Major noob question about freeradius

[Eric Swanson]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 11:29 AM, <freeradius at corwyn.net> wrote:

> At 02:01 PM 1/18/2010, Eric Swanson wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 10:51 AM, Bryan Boone <<mailto:
>> bryan-boone at msn.com>bryan-boone at msn.com> wrote:
>> For me the simplest solution to solve this would be a windows 2003 server
>> domain controller.  Unfortunately due to some corporate restrictions I
>> cannot install a windows server.
>>
>>
>> If you can't set up a Windows server to do this job, the best way to meet
>> this need is to run Samba on a Linux machine.  If you run it in domain
>> control mode, it'll act very much like a Windows server for the purposes
>> you're talking about.
>>
>
>
> If there's a corporate restriction on installing a windows server, setting
> up a linux server to behave just like a windows server might also be a
> problem.  and indeed if it's one the same network, you'll really need to get
> things right so that it doesn't screw anything up (such as becoming the
> master browser).
>

Indeed.  Just for the sake of clarity let me break it down one more notch:
  - If the policy that prevents you from installing a Windows server is
something like a company-wide prohibition on using closed-source software,
or on spending licensing money with Microsoft, and if your network stands on
its own -- then Samba is probably a great approach.  Good luck.
  - If, as Rick suggests, the policy comes from something like a central IT
department that requires you to stay out of their realm of authority, then
you've got a whole mess of constraints to navigate.  Good luck.

Speaking for myself, I'd say the pGina approach noted above by Josip makes
sense only if you've already got RADIUS infrastructure.  If you're building
something from scratch, Samba is a much better fit, but if pGina lets you
use existing RADIUS-centric stuff you just might be well-advised to go that
way.


> Just be sure first :-)
>

Indeed.  Also, note that this is off-topic for the list.

E.

-- 
Eric Swanson, swanson at technologypartnerds.com
Director of Marketing & Sales / Senior Technical Staff
Technology Partnerds
888-NERDS-55
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