Re: LDAP and Active Directory

[Eric Paynter <eric@arcticbears.com>]

On July 19, 2001 04:41 pm, Kristyan Osborne wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Sorry to nag again but I really need some help on this.
>
> My organisation want me to install an MS Exchange server for e-mail use. I
> have set-up a win 2000 server with exchange on it. Exchange needs an active
> directory on the PDC. I am using samba 2.2.0a as my PDC.
> Basically I want to put LDAP on the unix PDC running samba, so that I can
> create an Active Directory.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has done the same or if anyone can offer any
> assistance to this problem.
>
> Thanx in advance.
>
> Kris
>
> ------
> Computers are like airconditioners: They stop working properly if you open
> windows.
> Win95:    A 32-bit patch for a 16-bit GUI shell running on top of an
>           8-bit operating system written for a 4-bit processor by a
>           2-bit company who cannot stand 1 bit of competition.

Your tag says it all ^

Microsoft stuff (like Exchange server) are notoriously proprietary and don't 
play well with other applications. I've never heard of anybody trying to do 
this. My suggestion is either do it the M$ way - W2K Active Directory, or go 
with something other the Exchange as your mail server.

A note from experience: I've worked at a place with Exchange servers 
servicing 7000 clients. They use a huge farm of servers that are all very 
powerful and response is always slow at best, with regular outages. It seems 
to me that 7000 clients is not really very many and the whole thing 
could easily run on a much smaller set of hardware with some other solution 
(qmail? courier mail?) Also, once bought into Exchange, you are also bought 
into an M$ client which means an M$ desktop... We tried for over a year to 
find an Exchange - MAPI client for our Solaris desktops and in the end, had 
to give up and install a Windows desktop next to their Sun boxes just so they 
could get their email. Management didn't think this was an issue because we 
had fewer than 200 Solaris desktops anyway.

Some things to think about.... good luck!

-Eric

-- 
arctic bears - the internet - your way.
email hosting from US$8/month, domains from US$19/year.
http://www.arcticbears.com