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Integrating Microsoft's AD into Apple's OD?
grag asks: "My workplace has started a migration to a unified authentication system using Microsoft's Active Directory, and Apple's Open Directory. We need to know if it is possible to place a Microsoft Active Directory server underneath a master Open Directory server in the hierarchy. The Microsoft server provides services only to our Accounting Department, and it seems to us that it should integrate to the Mac Server since all of our other departments use the Mac Server. Our network consists of fifty Macs connected to an Xserve running Mac OS X Server 10.3.6 Unlimited Client License. In addition, we have on a separate subnet five Windows boxes connected to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server with a five-client license. Should I pursue this question or give up and place the Microsoft Server at the top of the hierarchy?"
Phone up Bill Gates and say "Yeah, Bill? You know all that talk about interoperability? Where is it?"
I would read this document available on the Apple site. It has some good information on integrating AD and OD.
One section says this: "Users whose information can be managed most easily on a server should be defined in the shared LDAP directory of a Mac OS X Server that is an Open Directory master. Some of these users may instead be defined in directory domains on other servers, such as an Active Directory domain on a Windows server."
...ask Apple. Seriously. My company has an account executive and a systems engineer that visit us twice a year. Between them, they'll be able to tell you exactly what OS X can and can't do, and what it'll cost. You don't have to be a huge company to get this kind of service. If you want to spend money, they'll let you talk to whoever it takes to answer your questions and close the sale.
Most likely it can be done but it is a pretty complex request so it *will* come down to money--either paying someone to come in and do it, or paying to train someone in-house to take care of it. Unlike something relatively simple and common, like setting up Apache, when you get this far into things there aren't a lot of tutorials on the web. Despite what Apple and MS imply, there is no flashing "Click me to integrate everything" button. Complicated shit like this is... complicated. You'll probably have to pay, one way or another. Start here: http://train.apple.com/
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
1) drop Open Directory
2) drop AD, or
3) I welcome our new LDAP overlords
But unfortunately, the parent is lame for posting anonymously so flamebait he obviously is. Had he posted under an account, I would have not jumped to conclusions (damn I need to get my 'Jump to conlusions' mat back from the repair shop) that he was trolling. /end-rambling
[insert lame joke here]
So it looks pretty straight forward. If Apple says it can be done, chances are: (1) they've done it, (2) they've got documentation telling you how to do it, (3) it is possible.
I agree with (1) and (3), but (2) is nowhere close. Apple has done it, and it is possible, but the documentation is somewhat lacking. There are several gotchas to worry about (especially if you're doing stuff like roaming profiles on the windows boxes). If you read the Apple documentation, it makes it look like 30 minutes of work. In reality, a full integration like what the poster is looking for is several days of time...
Also, it should be noted that integrating windows with OD can only be done as an NT4-style domain; the OD server can't masquerade as an AD server. I think the submitter understands this, which is why they're trying to integrate a whole AD server into the Mac setup. Running the Mac for everything just won't work if you need true AD (which I assume they do).
Most of the OD/AD integration I've heard of has the OD taking orders from AD. This is mainly due to the fact that AD is proprietary crap that hasn't been reverse-engineered yet, so the easiest way to go is to slave off of it, rather than try to get MS to play nice with your open, standards-compliant system. Of course, this is exactly what MS wants (embrace and extend!), but until the Samba team gets enough donations to hack the AD protocols, that's probably the only option.