[Fedora-directory-users] Forgive the misunderstandings of a "newb"

Scott Ackerman lists at scott-ackerman.com
Fri Feb 9 14:51:17 UTC 2007


Thanks Nathan, but where did I miss that in the how-to?

Nathan Kinder wrote:
> lists at scott-ackerman.com wrote:
>> I thought I was smart until I dove into LDAP. I am the sole part-time IT
>> Manager for a charter school (240 students, 20 staff, 60 computers) and
>> am migrating away from a Windows server environment to Linux. The only
>> services that are being provided by a Windows server now are AD, file
>> and print sharing services. Since we are turning about 15 of our student
>> computers into Linux stations, I decided on a "simpler" method of
>> managing authentication, login etc. and chose Fedora Directory Server
>> (after having beat my head against the wall with strictly OpenLDAP for a
>> month). I have successfully set up FDS and entered all students and
>> staff. I have decided not to sync against our AD server because we are
>> changing the student login method, the old format was locker number for
>> user name and then a password. I have decided to use the first.last name
>> for user name and then a password.
>>
>> I am trying to set up posix authentication and Samba and am having
>> difficulties with both, technical on the former and understanding on the
>> latter. First posix, I have followed the how to on the FDS Wiki, but
>> there seems to be some steps missing. I have gotten an authenticated
>> student logon, but only after having created an account on the local
>> machine with the same UID. I made sure that the password was different
>> in FDS than when I created the user on the local machine and I am able
>> to login to using either password which would indicate to me that I am
>> successfully authenticating to FDS. However I don't particularly care to
>> have to add 240 students on all 15 computers to make this work, not to
>> mention all of the "home" directories that will be mounted from the NFS
>> server. So the questions is, what steps am I missing here?
>>   
> It sounds like you need to configure nss_ldap.  Assuming you have
> nss_ldap installed on your client systems, you should be able to add
> "ldap" as a service for looking up users and groups in your
> /etc/nsswitch.conf file.
>
> -NGK
>> Samba. As I understand it, Windows will only authenticate against an NT
>> or "NT like (aka. Samba)" server, which means as far as I can tell that
>> either I have Samba sync against FDS or I use pGina on the Windows side
>> to authenticate directly against LDAP or scrap LDAP all together and
>> just use an NIS server (don't think this is a good idea, but it is a
>> possiblity). Of course trying to assess the pros and cons of either has
>> been somewhat difficult at best. Also the FDS Samba how-to doesn't cover
>> computer management which Samba is going to have to deal with as well.
>>
>> Before someone replies with a "RTFM", I have read the Install Guide as
>> well as the Red Hat Directory Server documentation and I am currently
>> half-way through the book "Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory
>> Services", so I have a reasonable understanding of how to get into
>> trouble. Of course none of these provide in-depth (nor should they)
>> information as to how to integrate with other services. I have spent a
>> month reading, tinkering etc., and I am not asking anyone else to do my
>> work for me, but I have seem to hit a wall and need a couple of
>> "breadcrumbs" to get me back on the trail. Thank you for your patience
>> and understanding.
>>
>>   
>
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-- 
Scott Ackerman
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"Every improvement in the standard of work men do is followed swiftly and inevitably by an improvement in the men who do it" - William Morris




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