Linux Domain Logon

Hi Folks,

after googling around quite a bit I wasn't able to find a solution to
my question, so I am asking the community for an advice / help:

I am running a private network at home with a RH9 Router, RH9 Samba -
/ DNS - / and Mail server as well as a Solaris Sparc HTTP Server since
some years now, but without a GUI but a command line login instead.
At the moment I have connected 2 Notebooks and 4 Workstations, all
with Windows XP Professional, (no local users except root, working
with a Domain login at the samba server) and I am fed up with Updating
/ antivirussing etc. with the MS operating system.
I thought of changing all the Workstations over to Unix and kicking
out MS.
The major software used on the Workstations is also available in the
Unix World (Star Office, CD - Burning Software, Graphical Tools,
Multimedia Software, Mailers etc.) and for the few programs which are
not there is wine, which hopefully can handle the rest.
I just installed a freshly formatted SCSI HD in one of the
Workstations to test wether my idea would work out practically.

First of all there is the Question of the operating system to use:
Should I use Solaris 9 X86 or RedHat 9?
The Operating Systems GUI should be easy to handle (for my wife an
kids who are used to the MS Stuff).
Surely this forum isn't the best to ask this question but possibly
someone could give me some hints on that too.

Then, the next and for me most important thing is:
What do I have to do / what software do I need to have an equivalent
to the MS Domain Logon?
I want to (keep, as I have it now) 1 passwd with the actual users on
my central RH9 Fileserver (Samba PDC), so that I doesn't have to
bother with local logins on the Workstations.

Does anybody has some advice for me?

Axel Dahmen

On 2004-10-10, Axel Dahmen <axda@arcor.de> wrote:
> What do I have to do / what software do I need to have an equivalent
> to the MS Domain Logon?

You can run your workstation using an LDAP login, or NIS to
sync local users to a central repository, or you could use
a diskless approach and just not have the OS on the machine itself.

Davide

--
US Navy uses NT. Saddam, Gadafi, it's party time!

-- Havlik Denis

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 05:36:09 -0700, Axel Dahmen wrote:
>
> The major software used on the Workstations is also available in the
> Unix World (Star Office, CD - Burning Software, Graphical Tools,
> Multimedia Software, Mailers etc.) and for the few programs which are
> not there is wine, which hopefully can handle the rest.

The applications are the only real "issue" with making the switch. As
long as you are happy with the *nix offerings, everything else in the
"conversion" is rather trivial.

> First of all there is the Question of the operating system to use:
> Should I use Solaris 9 X86 or RedHat 9?

Though you will hit holy wars on this from some people, you should really
choose the OS that you are more familiar and comfortable with. Some data
points:
- Solaris is really made for the Sun's Sparc boxes. Of course they have
he x86 port and their marketing may say different, x86 is by far a second
lass citizen in the Solaris world.
- Linux's "primary" platform is x86. Of course it's ported to nearly
everything including your toaster, it's most comfortable place is x86.
- Linux is going to support much more "PC" hardware and gadgets than
Solais will.

> The Operating Systems GUI should be easy to handle (for my wife an
> kids who are used to the MS Stuff).

Both support and "ship" Gnome. Sun's installation is very basic and ships
with very few applications and tools installed. Linux is pretty much
ready to go.

> Then, the next and for me most important thing is:
> What do I have to do / what software do I need to have an equivalent
> to the MS Domain Logon?
> I want to (keep, as I have it now) 1 passwd with the actual users on
> my central RH9 Fileserver (Samba PDC), so that I doesn't have to
> bother with local logins on the Workstations.

The answer for both Linux and Solaris is to use LDAP to manage all of the
user accounts centrally. Then you can share out the home directories with
NFS.

Good luck,
Chris

Axel Dahmen wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> after googling around quite a bit I wasn't able to find a solution to
> my question, so I am asking the community for an advice / help:
>
> I am running a private network at home with a RH9 Router, RH9 Samba -
> / DNS - / and Mail server as well as a Solaris Sparc HTTP Server since
> some years now, but without a GUI but a command line login instead.
> At the moment I have connected 2 Notebooks and 4 Workstations, all
> with Windows XP Professional, (no local users except root, working
> with a Domain login at the samba server) and I am fed up with Updating
> / antivirussing etc. with the MS operating system.
> I thought of changing all the Workstations over to Unix and kicking
> out MS.
> The major software used on the Workstations is also available in the
> Unix World (Star Office, CD - Burning Software, Graphical Tools,
> Multimedia Software, Mailers etc.) and for the few programs which are
> not there is wine, which hopefully can handle the rest.
> I just installed a freshly formatted SCSI HD in one of the
> Workstations to test wether my idea would work out practically.
>
> First of all there is the Question of the operating system to use:
> Should I use Solaris 9 X86 or RedHat 9?
> The Operating Systems GUI should be easy to handle (for my wife an
> kids who are used to the MS Stuff).
> Surely this forum isn't the best to ask this question but possibly
> someone could give me some hints on that too.
>
> Then, the next and for me most important thing is:
> What do I have to do / what software do I need to have an equivalent
> to the MS Domain Logon?
> I want to (keep, as I have it now) 1 passwd with the actual users on
> my central RH9 Fileserver (Samba PDC), so that I doesn't have to
> bother with local logins on the Workstations.
>
> Does anybody has some advice for me?
>
> Axel Dahmen
I have a very similar setup working fine from a networking perspective.
Read up on Samba, that's what makes MS PC's work with Unix. For most
'real' work that people do, Linux apps are ok. OpenOffice replaces MS
Office quite well.
But what do you do when you need to run quicken (or quicktax) for
accounting? My wife's RealEstate MLS system only likes MSIE (although
you can fake it with some flavours of mozilla) My kids play games and
need shockwave plug-ins in the browser. They chat with MS and Yahoo
chat. They want to burn CD's (some people here think that a collection
of scripts to convert the mp3's and burn the CD is a usable solution for
non-technical people). Digital camera's, video camera's, and other
periphals like 'all in one' printers can cause problems. You will
probably spend alot more time as sysadmin trying to make their stuff
work, and hear endless whining 'why can't we use Windoze?'

I run my business with Linux, and do almost everything I *need* with
Linux (except quicken) and I never crash, never get silly popups,
spyware, virii, or ads for penis enlargement. For me that is worth much
more than being MS compatible, but don't assume everyone see's it that way.

Rob

PS. You can start weening them of MS by introducing them to OpenOffice.
I helped a non-technical employee put this on her home PC and she was
very glad that it saved her so much money, and likes it more than Word.
Evolution (email) is another step in the right direction.

Hi,

thanks a lot for your thoughts.
At the moment I made up a list of MS-Programs which we need urgently.
I am trying to get them running with wine at the moment.
If I am successful I will go on with the rest, reading me through the
LDAP HowTos and setting up LDAP on my systems.
I am familiar with solaris, RH Linux and SCO, but I guess I will stick
to RH as the Workstations operating system, i guess it is a bit faster
on x86 computers and there is more software available.

I thought of having SUNs new "Java Desktop System" running on the
Workstation later, as I heared that there should be a "feel alike MS
Windows", although it is based on Gnome.
The only thing is that SUN does not offer a evaluation Version for
Linux but only for Solaris. So I have to set up a Solaris Workstation
to have it tested before I buy the Linux Version. Anyhow I am not
quite shure wether the Windows / Wine Programs which run under Linux /
Gnome will run under SUNs Java Desktop System as well. I will try to
contact SUN and ask for it.
Time is quite short because SUN is offering the Java Desktop System
(50$ instead of 100$) for half its origin Price until December ...

Axel