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Unix in NT Environment

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by cviehweg 1 view

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I manage a NT Domain. I will be incorporating into the domain a small Unix workgroup. I wish to use the NT controllers to validate the Unix users as well as the existing NT domain users. Someone please point me in the direction of what I should be studying to prepare for this transition and are there any tricks or stumps anyone else may have worked through which will help me.

7 replies

by karsudha

u need to install SERVICES FOR UNIX which is sold as a separate package unlike novell & mac connectivity which r integrated into NT4.

by cviehweg

Thanks, but that is not quite what I was asking for. I have Windows NT services for Unix, but the docs are slim pickens. I was hoping more for someone providing "lessons learned" or links to better "how to's" than is provided as part of MS product.

by ewing bettles

Recently, a department that had always managed their own network and resources (mostly UNIX/LINUX) was incorporated into the mainstream IT department where I manage an NT domain (4 DC's,20+ servers). Their UNIX admin established SAMBA services throughout their LINUX/UNIX machine, configured to use our DC's for authentication. There were a couple of changes required on the NT DC's regarding the way it would accept passwords, but not too much trouble at all. Everything works great now, with the added benefit of having access to LINUX/UNIX file and print resources from the NT clients.

I beleive that SAMBA is by far the best avenue for you to research, and to that end it would be good to check www.samba.org, as well as search the TechRepublic site for references to SAMBA - there are a lot of articles/questions that discuss various hazards/traps/pitfalls and successes in detail.

Best of luck, -Ewing

by cavedweller

I Use SAMBA too but I'm not sure it will do what you want.

What it does is allow NT users to access files on your Unix servers. You set up a configuration similar to the nfs exports or dfstab to describe what to share. The Unix server authenticates the requester with the NT domain controller before granting access.

What it doesn't do (at least my version) is allow Unix to authenticate logins with an NT domain controller. There is some procedure to synchronize passwords, check with samba.org as previously suggested. The Sams "Teach Yourself SAMBA..." book was useful.

How much integration do you really need? File sharing, mail distribution and printing? Do you want users to have a single account/password to log in to either system?

If you use the same NT and Unix account names the SAMBA setup is fairly simple. You can setup generic shares so that anyone can get to their Unix home from the NT Network Neighborhood. I setup a couple of common document interchange sharesand shared them too. You can map account names but it's a lot more work. Periodically changing passwords on both systems isn't really that much of a burden, just setup similar password policies and users can use the same password both places.

My best advice is to keep things as simple as possible. Identify what is really critical and focus on that. Train users on how to use what you create.

Good Luck!

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