4.2.1  Setting the environment

Usually a Linux 

client

 will not be the first Linux machine added in an 

environment. Usually once you begin migrating clients to Linux, you have already 

accomplished Linux migration on back end servers to some extent. This means 

that most descriptions of how to incorporate Linux clients in an existing network 

will describe the servers as being Samba servers running on Linux. Since this 

book is focused on client migration only, we decided to consider the scenario 

where Linux client pilot migration is occurring in an environment where back end 

servers have not yet been migrated. 

A Linux client migration project could occur within any of the following 

environments:

NT4 domain with MS Windows NT4 PDC (and possibly BDCs)

Active Directory domain with MS Windows 200x AD servers

NT4 domain with Linux/Samba PDC and BDCs

Other non MS Windows domain based environment

The majority of environments will be one of the first two. The third option is 

becoming more wide spread, and most descriptions of client migration already 

assume the server backend to be migrated to a Samba domain.

In this book we concentrate on the first two types of environment (that is, a pure 

Windows environment) for two reasons:

Most domains still fit this model.

There are already a lot of descriptions on how to put Linux clients in a Samba 

domain.

Planning tip:

 If a server side upgrade of the domain to either AD or Samba is 

already planned, take this into account in the client migration planning. Try to 

avoid integrating twice.

Within the Linux community the most widely used tool for integrating Linux clients 

with Windows is Samba. Samba originates from being a successful UNIX 

application that provides network services based on the Server Message Block 

(SMB) protocol. This is the same protocol used by MS Windows operating 

systems to provide client/server networking services for file and printer sharing. 

Thus, Linux systems running components of Samba software can integrate 

seamlessly within a Windows domain for access network file shares, printing 

services, network browsing, etc.

For integration examples using Samba, see Chapter 7,  Integration how tos  on 

page 133. Here we indicate technical issues that have to be taken into account 

when planning the migration.

46 

Linux Client Migration Cookbook   A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux