Topic: Linux Workstations on SME

[crimsonline]

Hi everybody,
I have been using SME 6.01 for about 1 year using windows 2000 and XP workstations. I would like to move away from windows and implement suse 9.2 workstations on my network.. Can SME support linux workstations together with windows workstations without any problems? And manage both with a Primary domain controller feel?
Regards,
Louis

[crimsonline]

I’ve done some looking around on the net but can’t find any info on this
Does anybody know if it is possible @ all?

[rmarshall]

I've been using sme and Suse for almost 2 years. You just use samba   as you would with windows.

[Damian]

Did you see this post .... ?

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=24054.0

That gets you NFS access onto the fileserver (SME) so you can share files and you can also (as suggested) use smbclient to browse all shares and interact with them.

Damian
(Using SME 6.0 via NFS from a SuSE 9.1 laptop daily.)

[crimsonline]

ok, so i use nfs to access all the ibays from my suse workstations. Can i manage all my user accounts with sme server? what are the limitations?

[Damian]

You can manage all UNIX accounts from your SME server using NIS. NIS, and it's partner the automounter on UNIX clients will allow any user to log in from any workstation and be placed in their locally-mounted home directory.

NIS works very well and many large corprorations continue to use it. Some will advise caution in it's use though so you'll need to evaluate the pros and cons yourself. For example, don't run it on your SME server unless it's in Server-only mode as configuration error can lead to disclosure of NIS provided info being leaked to the 'net.

See Jesper's link at http://no.longer.valid/mylinks/singlelink.php?cid=93&lid=46

I talked a School sysadmin in Spain through setting this up for 20-odd workstations so that the kids can access their stuff from any machine and he's very pleased with what it gives him (SuSE server & clients). More details on request.

There aren't any major limitations other than needing to have more than one NIS server. Just like running a MS network without a BDC, running a NIS network without at least one NIS slave server is asking for trouble. For that, just make a couple of the workstations NIS slaves as well as clients.

If you want to go into it in more detail let me know.

Damian

[crimsonline]

Thanks Damian,

I’m trying (going to) start moving away from windows and think that Suse 9.2 would be the ideal workstation. I would also like so stay using SME Server (It has been very good to me) or should I move away and use a Suse Server? I really appreciate  all the help.

Thanx
Louis

PS: the link u sent takes me to wake-up-on-lan

[Damian]

Louis,

Sometimes I'm such a donut. That link should be http://no.longer.valid/mylinks/singlelink.php?cid=93&lid=460

You'll probably be fine with SME. I've built and used lots of SuSE-based servers in the past  and SME doesn't give you any less, while providing an easier admin interface (web not yast2).

A good idea would be to grab a spare machine, install SME 6.01 onto it and then try to get NIS & the automounter working with one of your SuSE client PCs. If all goes well, make the changes on your real SME server and start bringing the clients on.

Send me an email to eric@cognoscente.no-ip.biz and we can converse offline. The address is an alias which I'll delete after we connect.

Damian

[crimsonline]

HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, i have done the NIS Master Server Installation on my SME Server. It is running BUT when i go to my Suse 9.2 Workstation and tell it to use NIS for Authentication (during installation using YAST2) it cannnot find the server.
I can:
Ping both machines (server & Workstation)
I cant:
Get the @#$#@$@# workstation to see the SME SERVER

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG !?

[Damian]

Hi Louis,

Don't Panic

I'll do a test installation tonight and create a HowTo doc.

I'll get back to you when it's done.

Damian

[crimsonline]

Thanks Damian,
That would really help me. I’ve been trying since Monday and have completely given up.
YOU ARE THE MAN !!!!!!!!  

[wingman]

Damian,

It would be great if you would post that how-to here so more of us could take advantage of it....

[Damian]

Well, I followed the howto at http://sme.swerts-knudsen.dk/index.html?frame=http%3A//sme.swerts-knudsen.dk/howtos/howto_31.htm
 and we seem to be in business.

The SME server and client install went pretty much as documented. At the end I could verify that SME was binding to it's own NIS server by issuing "ypwhich" and "ypcat passwd" from the console.

On to the workstation. I use SuSE 9.1 but it should be the same for 9.2. Set up the NIS Client in yast with the following settings:

Use NIS
Static Setup
NIS Domain - something (don't use something.com as it gets confusing later between DNS & NIS)
Broadcast

And finish. This then went off to find the NIS server and hung. I quitted yast and checked manually. Running "ypbind -debug -broadcast" on SuSE showed that the SME server was responding to the broadcast request but didn't do anything further. (Had to run "tcpdump -i eth0" on SuSE as root to see that. Hmmm.

OK, stop ybind on SuSE (rcypbind stop).

Manually edited /etc/yp.conf on SuSE to read:

ypserver 192.168.100.40
domain something broadcast

Then on SME run:

/etc/init.d/ypbind stop
/etc/init.d/ypserv stop
/etc/init.d/portmap stop

then "ps ax | grep portmap" showed that I had two portmap processes running. Kill -9 their PIDs and start it all up again:

/etc/init.d/portmap start
/etc/init.d/ypserv start
/etc/init.d/ypbind start

Then on SuSE /etc/init.d/ypbind start.

"ypwhich" now works from SuSE, as does "ypcat passwd".

So far I haven't edited SuSE's /etc/nsswitch.conf file as I don't really want to make this change active (and the laptop goes to customer sites).

So instead of rewriting a very able howto, please post how far you got and what specific parts are failing. The automounter stuff comes later if you need it.

Damian

[crimsonline]

hi damian,
What I’ve done so far:

SME Server;
I followed the Knudsen HowTo  “the NIS Master Server Installation” part but NOT the “NIS Client installation” part (I only have 1 test server)
I followed it to the T !!! and I’m pretty sure it’s running fine I can see the services starting up when rebooting and did all the changes as stated in the howto. ----------- so far so good

Suse Workstation;
During installation with YAST (I chase NIS authentication) and it also hangs and tell me that it can’t see the NIS server.  
I can ping both my server and workstation. So I’m sure the networking part works
Now I went and stopped rcypbind, manually edited /etc/yp.conf on suse to read:
ypserver 192.168.2.100
domain test broadcast

as suggested by Damian. Then on the SME server ‘n stoped ypserv and portmap but I don’t have the ypbind service (Might this be my problem or is it because I don’t have a second SME server?)

Did the ps ax | grep portmap and only had 1 running,

Restarted the Services on SME (the ones I had), then the ypbind on suse but I got;
Ypbind ……………………………….NO NIS SERVER FOUND  

ANY HELP would be appreciated, when I get everything up and running I would also like to use the automounter part if possible.

PS: what’s in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file?

Thanks,
Louis

[Damian]

Louis,

I set up ypbind on the NIS master just to check that I could pull NIS maps OK locally.

If you run ypbind on SuSE with the following options, what do you see ?

ypbind -debug -broadcast

Hopefully the NIS server will respond to the broadcast at least. I get:

add_server() domain: something, broadcast
[Welcome to ypbind-mt, version 1.17.2]

do_broadcast() for domain 'something' is called
Answer for domain 'something' from server 'sme1.something.com'
leave do_broadcast() for domain 'something''

Pinging all active server.
Pinging all active server. ...

If you have this too then this means that the server is probably set up OK.

If so try and start ypbind using:

/etc/init.d/ypbind start

Damian

BTW /etc/nsswitch.conf determines which services your machine uses for which lookups. Even if you have ypbind running on your SuSE box it won't use NIS for passwd lookups unless you tell it to in /etc/nsswitch.conf