We are a home/small business based network and I am looking to migrate our network from Windows 11 and Windows 7 to Zorin OS. We also still run Server 2008 R2 which has active directory.
5 users / less then 10 overall computers
I have a desktop with a fresh Zorin 18 install, it is a dedicated unit for this application. I want to use this computer to run a domain controller so I can in time migrate other machines in the network to the new Active Directory I created.
We use Folder Redirection and access files over the network (Primarily) as we login at different locations.
What can I install that also has a GUI and covers what is listed below (weather web based or based on the desktop) so I can configure it to work with our network. I intend to discontinue the use of Server 2008 R2 which has these roles.
Active Directory Certificate Services
Active Directory Domain Services
DHCP Server
DNS Server
Network Policy and Access Services (Used for RADIUS/WPA2 Enterprise)
Our network would primarily switch to Zorin which most of what we do would be fine in this environment. Computers that cannot switch would be independent.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I am doing this in a way where the transition shouldn't affect current operations.
This answer depends on if you're going to be using a mixed environment or not. Since it seems that you're going to be migrating everything to Zorin and leaving anything that can't as standalone, one of the only options I can see that might do everything that you're looking for is freeipa:
Active Directory on Linux isn't really a thing as that's mostly a Microsoft product that contains a bunch of different services. These services can be replicated to some degree on Linux via other means (I know some people used Samba to basically mirror the same settings) but it's a very manual and tedious process.
I'd like to think that switching to something like freeipa would be better since it's generally more Linux based vs Windows based, and if you're switching over to linux as a whole, it's probably best to just change to a native solution rather than trying to force a solutiion that's not straightforward for the new systems that you'll be using.
You are correct in understanding. I was reading up on Samba and was about to proceed with it. But waited off. FreeIPA may be my route.
I wish there was a similar and simpler way of adding things like Windows does with its server platform where you can add roles and features within the interface.
I'm however ok with adding things through terminal as long as I can get a GUI with it thereafter.
When I can dedicate more time to this I will attempt it.
Yeah the Samba route is quite involved and not that intuitive at all. It would be nice to have a similar fashion to how windows server allows you to add stuff, however Linux has decided that the terminal (for better or worse) is the main way you should deal with server stuff. Which while faster when you know what you're doing, not exactly ideal for someone starting out or someone who may not have the time to learn absolutely everything about their OS in order to get something like an AD working (how many people know exactly how Windows functions when setting up an AD?).
At least freeipa will allow you to have a web UI available once installed that should allow you to manage the system that way.
Is there a comprehensive list where I can get the required commands for installing any of these until I get to the Web Based GUI?
I ran a few till I got an error:
Package freeipa-server is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
However, the following packages replace it:
freeipa-client-epn
E: Package 'freeipa-server' has no installation candidate
After a bit of a look it looks like as of maybe 22.04 Ubuntu the server is not available. That's news to me. It seems to still be available on fedora as an example, but not on Ubuntu. That's an unfortunate discovery to me today
Since the last time I replied I ended up downloading zentyal on one computer, created a 2nd VLAN.
After all this I installed samba on the client end machine and joined it to the domain. Logged in to the domain account. Worked fine.
Only thing I must do now is configure a shared folder on the new network for folder redirection and somehow get a policy made so that each machine where someone logs in automatically gets their contents. I don't find any similar group policy thing.
