Best FOSS Active Directory Alternative?

danboid writes "I'm an IT technician at a large school near Manchester, England. We currently have two separate networks (one for pupils, one for staff) each with its own Windows Server 2003 Active Directory box handling authentication and storing users' files. We're planning on restructuring the network soon and we'd like to be able to replace the two aging AD servers with a single, more powerful Linux server running an open source OpenLDAP implementation. The main contenders for this purpose seem to be Fedora Directory Server, OpenDS, and Apache Directory Server; but I've been unable to find meaningful comparisons among the three. I'd like to hear which solution Slashdot readers recommend. What is your experience with ease of implementation / maintenance? Any stories of similar (un)successful migrations? Any other tips for an organization wanting to drop AD for a FOSS equivalent?"

Comments

Re:That depends......

[sumdumass]

Actually, no Disney didn't pay US senators a bunch of money to make copyright work well over the human lifespan. Disney benefited from US senators attempting to turn US copyright into a more compatible version of Europe's copyright because we signed a treaty with them (the Berne Convention).

I know it's fun to run around and claim you were screwed by Big Bad Company but it seriously takes away from anything otherwise creditable that you could be saying. Benefiting from something doesn't mean they had it implemented. Blaming Disney for moving our copyright laws into compliance with a treaty we signed and ratified almost two decades previously is telling the truth.

Re:That depends......

[phayes]

Actually, no Disney didn't pay US senators a bunch of money to make copyright work well over the human lifespan.

Actually, Yes they did! You seem to be confusing the Copyright Act of 1976 which brought US law pretty much into accord with the Berne Convention with the Mickey Mouse Protection Act where Disney DID finance the campaigns of a number of low life congress critters to chip away at the public domain.

Note that as a fan of yours I agree with most of what you write, but not in this instance...