Linux and Windows, Marriage Made in Heaven

Introduction

As the entire world steadily moving towards complete digital infrastructure it is important that an administrator has the ability to merge operating systems together to work seamlessly together. With the economic future unclear there will be companies that look to add open-source software to their organizations.

Zimbra, an open source email program is a great example of "free" software. It is a diverse email program that rivals the costly Microsoft Exchange email program.

This HOWTO will show you how to use Windows Server 2008's Active Directory, to access their Zimbra mail accounts, using their Windows Server 2008 log on information. Zimbra will be installed on Ubuntu Server 8.04, and there will also be 5 shares on the Ubuntu Server machine that will be shared to a Windows XP client that is a member of the Window Server 2008 Domain. Ubuntu Server will also be serving as the DCHP server, deploying 10.0.0.1 address' to the private network, of which the XP client is a memeber of.

Reqirements

Computer with Server 2008 with AD

IP:142.25.97.XXX

Computer with Ubuntu Server 8.04 with DCHP/Zimbra

External IP: 142.25.97.XXX

Internal IP: 10.0.0.XXX

Client with XP installed

IP: 10.0.0.XXX

Ubuntu Server with Zimbra and DCHP

If you do not have Zimbra installed yet please refer to my Zimbra HOWTO.

With Zimbra installed and access to the Administrators console, it is time to set it up so that it uses Active Directory to maintain the username and passwords.

a) Enter https://your.domain.ca:7071/zimbraAdmin in your web browser

b) Log in with your Admin Credentials

c) Select Domain in the left hand column, then Configure Authentication

d) Next select External Active Directory

e) Now add your the domain name for your Windows Server 2008 computer, and the adminstrators username and password.

f) Select Finish.

That's it. Now you need to create the user in Zimbra, and when and if a password is changed in Server 2008, it will automatically change it in Zimbra. There will be a 10 minute overlap where both can be used.

Creating the Samba Shares

Samba is a file sharing server that is installed on Linux that allows files to be shared on multiple OS's such as MacOS, Windows, and Linux.

We will be creating 5 shares that will be shared with our Windows Server and Our Windows Client. It will be installed on the same server as our Mail Client, Zimbra.

From root on your Ubuntu machine do the following

Install Samba

apt-get install samba

Create a Samba User

smbpasswd -a USERNAME

Edit the Samba Configuration File

vim /etc/samba/smb.conf

[test]
path = /home/USERNAME/Desktop/test
available = yes
valid users = USERNAME
read only = no
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes

Restart the Samba Server

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Now lets create 5 different shares that will be accessed from our client and server using AD

Create users that exsit in your AD on the server using the above example.

now edit the smb.conf file to look like this:

[ITAS]
comment = ITAS
path = /samba_shares/ITAS
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
printable = no

[YR1]
comment = YR1
path = /samba_shares/YR1
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
printable = no

[YR2]
comment = YR2
path = /samba_shares/YR2
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
printable = no

[Alumni]
comment = Alumni
path = /samba_shares/Alumni
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
printable = no

[ProgramCoord]
comment = ProgramCoord
path = /samba_shares/ProgramCoord
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
printable = no

Now these shares should be accessible from your Window machines by typing \\142.25.97.XXX\ShareName.

DCHP Server

DHCP is the service that automatically serves IP address's to computers on its network so that they can have network access.

To install a DCHP server on Ubuntu Server 8.04 do the following:

Install DCHP

sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server

Configure DHCP conf file

vim /etc/dhcpd.conf

Edit the following in this file

default-lease-time 14400; #4 hours
ddns-update-style interim;
ignore-client-updates;

option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 10.0.0.254;
option routers 10.0.0.1;

option domain-name-servers 142.25.97.XXX;
option domain-name "your.domain.ca";
subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
{range 10.0.0.100 10.0.0.150;}

Restart DHCP

/ect/init.d/dhcpd restart

Now Ubuntu will be serving IP address's in the 10.0.0.100-150 range to computers that plug in to its network.

Joining a client to Server 2008

In a networked enviroment it is advantages to have your clients join your servers domain so that resources can be shared amongst many. To join a client to Server 2008 do the following:

On the client PC

Hit the start menu, right click my computer and select properties

Select Computer Name and choose change

Input PC name and the name of the server (server.yourdomain.com)

Authenticate your server by entering in administrators name and password and click finish

Thats it, now you can log on with any users that has credentials on the server.

Conclusion

As you can see it is not that difficult join Zimbra to AD, to use Samba shares, to have Ubuntu server DHCP and to connect a Client to the domain. There are many more tasks that are more difficult, but I was unable to make those ones work, so I will not lead you astray with my failure to succeed with those ones.