Chapter 10. Migrating NetWare Server to Samba-3
Prev | Part II. Domain Members, Updating Samba and Migration | Next

## Chapter 10. Migrating NetWare Server to Samba-3

Novell is a company any seasoned IT manager has to admire. It has become increasingly Linux-friendly and is emerging out of a deep regression that almost saw the company disappear into obscurity. Novell's SUSE Linux hosts the NetWare server and it is the platform of choice to which many older NetWare servers are being migrated. It will be interesting to see what becomes of NetWare over time. Meanwhile, there can be no denying that Novell is a Linux company.

Whatever flavor of Linux is preferred in your environment, whether Red Hat, Debian, Gentoo, Mandrake, or SUSE (Novell), the information in this chapter should be read with the knowledge that file locations may vary a little; even so, the information in this chapter should provide something of value.

Contributions to this chapter were made by Misty Stanley-Jones, a UNIX administrator of many years who surfaced on the Samba mailing list with a barrage of questions and who regularly helps other administrators to solve thorny Samba migration questions.

One wonders how many NetWare servers remain in active service. Many are being migrated to Samba on Linux. Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux 9.x, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 are ideal target platforms to which a NetWare server may be migrated. The migration method of choice is much dependent on the tools that the administrator finds most natural to use. The old-hand NetWare guru will likely want to use tools like the NetWare NLM for `rsync` to migrate files from the NetWare server to the Samba server. The UNIX administrator might prefer tools that are part of the Mars_NWE (Martin Stovers' NetWare Emulator) open source package. The MS Windows network administrator will likely make use of the NWConv utility that is a part of Windows NT4 Server. Whatever your tool of choice, migration will be filled with joyous and challenging moments though probably not concurrently.

The priority that Misty faced was one of migration of the data files off the NetWare 4.11 server and onto a Samba-based Windows file and print server. This chapter does not pretend to document all the different methods that could be used to migrate user and group accounts off a NetWare server. Its focus is on migration of data files.

This chapter tells its own story, so ride along. Maybe the information presented here will help to smooth over a similar migration challenge in your favorite networking environment.

File paths have been modified to permit use of RPM packages provided by Novell. In the original documentation contributed by Misty, the Courier-IMAP package had been built directly from the original source tarball.

## Introduction

Misty Stanley-Jones was recruited by Abmas to administer a network that had not received much attention for some years and was much in need of a makeover. As a brand-new sysadmin to this company, she inherited a very old Novell file server and came with a determination to change things for the better.

A site survey turned up the following details for the old NetWare server:

200 MHz MMX processor
512K RAM
24 GB disk space in RAID1
Novell 4.11 patched to service pack 7
60+ users
7 network-attached printers

The company had outgrown this server several years before and was dealing with severe growing pains. Some of the problems experienced were:

- Very slow performance

- Available storage hovering around the 5% range

  - Extremely slow print spooling.

  - Users storing information on their local hard drives, causing backup integrity problems

At one point disk space had filled up to 100 percent, causing the payroll database to become corrupt. This caused the accounting department to be down for over a week and necessitated deployment of another file server. The replacement server was created with very poor security and design considerations from a discarded desktop PC.

### Assignment Tasks

Misty has provided this summary of her migration experience in the hope that it will help someone to avoid the challenges she faced. Perhaps her configuration files and background will accelerate your learning as you grapple with a similar migration challenge. Let there be no confusion, the information presented in this chapter is provided to demonstrate how Misty dealt with a particular NetWare migration requirement, and it provides an overall approach to the implementation of a Samba-3 environment that is significantly divergent from that presented in “Making Happy Users”.

The complete removal of all site-specific information in order to produce a generic migration solution would rob this chapter of its character. It should be recognized, therefore, that the examples given require significant adaptation to suit local needs and thus there are some gaps in the example files. That is not Misty's fault;it is the result of treatment given to her files in an attempt to make the overall information more useful to you.

After management reviewed a cost-benefit report as well as an estimated time-to-completion, approval was given proceed with the solution proposed. The server was built from purchased components. The total project cost was $3,000. A brief description of the configuration follows:

3.0 GHz P4 Processor
1 GB RAM
120 GB SATA operating system drive
4 x 80 GB SATA data drives (RAID5 240 GB capacity)
2 x 80 GB SATA removable drives for online backup
A DLT drive for asynchronous offline backup
SUSE Linux Professional 9.1

The new system has operated for 6 months without problems. Over the past months much attention has been focused on cleaning up desktops and user profiles.

## Dissection and Discussion

A decision to use LDAP was made even though I knew nothing about LDAP except that I had been reading the book “LDAP System Administration,” by Gerald Carter. LDAP seemed to provide some of the functionality of Novell's e-Directory Services and would provide centralized authentication and identity management.

Building the LDAP database took a while and a lot of trial and error. Following the guidance I obtained from “LDAP System Administration,” I installed OpenLDAP (from RPM; later I compiled a more current version from source) and built my initial LDAP tree.

### Technical Issues

The first challenge was to create a company white pages, followed by manually entering everything from the printed company directory. This used only the inetOrgPerson object class from the OpenLDAP schemas. The next step was to write a shell script that would look at the `/etc/passwd` and `/etc/shadow` files on our mail server and create an LDIF file from which the information could be imported into LDAP. This would allow use of LDAP for Linux authentication, IMAP, POP3, and SMTP.

Because a decision was made to use Courier-IMAP the schema “authldap.schema” from the Courier-IMAP source, tarball is necessary to resolve Courier-specific LDAP directory needs. Where the Courier-IMAP file provided by SUSE is used, this file is named `courier.schema`.

Looking back, it would have been much easier to populate the LDAP directory using a convenient tool such as `phpLDAPAdmin` from the outset. An excessive amount of time was spent trying to generate LDIF files that could be parsed using the `ldapmodify` so that necessary changes could be written to the directory. This was a learning experience!

An attempt was made to use the PADL POSIX account migration scripts, but I gave up trying to make them work. Instead, even though it is most inelegant, I wrote a simple script that did what I needed. It is enclosed as a simple example to demonstrate that you do not need to be a guru to make light of otherwise painful repetition. This file is listed in “A Rough Tool to Create an LDIF File from the System Account Files”.

Example 10.1. A Rough Tool to Create an LDIF File from the System Account Files

    #!/bin/bash

    cat /etc/passwd | while read l; do
      uid=`echo $l | cut -d : -f 1`
      uidNumber=`echo $l | cut -d : -f 3`
      gidNumber=`echo $1 | cut -d : -f 4`
      gecos=`echo $l | cut -d : -f 5`
      homeDirectory=`echo $l | cut -d : -f 6`
      loginShell=`echo $l | cut -d : -f 6`
      userPassword=`cat /etc/shadow | grep $uid | cut -d : -f 2`

      echo "dn: cn=$gecos,ou=people,dc=mycompany,dc=com"
      echo "objectClass: account"
      echo "objectClass: posixAccount"
      echo "cn: $gecos"
      echo "uid: $uid"
      echo "uidNumber: $uidNumber"
      echo "gidNumber: $gidNumber"
      echo "homeDirectory: $homeDirectory"
      echo "loginShell: $loginShell"
      echo "userPassword: $userPassword"
    done

### Note

The PADL MigrationTools are recommended for migration of the UNIX account information into the LDAP directory. The tools consist of a set of Perl scripts for migration of users, groups, aliases, hosts, netgroups, networks, protocols, PRCs, and services from the existing ASCII text files (or from a name service such as NIS). This too set can be obtained from the PADL Web site.

## Implementation

### NetWare Migration Using LDAP Backend

The following software must be installed on the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to perform this migration:

courier-imap
courier-imap-ldap
nss_ldap
openldap2-client
openldap2-devel (only for Samba compilation)
openldap2
pam_ldap
samba-3.0.20 or later
samba-client-3.0.20 or later
samba-winbind-3.0.20 or later
smbldap-tools Version 0.9.1

Each software application must be carefully configured in preparation for migration. The configuration files used at Abmas are provided as a guide and should be modified to meet needs at your site.

#### LDAP Server Configuration

The `/etc/openldap/slapd.conf` file Misty used is shown here:

    #/etc/openldap/slapd.conf
    #
    # See slapd.conf(5) for details on configuration options.
    # This file should NOT be world readable.
    #
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/core.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/cosine.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/nis.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/samba3.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/dhcp.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/misc.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/idpool.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/eduperson.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/commURI.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/local.schema
    include   /etc/openldap/schema/courier.schema

    pidfile   /var/run/slapd/run/slapd.pid
    argsfile  /var/run/slapd/run/slapd.args

    replogfile  /data/ldap/log/slapd.replog

    # Load dynamic backend modules:
    modulepath  /usr/lib/openldap/modules

    #######################################################################
    # Logging parameters
    #######################################################################
    loglevel 256

    #######################################################################
    # SASL and TLS options
    #######################################################################
    sasl-host     ldap.corp.abmas.org
    sasl-realm    DIGEST-MD5
    sasl-secprops   none
    TLSCipherSuite HIGH:MEDIUM:+SSLV2
    TLSCertificateFile    /etc/ssl/certs/private/abmas-cert.pem
    TLSCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/certs/private/abmas-key.pem
    password-hash   {SSHA}
    defaultsearchbase "dc=abmas,dc=biz"

    #######################################################################
    # bdb database definitions
    #######################################################################
    database          bdb
    suffix            "dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    rootdn            "cn=manager,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    rootpw            {SSHA}gdo/dUvoT4ZJmULz3rUt6A3H/hBEduJ5
    directory         /data/ldap
    mode    0600
    # The following is for BDB to make it flush its data to disk every
    # 500 seconds or 5kb of data
    checkpoint 500 5

    ## For running slapindex
    #readonly on

    ## Indexes for often-requested attributes
    index   objectClass             eq
    index   cn                      eq,sub
    index   sn                      eq,sub
    index   uid                     eq,sub
    index   uidNumber               eq
    index   gidNumber               eq
    index   sambaSID                eq
    index   sambaPrimaryGroupSID    eq
    index   sambaDomainName         eq
    index   default                 sub
    cachesize 2000

    replica         host=baa.corp.abmas.org:389
                    suffix="dc=abmas,dc=biz"
                    binddn="cn=replica,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
                    credentials=verysecret
                    bindmethod=simple
                    tls=yes
    replica         host=ns.abmas.org:389
                    suffix="dc=abmas,dc=biz"
                    binddn="cn=replica,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
                    credentials=verysecret
                    bindmethod=simple
                    tls=yes

    #######################################################################
    # ACL section
    #######################################################################
    ## MOST RESTRICTIVE RULES MUST GO FIRST!
    # Admins get access to everything. This way I do not have to rename.
    access to *
      by group/groupOfUniqueNames/uniqueMember="cn=LDAP
    Administrators,ou=groups,dc=abmas,dc=biz" write
      by * break

    ## Users can change their own passwords.
    access to
    attrs=userPassword,sambaNTPassword,sambaLMPassword,sambaPwdLastSet,
    sambaPwdMustChange,sambaPwdCanChange
      by self write
      by * auth

    ## Home contact info restricted to the logged-in user and the HR dept
    access to attrs=hometelephoneNumber,homePostalAddress,
    mobileTelephoneNumber,pagerTelephoneNumber
      by group/groupOfUniqueNames/uniqueMember="cn=hr_admin,
    ou=groups,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    write
      by self write
      by * none

    ## Everyone can read email aliases
    access to dn.sub="ou=Email Aliases,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
      by * read

    ## Only admins can manage email aliases
    ## If someone is the role occupant of an alias they can change it -- this
    ## is accomplished by the "organizationalRole" objectclass and is
    ## pretty cool -- like a groupOfUniqueNames but for individual
    ## users.
    access to dn.children="ou=Email Aliases,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
      by dnattr=roleOccupant write
      by * read

    ## Admins and HR can add and delete users
    access to dn.sub="ou=people,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
      by group/groupOfUniqueNames/uniqueMember="cn=hr_admin,
    ou=groups,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    write
      by * read

    ## Admins and HR can add and delete bizputers
    access to dn.sub="ou=bizputers,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
      by group/groupOfUniqueNames/uniqueMember="cn=hr_admin,
    ou=groups,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    write
      by * read

    ## Admins and HR can add and delete groups
    access to dn.sub="ou=groups,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
      by group/groupOfUniqueNames/uniqueMember="cn=hr_admin,
    ou=groups,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    write
      by * read

    ## This is used to quickly deactivate any LDAP object only
    ##  Admins have access.
    access to dn.sub="ou=inactive,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
      by * none

    ## This is for programs like Windows Address Book that can
    ## detect the default search base.
    access to attrs=namingcontexts,supportedControl
      by anonymous =cs
      by * read

    ## Default to read-only access
    access to *
      by dn.base="cn=replica,ou=people,dc=abmas,dc=biz" write
      by * read

The `/etc/ldap.conf` file used is listed in “NSS LDAP Control File /etc/ldap.conf”.

Example 10.2. NSS LDAP Control File /etc/ldap.conf

    # /etc/ldap.conf
    # This file is present on every *NIX client that authenticates to LDAP.
    # For me, most of the defaults are fine. There is an amazing amount of
    # customization that can be done see the man page for info.

    # Your LDAP server. Must be resolvable without using LDAP. The following
    # is for the LDAP server all others use the FQDN of the server
    URI ldap://127.0.0.1

    # The distinguished name of the search base.
    base ou=corp,dc=abmas,dc=biz

    # The LDAP version to use (defaults to 3 if supported by client library)
    ldap_version 3

    # The distinguished name to bind to the server with if the effective
    # user ID is root. Password is stored in /etc/ldap.secret (mode 600)
    rootbinddn cn=Manager,dc=abmas,dc=biz

    # Filter to AND with uid=%s
    pam_filter objectclass=posixAccount

    # The user ID attribute (defaults to uid)
    pam_login_attribute uid

    # Group member attribute
    pam_member_attribute memberUID

    # Use the OpenLDAP password change
    # extended operation to update the password.
    pam_password exop

    # OpenLDAP SSL mechanism
    # start_tls mechanism uses the normal LDAP port, LDAPS typically 636
    ssl start_tls

    tls_cacertfile /etc/ssl/certs/private/abmas-cert.pem
    ...

The NSS control file `/etc/nsswitch.conf` has the following contents:

    # /etc/nsswitch.conf
    # This file controls the resolve order for system databases.

    # the following two lines obviate the "+" entry in /etc/passwd and /etc/group.
    passwd:   compat ldap
    group:    compat ldap
    # The above are all that I store in LDAP at this point. There are
    # possibilities to store hosts, services, ethers, and lots of other things.

In my setup, users authenticate via PAM and NSS using LDAP-based accounts. The configuration file that controls the behavior of the PAM `pam_unix2` module is shown in “The PAM Control File /etc/security/pam_unix2.conf” file. This works out of the box with the configuration files in this chapter. It enables you to have no local accounts for users (it is highly advisable to have a local account for the root user). Traps for the unwary include the following:

Example 10.3. The PAM Control File `/etc/security/pam_unix2.conf`

    # pam_unix2 config file
    #
    # This file contains options for the pam_unix2.so module.
    # It contains a list of options for every type of management group,
    # which will be used for authentication, account management and
    # password management. Not all options will be used from all types of
    # management groups.
    #
    # At first, pam_unix2 will read this file and then uses the local
    # options. Not all options can be set her global.
    #
    # Allowed options are:
    #
    # debug                 (account, auth, password, session)
    # nullok                (auth)
    # md5                   (password / overwrites /etc/default/passwd)
    # bigcrypt              (password / overwrites /etc/default/passwd)
    # blowfish              (password / overwrites /etc/default/passwd)
    # crypt_rounds=XX
    # none                  (session)
    # trace                 (session)
    # call_modules=x,y,z    (account, auth, password)
    #
    #  Example:
    #  auth:        nullok
    #  account:
    #  password:    nullok blowfish crypt_rounds=8
    #  session:     none
    #
    auth: use_ldap
    account: use_ldap
    password: use_ldap
    session: none

- If your LDAP database goes down, nobody can authenticate except for root.

- If failover is configured incorrectly, weird behavior can occur. For example, DNS can fail to resolve.

I do have two LDAP slave servers configured. That subject is beyond the scope of this document, and steps for implementing it are well documented.

The following services authenticate using LDAP:

UNIX login/ssh
Postfix (SMTP)
Courier-IMAP/IMAPS/POP3/POP3S

Companywide white pages can be searched using an LDAP client such as the one in the Windows Address Book.

Having gained a solid understanding of LDAP and a relatively workable LDAP tree thus far, it was time to configure Samba. I compiled the latest stable Samba and also installed the latest `smbldap-tools` from Idealx.

The Samba `smb.conf` file was configured as shown in “Samba Configuration File smb.conf Part A”.

Example 10.4. Samba Configuration File smb.conf Part A

# Global parameters
`[global]`
`workgroup = MEGANET2`
`netbios name = MASSIVE`
`server string = Corp File Server`
`passdb backend = ldapsam:ldap://localhost`
`pam password change = Yes`
`username map = /etc/samba/smbusers`
`log level = 1`
`log file = /data/samba/log/%m.log`
`name resolve order = wins host bcast`
`time server = Yes`
`printcap name = cups`
`show add printer wizard = No`
`cups options = Raw`
`add user script = /opt/IDEALX/sbin/smbldap-useradd -m "%u"`
`add group script = /opt/IDEALX/sbin/smbldap-groupadd -p "%g"`
`add user to group script = /opt/IDEALX/sbin/smbldap-groupmod -m "%u" "%g"`
`delete user from group script = /opt/IDEALX/sbin/smbldap-groupmod -x "%u" "%g"`
`set primary group script = /opt/IDEALX/sbin/smbldap-usermod -g "%g" "%u"`
`add machine script = /usr/local/sbin/smbldap-useradd -w "%m"`
`logon script = logon.bat`
`logon path = \\%L\profiles\%U\%a`
`logon drive = H:`
`logon home = \\%L\%U`
`domain logons = Yes`
`wins support = Yes`
`ldap admin dn = cn=Manager,dc=abmas,dc=biz`
`ldap group suffix = ou=Groups`
`ldap idmap suffix = ou=People`
`ldap machine suffix = ou=People`
`ldap passwd sync = Yes`
`ldap suffix = ou=MEGANET2,dc=abmas,dc=biz`
`ldap ssl = no`
`ldap user suffix = ou=People`
`admin users = root, "@Domain Admins"`
`printer admin = "@Domain Admins"`
`force printername = Yes`

Example 10.5. Samba Configuration File smb.conf Part B

`[netlogon]`
`comment = Network logon service`
`path = /data/samba/netlogon`
`write list = "@Domain Admins"`
`guest ok = Yes`
`[profiles]`
`comment = Roaming Profile Share`
`path = /data/samba/profiles/`
`read only = No`
`profile acls = Yes`
`veto files = desktop.ini`
`browseable = No`
`[homes]`
`comment = Home Directories`
`valid users = %S`
`read only = No`
`create mask = 0770`
`veto files = desktop.ini`
`hide files = desktop.ini`
`browseable = No`
`[software]`
`comment = Software for %a computers`
`path = /data/samba/shares/software/%a`
`guest ok = Yes`
`[public]`
`comment = Public Files`
`path = /data/samba/shares/public`
`read only = No`
`guest ok = Yes`
`[PDF]`
`comment = Location of documents printed to PDFCreator printer`
`path = /data/samba/shares/pdf`
`guest ok = Yes`

Example 10.6. Samba Configuration File smb.conf Part C

`[EVERYTHING]`
`comment = All shares`
`path = /data/samba`
`valid users = "@Domain Admins"`
`read only = No`
`[CDROM]`
`comment = CD-ROM on MASSIVE`
`path = /mnt`
`guest ok = Yes`
`[print$]`
`comment = Printer Drivers Share`
`path = /data/samba/drivers`
`write list = root`
`browseable = No`
`[printers]`
`comment = All Printers`
`path = /data/samba/spool`
`create mask = 0644`
`printable = Yes`
`browseable = No`
`[acct_hp8500]`
`comment = "Accounting Color Laser Printer"`
`path = /data/samba/spool/private`
`valid users = @acct, @acct_admin, @hr, "@Domain Admins",@Receptionist, dwayne, terri, danae, jerry`
`create mask = 0644`
`printable = Yes`
`copy = printers`
`[plotter]`
`comment = Engineering Plotter`
`path = /data/samba/spool`
`create mask = 0644`
`printable = Yes`
`use client driver = Yes`
`copy = printers`

Example 10.7. Samba Configuration File smb.conf Part D

`[APPS]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/Apps`
`force group = "Domain Users"`
`read only = No`
`[ACCT]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/Accounting`
`valid users = @acct, "@Domain Admins"`
`force group = acct`
`read only = No`
`create mask = 0660`
`directory mask = 0770`
`[ACCT_ADMIN]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/Acct_Admin`
`valid users = @"acct_admin"`
`force group = acct_admin`
`[HR_PR]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/HR_PR`
`valid users = @hr, @acct_admin`
`force group = hr`
`[ENGR]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/Engr`
`valid users = @engr, @receptionist, @truss, "@Domain Admins", cheri`
`force group = engr`
`read only = No`
`create mask = 0770`
`[DATA]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/DATA`
`valid users = @engr, @receptionist, @truss, "@Domain Admins", cheri`
`force group = engr`
`read only = No`
`create mask = 0770`
`copy = engr`

Example 10.8. Samba Configuration File smb.conf Part E

`[X]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/X`
`valid users = @engr, @acct`
`force group = engr`
`read only = No`
`create mask = 0770`
`copy = engr`
`[NETWORK]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/network`
`valid users = "@Domain Users"`
`read only = No`
`create mask = 0770`
`guest ok = Yes`
`[UTILS]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/Utils`
`write list = "@Domain Admins"`
`[SYS]`
`path = /data/samba/shares/SYS`
`valid users = chad`
`read only = No`
`browseable = No`

Most of these shares are only used by one company group, but they are required because of some ancient Qbasic and Rbase applications were that written expecting their own drive letters.

Note: During the process of building the new server, I kept data files up to date with the Novell server via use of `rsync`. On a separate system (my workstation in fact), which could be rebooted whenever necessary, I set up a mount point to the Novell server via `ncpmount`. I then created a `rsyncd.conf` to share that mount point out to my new server, and synchronized once an hour. The script I used to synchronize is shown in “Rsync Script”. The files exclusion list I used is shown in “Rsync Files Exclusion List /root/excludes.txt”. The reason I had to have the `rsync` daemon running on a system that could be rebooted frequently is because `ncpfs` (part of the MARS NetWare Emulation package) has a nasty habit of creating stale mount points that cannot be recovered without a reboot. The reason for hourly synchronization is because some part of the chain was very slow and performance-heavy (whether `rsync` itself, the network, or the Novell server, I am not sure, but it was probably the Novell server).

Example 10.9. Rsync Script

    #!/bin/bash
    # Part 1 - rsync the Novell directories to the new server
    echo "#############################################"
    echo "New sync operation starting at `date`"
    if ! pgrep -fl '^rsync\> ; then
            echo "Good, no rsync is running!"
      echo "Synchronizing oink to BHPRO"
            rsync -av --exclude-from=/root/excludes.txt
    baa.corp:/BHPRO/SYS1/ /data/samba/shares/SYS1
            retval=$?
            [ ${retval} = 0 ] && echo "Sync operation completed at `date`"
            echo "Fixing permissions"
            # I had a whole lot more permission-fixing stuff here.  It got
            # pared down as groups got moved over.  The problem
            # was that the way I was mounting the directory, everything
            # was owned by the Novell administrator which translated to
            # Root.  This is also why I could only do one-way sync because
            # I could not fix the ACLs on the Novell side.
            find /data/samba/shares/Engr/ -perm +770 -exec chmod 770 {} \;
            find /data/samba/shares/Engr/ ! -group engr -exec chgrp engr {} \;
    else
            # This rsync took ages and ages -- I had it set to run every hour but
            # I needed a way to prevent it running into itself.
            echo "Oh no, rsync is already running!"
    echo "#############################################"
    fi

Example 10.10. Rsync Files Exclusion List `/root/excludes.txt`

    /Acct/
    /Apps/
    /DATA/
    /Engr/*.pc3
    /Engr/plotter
    /Engr/APPOLO/
    /Engr/LIBRARY/
    /Home/Accounting/
    /Home/Angie/
    /Home/AngieY/
    /Home/Brandon/
    /Home/Carl/

After Samba was configured, I initialized the LDAP database. The first thing I had to do was store the LDAP password in the Samba configuration by issuing the command (as root):

    root#  smbpasswd -w verysecret

where “verysecret” is replaced by the LDAP bind password.

### Note

The Idealx smbldap-tools package can be configured using a script called `configure.pl` that is provided as part of the tool. See “Making Happy Users” for an example of its use. Many administrators, like Misty, choose to do this manually so as to maintain greater awareness of how the tool-chain works and possibly to avoid undesirable actions from occurring unnoticed.

Now Samba was ready for use and it was time to configure the smbldap-tools. There are two relevant files, which are usually put into the directory `/etc/smbldap-tools`. The main file, `smbldap.conf` is shown in “Idealx smbldap-tools Control File Part A”.

Example 10.11. Idealx smbldap-tools Control File Part A

    #########
    #
    # located in /etc/smbldap-tools/smbldap.conf
    #
    ######################################################################
    #
    # General Configuration
    #
    ######################################################################

    # Put your own SID
    # to obtain this number do: net getlocalsid
    SID="S-1-5-21-725326080-1709766072-2910717368"

    ######################################################################
    #
    # LDAP Configuration
    #
    ######################################################################

    # Notes: to use to dual ldap servers backend for Samba, you must patch
    # Samba with the dual-head patch from IDEALX. If not using this patch
    # just use the same server for slaveLDAP and masterLDAP.
    # Those two servers declarations can also be used when you have
    # . one master LDAP server where all writing operations must be done
    # . one slave LDAP server where all reading operations must be done
    #   (typically a replication directory)

    # Ex: slaveLDAP=127.0.0.1
    slaveLDAP="127.0.0.1"
    slavePort="389"

    # Master LDAP : needed for write operations
    # Ex: masterLDAP=127.0.0.1
    masterLDAP="127.0.0.1"
    masterPort="389"

    # Use TLS for LDAP
    # If set to 1, this option will use start_tls for connection
    # (you should also used the port 389)
    ldapTLS="0"

    # How to verify the server's certificate (none, optional or require)
    # see "man Net::LDAP" in start_tls section for more details
    verify=""

Example 10.12. Idealx smbldap-tools Control File Part B

    # CA certificate
    # see "man Net::LDAP" in start_tls section for more details
    cafile=""
     certificate to use to connect to the ldap server
    # see "man Net::LDAP" in start_tls section for more details
    clientcert=""

    # key certificate to use to connect to the ldap server
    # see "man Net::LDAP" in start_tls section for more details
    clientkey=""

    # LDAP Suffix
    # Ex: suffix=dc=IDEALX,dc=ORG
    suffix="ou=MEGANET2,dc=abmas,dc=biz"

    # Where are stored Users
    # Ex: usersdn="ou=Users,dc=IDEALX,dc=ORG"
    usersdn="ou=People,${suffix}"

    # Where are stored Computers
    # Ex: computersdn="ou=Computers,dc=IDEALX,dc=ORG"
    computersdn="ou=People,${suffix}"

    # Where are stored Groups
    # Ex groupsdn="ou=Groups,dc=IDEALX,dc=ORG"
    groupsdn="ou=Groups,${suffix}"

    # Where are stored Idmap entries
    # (used if samba is a domain member server)
    # Ex groupsdn="ou=Idmap,dc=IDEALX,dc=ORG"
    idmapdn="ou=Idmap,${suffix}"

    # Where to store next uidNumber and gidNumber available
    sambaUnixIdPooldn="sambaDomainName=MEGANET2,${suffix}"

    # Default scope Used
    scope="sub"

Example 10.13. Idealx smbldap-tools Control File Part C

    # Unix password encryption (CRYPT, MD5, SMD5, SSHA, SHA)
    hash_encrypt="MD5"

    # if hash_encrypt is set to CRYPT, you may set a salt format.
    # default is "%s", but many systems will generate MD5 hashed
    # passwords if you use "$1$%.8s". This parameter is optional!
    crypt_salt_format="%s"

    ######################################################################
    #
    # Unix Accounts Configuration
    #
    ######################################################################

    # Login defs
    # Default Login Shell
    # Ex: userLoginShell="/bin/bash"
    userLoginShell="/bin/false"

    # Home directory
    # Ex: userHome="/home/%U"
    userHome="/home/%U"

    # Gecos
    userGecos="Samba User"

    # Default User (POSIX and Samba) GID
    defaultUserGid="513"

    # Default Computer (Samba) GID
    defaultComputerGid="515"

    # Skel dir
    skeletonDir="/etc/skel"

    # Default password validation time (time in days) Comment the next
    # line if you don't want password to be enable for
    # defaultMaxPasswordAge days (be careful to the sambaPwdMustChange
    # attribute's value)
    defaultMaxPasswordAge="45"

Example 10.14. Idealx smbldap-tools Control File Part D

    ######################################################################
    #
    # SAMBA Configuration
    #
    ######################################################################

    # The UNC path to home drives location (%U username substitution)
    # Ex: \\My-PDC-netbios-name\homes\%U
    # Just set it to a null string if you want to use the smb.conf
    # 'logon home' directive and/or disable roaming profiles
    userSmbHome=""

    # The UNC path to profiles locations (%U username substitution)
    # Ex: \\My-PDC-netbios-name\profiles\%U
    # Just set it to a null string if you want to use the smb.conf
    # 'logon path' directive and/or disable roaming profiles
    userProfile=""

    # The default Home Drive Letter mapping
    # (will be automatically mapped at logon time if home directory exist)
    # Ex: H: for H:
    userHomeDrive=""

    # The default user netlogon script name (%U username substitution)
    # if not used, will be automatically username.cmd
    # make sure script file is edited under DOS
    # Ex: %U.cmd
    # userScript="startup.cmd" # make sure script file is edited under DOS
    userScript=""

    # Domain appended to the users "mail"-attribute
    # when smbldap-useradd -M is used
    mailDomain="abmas.org"

    ######################################################################
    #
    # SMBLDAP-TOOLS Configuration (default are ok for a RedHat)
    #
    ######################################################################
    # Allows not to use smbpasswd
    # (if with_smbpasswd == 0 in smbldap_conf.pm) but
    # prefer Crypt::SmbHash library
    with_smbpasswd="0"
    smbpasswd="/usr/bin/smbpasswd"

Note: I chose not to take advantage of the TLS capability of this. Eventually I may go back and tweak it. Also, I chose not to take advantage of the master/slave configuration as I heard horror stories that it was unstable. My slave servers are replicas only.

The `/etc/smbldap-tools/smbldap_bind.conf` file is shown here:

    # smbldap_bind.conf
    #
    # This file simply tells smbldap-tools how to bind to your LDAP server.
    # It has to be a DN with full write access to the Samba portion of
    # the database.

    ############################
    # Credential Configuration #
    ############################
    # Notes: you can specify two different configurations if you use a
    # master ldap for writing access and a slave ldap server for reading access
    # By default, we will use the same DN (so it will work for standard Samba
    # release)
    slaveDN="cn=Manager,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    slavePw="verysecret"
    masterDN="cn=Manager,dc=abmas,dc=biz"
    masterPw="verysecret"

The next step was to run the `smbldap-populate` command, which populates the LDAP tree with the appropriate default users, groups, and UID and GID pools. It creates a user called Administrator with UID=0 and GID=0 matching the Domain Admins group. This is fine because you can still log on as root to a Windows system, but it will break cached credentials if you need to log on as the administrator to a system that is not on the network.

After the LDAP database has been preloaded, it is prudent to validate that the information needed is in the LDAP directory. This can be done done by restarting the LDAP server, then performing an LDAP search by executing:

    root#  ldapsearch -W -x -b "dc=abmas,dc=biz"\
    	 -D "cn=Manager,dc=abmas,dc=biz" \
    	"(Objectclass=*)"
    Enter LDAP Password:
    # extended LDIF
    #
    # LDAPv3
    # base <dc=abmas,dc=biz> with scope sub
    # filter: (ObjectClass=*)
    # requesting: ALL
    #

    # abmas.biz
    dn: dc=abmas,dc=biz
    objectClass: dcObject
    objectClass: organization
    o: abmas
    dc: abmas

    # People, abmas.biz
    dn: ou=People,dc=abmas,dc=biz
    objectClass: organizationalUnit
    ou: People

    # Groups, abmas.biz
    dn: ou=Groups,dc=abmas,dc=biz
    objectClass: organizationalUnit
    ou: Groups

    # Idmap, abmas.biz
    dn: ou=Idmap,dc=abmas,dc=biz
    objectClass: organizationalUnit
    ou: Idmap
    ...

With the LDAP directory now initialized, it was time to create the Windows and POSIX (UNIX) group accounts as well as the mappings from Windows groups to UNIX groups. The easiest way to do this was to use `smbldap-groupadd` command. It creates the group with the posixGroup and sambaGroupMapping attributes, a unique GID, and an automatically determined RID. I learned the hard way not to try to do this by hand.

After I had my group mappings in place, I added users to the groups (the users don't really have to exist yet). I used the `smbldap-groupmod` command to accomplish this. It can also be done manually by adding memberUID attributes to the group entries in LDAP.

The most monumental task of all was adding the sambaSamAccount information to each already existent posixAccount entry. I did it one at a time as I moved people onto the new server, by issuing the command:

    root#  smbldap-usermod -a -P username

I completed that step for every user after asking the person what his or her current NetWare password was. The wiser way to have done it would probably have been to dump the entire database to an LDIF file. This can be done by executing:

    root#  slapcat > somefile.ldif

Then update the LDIF file created by using a Perl script to parse and add the appropriate attributes and objectClasses to each entry, followed by re-importing the entire database into the LDAP directory.

Rebuilding of the LDAP directory can be done as follows:

    root#  rcldap stop
    root#  cd /data/ldap
    root#  rm *bdb _* log*
    root#  su - ldap -c "slapadd -l somefile.ldif"
    root#  rcldap start

This can be done at any time and for any reason, with no harm to the database.

I first added a test user, of course. The LDIF for this test user looks like this, to give you an idea:

    # Entry 1: cn=Test User,ou=people,ou=corp,dc=abmas,dc=biz
    dn:cn=Test User,ou=people,ou=corp,dc=abmas,dc=biz
    cn: Test User
    gecos: Test User
    gidNumber: 513
    givenName: Test
    homeDirectory: /home/test.user
    homePhone: 555
    l: Somewhere
    l: ST
    mail: test.user
    o: Corp
    objectClass: top
    objectClass: inetOrgPerson
    objectClass: posixAccount
    objectClass: sambaSamAccount
    postalCode: 12345
    sn: User
    street: 10 Some St.
    uid: test.user
    uidNumber: 1074
    sambaLogonTime: 0
    sambaLogoffTime: 2147483647
    sambaKickoffTime: 2147483647
    sambaPwdCanChange: 0
    displayName: Samba User
    sambaSID: S-1-5-21-725326080-1709766072-2910717368-3148
    sambaLMPassword: 9D29C287C58448F9AAD3B435B51404EE
    sambaAcctFlags: [U]
    sambaNTPassword: D062088E99C95E37D7702287BB35E770
    sambaPwdLastSet: 1102537694
    sambaPwdMustChange: 1106425694
    userPassword: {SSHA}UzFZ2VxRGdwUueLnTGtsTBtnsvMO1oj8
    loginShell: /bin/false

Then I went over to a spare Windows NT machine and joined it to the MEGANET2 domain. It worked, and the machine's account entry under ou=Computers looks like this:

    dn:uid=w2kengrspare$,ou=Computers,ou=MEGANET2,dc=abmas,dc=biz
    objectClass: top
    objectClass: inetOrgPerson
    objectClass: posixAccount
    objectClass: sambaSamAccount
    cn: w2kengrspare$
    sn: w2kengrspare$
    uid: w2kengrspare$
    uidNumber: 1104
    gidNumber: 515
    homeDirectory: /dev/null
    loginShell: /bin/false
    description: Computer
    gecos: Computer
    sambaSID: S-1-5-21-725326080-1709766072-2910717368-3208
    sambaPrimaryGroupSID: S-1-5-21-725326080-1709766072-2910717368-2031
    displayName: W2KENGRSPARE$
    sambaPwdCanChange: 1103149236
    sambaPwdMustChange: 2147483647
    sambaNTPassword: CA199C45CB6737035DB6D9D9F6CD1834
    sambaPwdLastSet: 1103149236
    sambaAcctFlags: [W          ]

So now I could log on with a test user from the machine w2kengrspare. It was all well and good, but that user was in no groups yet and so had pretty boring access. I fixed that by writing the login script! To write the login script, I used Kixtart because it will work with every architecture of Windows, has an active and helpful user base, and was both easier to learn and more powerful than the standard netlogon scripts I have seen. I also did not have to do a logon script per user or per group.

I downloaded Kixtart and put the following files in my netlogon share:

    KIX32.EXE
    KX32.dll
    KX95.dll  <-- Not needed unless you are running Win9x clients.
    kx16.dll  <-- Probably not needed unless you are running DOS clients.
    kxrpc.exe <-- Probably useless as it has to run on the server and can
              only be run on NT.  It's for Windows 95 to become group-aware.
              We can get around the need.

I then wrote the `logon.kix` file that is shown in “Kixtart Control File File: logon.kix”. I chose to keep it all in one file, but it can be split up and linked via include directives.

Example 10.15. Kixtart Control File File: logon.kix

    ; This script just calls the other scripts.

    ; First we want to get things done for everyone.

    ; Second, we do first-time login stuff.

    ; Third, we go through the group-oriented scripts one at a time.

    ; We want to check for group membership here to avoid the overhead of running
    ; scripts which don't apply.
    call "\\massive\netlogon\scripts\main.kix"
    call "\\massive\netlogon\scripts\setup.kix"
    IF INGROUP("MEGANET2\ACCT")
      call "scripts\acct.kix"
    ENDIF
    IF INGROUP("MEGANET2\ENGR","MEGANET2\RECEPTIONIST")
    call "\\massive\netlogon\scripts\engr.kix"
    ENDIF
    IF INGROUP("MEGANET2\FURN")
      call "\\massive\netlogon\scripts\furn.kix"
    ENDIF
    IF INGROUP("MEGANET2\TRUSS")
      call "\\massive\netlogon\scripts\truss.kix"
    ENDIF

Example 10.16. Kixtart Control File File: main.kix

    break on

    ; Choose whether to hide the login window or not
    IF INGROUP("MEGANET2\Domain Admins")
      USE Z: \\massive\everything
      SETCONSOLE("show")
    ELSE
      ; Nobody cares about seeing the login script except admins
      SETCONSOLE("hide")
    ENDIF

    ; Delete all previously connected shares
    USE * /delete

    SETTITLE("Logging on @USERID to @LDOMAIN at @TIME")

    ; Set the time on the workstation
    $Timeserver = "\\massive"
    Settime $TimeServer

    ; Map the home directory
    USE H: @HOMESHR ; connect to user's home share
    IF @ERROR = 0

      H:
      CD @HOMEDIR ; change directory to user's home directory
    ENDIF

    ; Everyone gets the N drive
    USE N: \\massive\network

Example 10.17. Kixtart Control File File: setup.kix, Part A

    ; My setup.kix is where all of the redirection stuff happens.  Note that with
    ; the use of registry keys, this only happens the first time they log in ,or if
    ; I delete the pertinent registry keys which triggers it to happen again:

    ; Check to see if we have written the abmas sub-key before
    $RETURNCODE = EXISTKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas")
    IF NOT $RETURNCODE = 0
    ; Add key for abmas-specific things on the first login
      ADDKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas")
      ; The following key gets deleted at the end of the first login
      ADDKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas\FIRST_LOGIN")
    ENDIF

    ; People with laptops need My Documents to be in their profile.  People with
    ; desktops can have My Documents redirected to their home directory to avoid
    ; long delays with logging out and out-of-sync files.

    ; Check to see if this is the first login -- doesn't make sense to do this
    ; at the very first login

    $RETURNCODE = EXISTKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas\FIRST_LOGIN")
    IF NOT $RETURNCODE = 0

    ; We don't want to do this stuff for people with laptops or people in the FURN
    ; group.  (They store their profiles in a different server)

      IF NOT INGROUP("MASSIVE\Laptop","MASSIVE\FURN")
        $RETURNCODE=EXISTKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas\profile_copied")

    ; A  crude way to tell what OS our profile is for and copy the "My Documents"
    ; to the redirected folder on the server.  It works because the profiles
    ; are stored as \\server\profiles\user\architecture
        IF NOT $RETURNCODE = 0
          IF EXIST("\\massive\profiles\@userID\WinXP")
            copy "\\massive\profiles\@userID\WinXP\My Documents\*"
    "\\massive\@userID\"
          ENDIF
          IF EXIST("\\massive\profiles\@userID\Win2K")
            copy "\\massive\profiles\@userID\Win2K\My Documents\*"
    "\\massive\@userID\"
          ENDIF
          IF EXIST("\\massive\profiles\@userID\WinNT")
            copy "\\massive\profiles\@userID\WinNT\My Documents\*"
    "\\massive\@userID\"
          ENDIF

Example 10.18. Kixtart Control File File: setup.kix, Part B

    ; Now we will write the registry values to redirect the locations of "My
    Documents"
    ; and other folders.
          ADDKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas\profile_copied")
          WRITEVALUE("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
    Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
    Shell Folders", "Personal","\\massive\@userID","REG_SZ")
          WRITEVALUE("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
    Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
    Shell Folders", "My Pictures", "\\massive\@userID\My Pictures", "REG_SZ")
          IF @PRODUCTTYPE="Windows 2000 Professional" or @PRODUCTTYPE="Windows XP
    Professional"
          WRITEVALUE("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
    Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
    Shell Folders", "My Videos", "\\massive\@userID\My Videos", "REG_SZ")
          WRITEVALUE("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
    Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
    Shell Folders", "My Music", "\\massive\@userID\My Music", "REG_SZ")
          WRITEVALUE("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
    Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
    Shell Folders", "My eBooks", "\\massive\@userID\My eBooks", "REG_SZ")
          ENDIF
        ENDIF
      ENDIF

    ; Now we will delete the FIRST_LOGIN sub-key that we made before.
    ; Note - to run this script again you will want to delete the HKCU\abmas
    ; sub-key, log out, and log back in.
    $RETURNVALUE = EXISTKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas\FIRST_LOGIN")
    IF $RETURNVALUE = 0
      DELKEY("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\abmas\FIRST_LOGIN")
    ENDIF

Example 10.19. Kixtart Control File File: acct.kix

    ; And here is one group-oriented script to show what can be
    ; done that way: acct.kix:

    IF INGROUP("MASSIVE\Acct_Admin","MASSIVE\HR")
      USE I: \\MEGANET2\HR_PR
    ENDIF

    ; Set up printer
    $RETURNVALUE = existkey("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers\,,massive,acct_hp8500")
    IF NOT $RETURNVALUE = 0
      ADDPRINTERCONNECTION("\\massive\acct_hp8500")
      SETDEFAULTPRINTER("\\massive\acct_hp8500")
    ENDIF
    ; Set up drive mappings
      USE M: \\massive\ACCT
      IF INGROUP("MEGANET2\ABRA")
        USE T: \\trussrv\abra
      ENDIF

As you can see in the script, I redirected the My Documents to the user's home share if he or she were not in the Laptop group. I also added printers on a group-by-group basis, and if applicable I set the group printer. For this to be effective, the print drivers must be installed on the Samba server in the `[print$]` share. Ample documentation exists about how to do that, so it is not covered here.

I call this script via the logon.bat script in the [netlogon] directory:

    \\corpsrv\netlogon\kix32 \\corpsrv\netlogon\logon.kix /f

I only had to fully qualify the paths for Windows 9x, as Windows NT and greater automatically add [NETLOGON] to the path.

Also of note for Win9x is that the drive mappings and printer setup will not work because they rely on RPC. You merely have to put the appropriate settings into the `c:\autoexec.bat` file or map the drives manually. One option is to check the OS as part of the Kixtart script, and if it is Win9x and is the first login, copy a premade `autoexec.bat` to the `C:` drive. I have only three such machines, and one is going away in the very near future, so it was easier to do it by hand.

At this point I was able to add the users. This is the part that really falls into upgrade. I moved the users over one group at a time, starting with the people who used the least amount of resources on the network. With each group that I moved, I first logged on as a standard user in that group and took careful note of the environment, mainly the printers he or she used, the PATH, and what network resources he or she had access to (most importantly, which ones the user actually needed access to).

I then added the user's SambaSamAccount information as mentioned earlier, and join the computer to the domain. The very first thing I had to do was to copy the user's profile to the new server. This was very important, and I really struggled with the most effective way to do it. Here is the method that worked for every one of my users on Windows NT, 2000, and XP:

1. Log in as the user on the domain. This creates the local copy of the user's profile and copies it to the server as he or she logs out.

2. Reboot the computer and log in as the local machine administrator.

3. Right-click My Computer, click Properties, and navigate to the user profiles tab (varies per version of Windows).

4. Select the user's local profile `(COMPUTERNAME\username)`, and click the `Copy To` button.

5. In the next dialog, copy it directly to the profiles share on the Samba server (in my case \\PDCname\profiles\user\<architecture>. You will have had to make a connection to the share as that user (e.g., Windows Explorer type \\PDCname\profiles\username).

6. When the copy is complete (it can take a while) log out, and log back in as the user. All of his or her settings and all contents of My Documents, Favorites, and the registry should have been copied successfully.

7. If it doesn't look right (the dead giveaway is the desktop background), shut down the computer without logging out (power cycle) and try logging in as the user again. If it still doesn't work, repeat the steps above. I only had to ever repeat it once.

Words to the Wise:

- If the user was anything other than a standard user on his or her system before, you will save yourself some headaches by giving him or her identical permissions (on the local machine) as his or her domain account before copying the profile over. Do this through the User Administrator in the Control Panel, after joining the computer to the domain and before logging on as that user for the first time. Otherwise the user will have trouble with permissions on his or her registry keys.

- If any application was installed for the user only, rather than for the entire system, it will probably not work without being reinstalled.

After all these steps are accomplished, only cleanup details are left. Make sure user's shortcuts and Network Places point to the appropriate place on the new server, check the important applications to be sure they work as expected and troubleshoot any problems that might arise, and check to be sure the user's printers are present and working. By the way, if there are any network printers installed as system printers (the Novell way), you will need to log in as a local administrator and delete them.

For my non-laptop systems, I would then log in and out a couple times as the user to be sure that his or her registry settings were modified, and then I was finished.

Some compatibility issues that cropped up included the following:

Blackberry client: It did not like having its registry settings moved around and so had to be reinstalled. Also, it needed write permissions to a portion of the hard drive, and I had to give it those manually on the one system where this was an issue.

CAMedia: Digital camera software for Canon cameras caused all kinds of trouble with the registry. I had to use the Run as service to open the registry of the local user while logged in as the domain user, and give the domain user the appropriate permissions to some registry keys, then export that portion of the registry to a file. Then, as the domain user, I had to import that file into the registry.

Crystal Reports version 7: More registry problems that were solved by recopying the user's profile.

Printing from legacy applications: I found out that Novell sends its jobs to the printer in a raw format. CUPS sends them in PostScript by default. I had to make a second printer definition for one printer and tell CUPS specifically to send raw data to the printer, then assign this printer to the LPT port with Kixtart's version of the net use command.

These were all eventually solved by elbow grease, queries to the Samba mailing list and others, and diligence. The complete migration took about 5 weeks. My userbase is relatively small but includes multiple versions of Windows, multiple Linux member servers, a mechanized saw, a pen plotter, and legacy applications written in Qbasic and R:Base, just to name a few. I actually ended up making some of these applications work better (or work again, as some of them had stopped functioning on the old server) because as part of the process I had to find out how things were supposed to work.

The one thing I have not been able to get working is a very old database that we had around for reference purposes; it uses Novell's Btrieve engine.

As the resources compare, I went from 95 percent disk usage to just around 10 percent. I went from a very high load on the server to an average load of between one and two runnable processes on the server. I have improved the security and robustness of the system. I have also implemented ClamAV antivirus software, which scans the entire Samba server for viruses every 2 hours and quarantines them. I have found it much less problematic than our ancient version of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, and much more up-to-date.

In short, my users are much happier now that the new server is running, and that is what is important to me.

Prev | Up | Next
Chapter 9. Migrating NT4 Domain to Samba-3 | Home | Part III. Reference Section