[WinMac] network newbie ...

C. Scott Walker(swalker[at]geo.Arizona.EDU)
Fri, 20 Aug 1999 12:42:58 -0500

Seeks advice on how to best integrate Win NT machines into an existing
Mac lab. We just got 10 NT 450 PIII PCs, all with NT workstation, to go
with our 10 7200 Power PC Macs. Our server is a G3 running AppleShare IP
6.1.1, with At Ease used for user account administration. My question:
Can we administer user accounts and groups from a single location for
both the Macs and the PCs, or do we have to get another server - i.e.
Windows NT - to take care of the Windows side of things? Things we have
thought about include:

1) Could we have all NT users and groups configured in a single NT
workstation, and have that information copied to the remaining NT
machines?

2) Could we upgrade to Mac OS X, and use Samba to allow the Mac to serve
as the Win NT server?

3) Do we have to buy Windows NT server, increasing the management
overhead by having a second server?

Are there other options we are overlooking, or implications that we are
not fully considering.

One other thing: This lab has minimal system administration oversight. I
am a GIS analyst / curriculum developer with experience running single NT
workstations. My supervisor is an assistant professor who wants to get
tenure, not do system admin all day. In other words, we are a hodgepodge
group trying to cobble this thing together!

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated, assuming they don't
go completely overboard belittling my obviously tenuous grasp of
networking principles.

Right now, we are leaning toward purchasing NT server, and will do so soon
unless persuaded otherwise.

Thanks,

Scott

C. Scott Walker
Research Assistant - Geosciences Department
University of Arizona

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