samba PDC on production systems

[iinfi1]

hi all
i have a question about configuring samba PDC on a production system.
we have an MNC client who wants to get away from windows AD environment and move to linux based DC.
they have about 500-700 odd Windows/Linux users across different countries. Is it advisable to recommend samba PDC in such a situation. I know samba configured correctly can cater to thousands of users.
but for a company which runs mission critical systems with max uptime, is running samba PDC advisable?
or is it more advisable to recommend RHDS or Novell eDirectory.

Secondly, are samba PDCs used in mid to big size commercial establishments. wat about its performance and ease of manageability?
sry if the question is too silly.
Mostly i find commercial establishments using Windows AD or eDir. hence the question.

thanks

[Ivan Ferreira · Accepted solution]

Depending of the customer needs and preferences SAMBA may or not be advisable.

If the client wants to "get rid" of their Windows AD, that is an advantage. SAMBA has a lot of limitations compared agains an Windows Directory Server, and "easy management" depends of the tools that you are able to install to ease the administration.

To be able to configure a directory across countries, you do need a directory server besides SAMBA. The initial planning and configuration requires lot of work and most of them must be done by very skilled technicians.

>>> but for a company which runs mission critical systems with max uptime, is running samba PDC advisable?

Ensure to get a Linux Distro with commercial support.

>>> or is it more advisable to recommend RHDS or Novell eDirectory.

You need a directory server + SAMBA

>>> samba PDCs used in mid to big size commercial establishments. wat about its performance and ease of manageability?

SAMBA is a reverse engineering of the SMB protocol. To manage Windows networks, it would be better to use a Windows DC (Group policies, software distribution, delegation wizars, etc)

>>> wat about its performance

On what? Authenticating users? Replication? File and print services?

And you should also evaluate skilled are the client's systems administrators.

[iinfi1]

sorry for not answering earlier.
thank you for your response.
all in all what i can decipher from your post is,
if the client wants to move away from a windows environment to a linux based one, it is advisable to go for Novel Open Enterprise server with Zen Works which will work out as a much more cost effective option and an easier to manage option.
did i get it right?

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Samba is a good alternative to being the PDC than windows.

Windows is costly, buggy and the job can be done better by Linux and Samba. I would use a server class box in a data center for the job.

A cookbook:
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/0596006403/linuxckbk-CHP-23-SECT-12

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596006402/

You will find unless you want an exchange mail server to run on the PDC (It can run elsewhere) Linux will do a better job than windows as PDC

SEP

[iinfi1]

thank you steven