My school district has had iMacs and Windows-based PCs operating on the same network for a couple of years. This coexistence of operating systems was primarily made possible by the addition of an Apple X-Serve to our fleet of servers. This allowed us to control system updates like we do with the Windows Update Server, prevent Microsoft Office for Mac from asking for user information from every person that uses the computer, install network printers, and even manage minor things like which applications appear by default in the dock (going to the applications folder to find Firefox is just plain silly).
But this week, I have had a new challenge placed before me. A student wrote to our high school librarian advocating the use of Linux on "a few" student desktop computers, which of course got passed on to me. I have toyed with this idea on and off for several years, but this email in particular caused me to search my office and the server room high and low for that Ubuntu 9.10 desktop OS disk I knew we had around there somewhere (which would keep me from having to download it...again). A little while later and I had a test platform running Ubuntu Karmic Koala and ready for my experiment - can I get it to authenticate against Microsoft Active Directory just like our iMacs?
I did some quick Google searches, sifted through the information for older Ubuntu releases, and finally settled on the Likewise Open package. I used the directions found here to install the Likewise packages from the repositories. I had some difficulty getting either the GUI version of CLI version to join the computer to the domain, until I realized that I had not installed all of the packages I needed. I installed "likewise-open", "likewise-open5", and "likewise-open5-gui". Once all of those packages were installed then viola the computer literally leaped onto the domain and started allowed network logins to access it.
There are two more things I want to do before releasing Ubuntu desktops to students: 1. create an AD security group that has Sudoers rights and 2. map to the network user's home directories upon login. I've read articles and how-to's for both of these issues so far and I will report back once I am successful.
Looks like my district may be well on it's way to having three desktop operating systems sharing the same network.
Image Credit: www.argazkiak.org/photo/ubuntu-910/
6 comments:
Enjoy the adventure. About a decade ago, my old school was running Macs in the lab and classrooms, and PC's in the office and admin spaces. Then we were told to go single platform. Now it seems to be a non-issue. The wonders of progress.
Ubuntu 9.1 is pretty nice, though I'm still having some crash issues since I upgrading. Occasionally, it just locks up in mid-Internet use. I haven't really had time to delve into the causes of all this (I just restart and move on), but it's certainly a bit of a pain. Are you experiencing any of these issues?
Thanks for the comment Todd, in my district, I get to decide if we are single or multi platform - and my boss supports our current configuration 100% (as evidenced by the Mac mini and Windows 7 desktop at her desk).
Mike, I have had zero hardware issues with 9.1. You might just try a simple reinstall of the OS.
Interesting that a student came to you with the "linux for students" idea. I remember doing a class 7 years ago with a group of 6th form (UK - last year of school) computer students. Only one had even heard of Linux and no-one had seen it running (we ran a session off one of the first live CD ROM's). Keep us updated as to how you go with your triple platform.
You are my hero! We finally got our mixed environment playing nice this year. We have yet to add Linux into the list. I will pass this post along...maybe it will give us the push we need to give it a try. Thanks for sharing your success.
You inspire me on a regular basis...Great job...
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