On 12/7/05, Bryan J. Smith thebs413@earthlink.net wrote:
Samba has supported PDC/BDC functionality since 2.0, replication compatibility with native NT 4.0 PDC/BDCs as of 2.2+ (i.e., be a BDC to a native NT 4.0 PDC, or a PDC with native NT 4.0 BDCs).
I don't think that that Samba can serve as a PDC to NT 4.0 BDCs (or vice versa); the HOWTO says it's impossible, and the 2.2 release notes make no mention of it.
It can _replace_ a native W2K ADS DC as of Samba 3.0, or be its "bitch" -- i.e., a "member server" in a native W2K ADS domain. It can't, however, be a peer DC to a native W2K ADS DC, and it probably never will, at least completely.
This is incorrect. Samba 3.0 cannot be a native ADS DC; that feature will be added in Samba 4.
ADS then offers MS-Kerberos for authentication and a sprawling set of schema and, more incompatibly, arbitrary Win32 services integrated with it. It's because of that latter fact that you will probably _never_ be able to use Samba as a DC to various servers that require native Windows W2K ADS (e.g., SQL Server, Exchange, etc...).
Another advantage of ADS/change in ADS relative to NT 4.0 is that it uses DNS rather than NetBIOS name resolution and lets you get rid of NetBIOS completely if you wish.
However, Samba-CUPS SMB-IPP integration can be very, very powerful, including not only the ability to automatically install drivers, but set _proper_ configurations of the printers from the centralized CUPS interface. I.e., when all your printers are Postscript with their own, rich PPD (Postscript Printer Definition) files (or CUPS provides a rich Postscript PPD for a non-PS printer), you can pre-configure the printer and set the defaults for print-queues and they will be set for your Windows users -- all from the CUPS web interface.
E.g., you can configure the memory size, various tray options, etc... just *1* time, then those configurations are set in the printer settings on every Windows client. That way you don't have to go around and do it manually on Windows clients or, worse yet, your users dork with the settings.
Can't you do the same thing using raw printing, by configuring the printer in Windows?
Josh Kelley