Domain Controller on Linux

The domain controller on Linux in the field of IT solutions has long since moved from the exotics to the category of everyday deployment options for inexpensive and flexible enough, and most importantly, a free alternative for Active Directory from Microsoft. Of course, it will not replace the product of this American corporation by 100%, but if you need basic functionality and basic capabilities, Linux will do it.

In this article, I would like to share information on this topic and tell about two distributions, the main "chip" of which is the installation of a domain controller PDC (Primary Domain Controller), which will be ready to work after the deployment of the operating system and a small setting.

Skeptics will smile. Why such complexity, if you can install Win2K3 and do not fool yourself, setting up a domain controller on a Linux system?

First, the price - if in the case of a Microsoft solution you need a thousand, or maybe not one, dollars, then the freely distributed software does not cost a penny.

Secondly, legality. Now, when an article appeared in the Criminal Code for computer piracy, all those who in the old way steal software, there is a real opportunity to get acquainted with operatives and prosecutors. I doubt that the staff of IT departments of any company is attracted by such a prospect.

So, having looked through several popular variants, in which, as a rule, the Samba package is used as a control element of the PDC, the domain controller, even though it works very steadily, I managed to collect all the same. Let's go directly to those distributions that I have tried and recognized as the most convenient.

Mandriva Directory Server is one of the most successful examples in my opinion of how to make a domain controller on Linux. There are no unnecessary elements in it, and what you did not need for some reason is easily turned off. MDS is not the usual assembly "get a ready PDC for a minute", it needs to be customized to fit your needs. The system administrator himself determines what will come in handy in his work, and what can be removed. Well and management of all services Mandriva incurs. By the way, control elements also need to be installed and configured independently.

Managing the MDS server is easy and convenient, since there is a web-based interface.

If you need any plug-ins, at your service PHP and Python, after reading the official documentation, you will easily implement all that you need. Strictly speaking, this is exactly what I liked.

The second option is called Fedora Directory Server, yet it is known as 389 Directory Server. This domain controller on Linux can be characterized shortly - an excellent implementation with great potential. While assembling the Mandriva Directory Server distribution, Fedora Directory Server was used as the basis, but FDS is a much more serious product than MDS. It provides synchronization with the AD domain running Win2K and Win2K3, you can manage all components through the java console, and there are many useful add-ons.

What conclusions can we draw from all of the above?

If you are satisfied with a domain that runs at the level of NT4, and your computer park does not exceed eight dozen computers - these solutions are quite suitable for you.

As practice shows, PCs running Windows feel fine on the Linux domain. Profiles work as it should, network drives are connected normally, even there is the possibility to determine, although not in the same volume as it does in Win2K3, group policies. Global GPs can not be implemented on Linux basis. It is for this reason, for a large park of PCs, with a PC number above 100, these options are inconvenient.

In the end, I chose Mandriva Directory Server, which still works in my company, PDC running Linux-based system correctly fulfills the requests of fifty PCs and, if need be, would cope with even more computers if necessary.

Well, the experience that I was acquired in the process of its implementation and configuration, I think just invaluable.