what looks like a valid sid, but only after
complaining about invalid credentials when trying to access the ldap
server. However, smbpasswd -w has set the password in secrets.tdb
correctly (at least that's what it looks like if I cat -v
/var/lib/samba/secrets.tdb) in that I can see my password in clear text
in the file near my dc entries.

Beyond that the smbldap tool to populate the directory complains about
invalid credentials too. "No superior authority" to add a pile of what
look like standard windows groups, etc.. to the database.

I've gone through the various .conf and pam.d files many times and they
all look good - as far as conforming to the Spokane instructions go.
testparm doesn't find anything wrong with my smb.conf either.

Open to suggestions on how to fix this!