Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server

alefattorini

@scottalanmiller said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

NethServer is the place to look first. And they are active here in the forum.

Thanks for mentioning us, I'm still here. Just mention me or @nethserver
All things I just read here about NethServer are correct, it's worth noting that

NethServer is extremely modular, you can add just what you need and nothing more
if you can install CentOS 7 you can install NethServer 7, period
NethServer avoids learning all those skills and saves your time. You can do almost everything by webui

I hope it helps.

scottalanmiller

@alefattorini Thanks for jumping in.

vhinzsanchez

@jrc said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

Hmm, the problem with the pre-built ones you mentioned is that they come with a ton of things that won't be needed. There is no reason for it to handle email, or web filtering among other things. AD, DNS and File Server is all they need.
I assume the non-needed services can be turned off so that they do not consume any resources?

As mentioned by @alefattorini, NethServer is extremely modular. If you just need the DC, there's no need to install/activate firewall, email, VPN, etc. Though you can also install the backup for the just-in-case scenario.

For help in installation and/or configuration, head out to the community forum, developers are there as well to lend their helping hand.

Emad R

@coliver

Hi,

Can Samba4 be used to push .msi packages to AD clients ? like I do on my Windows Group Policy management?

coliver

@msff-amman-Itofficer said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

@coliver

Hi,

Can Samba4 be used to push .msi packages to AD clients ? like I do on my Windows Group Policy management?

I believe so... You'll still need a Windows workstation with rsat installed to configure the group policies.

scottalanmiller

@msff-amman-Itofficer said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

@coliver

Hi,

Can Samba4 be used to push .msi packages to AD clients ? like I do on my Windows Group Policy management?

Yes. The only push mechanism is Group Policy and that works just the same.

dbeato

I would not recommend Zentyal however is like the SBS of Linux AD with Email. I would prefer Ubuntu or something of the like as noted above on previous comments.

JaredBusch

@Eltolargo said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

I would not recommend Zentyal however is like the SBS of Linux AD with Email. I would prefer Ubuntu or something of the like as noted above on previous comments.

That is opposite the stated goal. A single box to handle it all. The advantage to these distributions is that they do not require an all or nothing approach like SBS did. Instead, you turn on only the features you want.

dbeato

@JaredBusch said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

gle box to handle it all. The advantage to these distributions is that they do not require an all or nothing approach like SBS did. Instead, you turn on only the features you want.

that's true I am not a fan of having too many roles in one server.

JaredBusch

@Eltolargo said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

@JaredBusch said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

gle box to handle it all. The advantage to these distributions is that they do not require an all or nothing approach like SBS did. Instead, you turn on only the features you want.

that's true I am not a fan of having too many roles in one server.

AD/DNS/DHCP are all pretty normal to be on a single server.

dbeato

@JaredBusch we agree on that no questions about it. I meant having email, firewall, Ad/DNS, DHCP, file server and VPN in one server that is a lot.

alefattorini

@Eltolargo said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

@JaredBusch we agree on that no questions about it. I meant having email, firewall, Ad/DNS, DHCP, file server and VPN in one server that is a lot.

@Eltolargo you're not forced to do it. You can install a module on a server and another module on another one sharing the userbase. NethServer can join another remote NethServer using LDAP or AD
Scenario:

NethServer1: firewall with VPN, Proxy, ecc..
NethServer2: mailserver, personal cloud and fileserver

NethServer1 joins NethServer2 so you can use NethServer2 users/groups for authenticated proxy or VPN users
That's just a pretty simple example.

Reid Cooper

@Eltolargo said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

@JaredBusch we agree on that no questions about it. I meant having email, firewall, Ad/DNS, DHCP, file server and VPN in one server that is a lot.

I agree, too. Keep that stuff separate. Especially if you are dealing with Linux, you don't have a licensing issue making you want to smoosh them all together.

dbeato

@alefattorini said in Substitutes for Active Directory and Windows Server:

u're not forced to do it. You can install a module on a server and another module on another sharing the userbase. NethServer can join another remote NethServer using LDAP or AD
Scenario:

NethServer1: firewall with VPN, Proxy, ecc..
NethServer2: mailserver, personal cloud and fileserver

NethServer1 joins NethServer2 so you can use NethServer2 users/groups for authenticated proxy or VPN users
That's just a pretty simple example.

Oh yeah, I agree with NethServer, I was just saying about Zentyal. I have used it in the past and not a big fan. I just came too late to the post so sorry