This is fantastic. Microsoft Active Directory is truly awesome, but a replacement that is both free and runs on Linux? Yes please.
Samba 4.0 released
11–20 of 73 posts
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never underestimate the power of "free, as in cheap." :)
"free, as in cheap" does not apply in the case of an existing infrastructure with staff already trained on using the deployed (AD) system.
Can you imagine offering a fully scalable AD online? Having access to the code you can start doing things that Microsoft never allowed you to do ;)
(Google Docs is, as far as I know, OpenOffice for example)
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#13Any news on if Samba 4.0 is still single-threaded? (the page isn't loading for me) I recently wanted to use Samba, but was limited by performance on a low-end dual core processor: it'd max out one core, and be unable to use the other. I'm sure they have (or have had) good reasons for not doing this, but with so many low-power multicore processors out there now it seems a shame...
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#14One more stake in Microsoft's coffin? With their Win8 tablet/mobile strategy not doing too great and rapidly improving office alternatives... Is the MS legendary lock-in cracking apart?
You can the deterioration of DirectX domination in the gaming market.
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#15Duke Nukem forever... Samba 4.0... what's the next? A GNU/Hurd competitor to Ubuntu? Space travels to Pluto? Time machines?
> A GNU/Hurd competitor to Ubuntu? Well, there is this: http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/
HURD can largely be regarded as a cruel joke. It's been under development for over twenty years (since 1990!) without yet producing a usable product. Pretty much every operating system kernel that's in use today (Linux, the BSD family, Windows NT, and XNU) is younger than HURD, and yet far more mature.
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A GNU/Hurd competitor to Ubuntu? Well, there is this: http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/
"Get Xorg + gnome/kde/xfce (xfce should work, kde is missing working dbus (due to local socket auth and bugs in select() cornercases)) + some webbrowser working (iceweasel 9 works, though not https)." From GNU/Hurd TODO list :)
bugs in select() cornercases
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#17There are few people running Windows AD who are going to view this as their next step, largely because they've already become used to running those Windows boxes. For groups who aren't fully invested in AD, or need compatibility with those who are, this is a major win.
Never underestimate the power of "free, as in cheap." :)
How are the GUIs for Samba 4.0 AD features? I usually prefer nice configuration files, but the Windows Server features were very easy to learn. Another nice thing about Windows Server, updates are "free" after a high up-front cost.
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#18As probably one of the more AD-focused participants on HN, I have to approach this with a good dose of skepticism w.r.t. large companies adopting Samba for complex AD environments. AD + DFSN + (DFSR|NTFRS) + LDAP + SSL + RPC + NTP + GPO + CIFS + NTFS + SDDL + WMI + ADWS + etc., is an extremely complex set of stuff to implement, and the cost of supporting a third-party version could, IMHO, easily dwarf the cost of a few Windows licenses to run the domain controllers.
So many examples come to mind that it is hard to pick just one or two... consider an organization that configures access to Windows event logs (audit trails) and SMB signing requirements via GPO; will Samba 4 Domain Controllers honor that? What does it even mean to have access to modify the security auditing policy on a Samba DC without totally reimplementing the eventing system (syslog is not even close)?
In other words, AD sits on top of a ton of mature but sophisticated Windows services, the failure of any of which could be a critical problem, and make for a tough sell unless one has a pathological hatred of Microsoft yet still wishes to use AD anyway.
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#19As probably one of the more AD-focused participants on HN, I have to approach this with a good dose of skepticism w.r.t. large companies adopting Samba for complex AD environments. AD + DFSN + (DFSR|NTFRS) + LDAP + SSL + RPC + NTP + GPO + CIFS + NTFS + SDDL + WMI + ADWS + etc., is an extremely complex set of stuff to implement, and the cost of supporting a third-party version could, IMHO, easily dwarf the cost of a f…
... and if you have enough control over your environment to replace Windows Server as a domain controller, why would you be using the AD stack to begin with?
Re: Samba 4.0 released
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A GNU/Hurd competitor to Ubuntu? Well, there is this: http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/
HURD can largely be regarded as a cruel joke. It's been under development for over twenty years (since 1990!) without yet producing a usable product. Pretty much every operating system kernel that's in use today (Linux, the BSD family, Windows NT, and XNU) is younger than HURD, and yet far more mature.
If you are measuring the current hurd kernel's age as starting from 1990, then the BSD kernels are far older, not younger. The initial release was in 1977, and obviously development started before that.
That said, hurd is essentially abandoned at this point. Even RMS has accepted that it will never be completed, and has said that it really doesn't matter since there's already a free kernel available (linux).