Adding a Mac to a domain

[Kremerica]

All,
I work at a small company of about 40 people, we have a fileserver with a domain and a print server.
All the machines are running windows xp pro with a static IP address and part of the domain.
They all are connected to the network and have network drives mapped for file access.


I have a user that wants to bring in his mac laptop and connect to the fileserver/network share.
I have no experience using macs, and I don't know which Mac OS the user has on the laptop.
What would be involved in adding the network drives to the Mac laptop.

thanks,

 

[RebateMonger]

Microsoft: Connecting Mac OSX 10.3 and Higher Cleints to a Windows SBS 2003 Network.

This may cover additional things that you don't have (Exchange Server and Companyweb), but the basic stuff will still apply.

 

[Genx87]

I went through this a month ago. I love this.

If all of the SMB packets that pass between the client computer and the server are digitally signed, then you can be sure they are authentic. If you disable the Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always) or Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (if client agrees) Group Policy settings, then your network is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, which modify SMB packets in transit. If your organization?s business needs require SMB signing, you should use File Services for Macintosh instead. For step-by-step instructions about using File Services for Macintosh to access shared files located on the server, see the appendix at the end of this document.

Effing macs.

Get Dave! from Thursby for file sharing imo. Or better yet, tell him to leave the mac at home where it belongs.

Yes I am annoyed by Macs in the work place.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Genx87
Or better yet, tell him to leave the mac at home where it belongs.

Yes I am annoyed by Macs in the work place.

LOL. I've found Macs to be pretty high maintenance in a Windows Server environment.

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Genx87
Or better yet, tell him to leave the mac at home where it belongs.

Yes I am annoyed by Macs in the work place.

LOL. I've found Macs to be pretty high maintenance in a Windows Server environment.

A-list celebs are high maintenance. Macs in AD are just an extra security risk. I had a boss who always mass emailed Mac security alerts to our team. That was kind of funny since we had a few Mac users.

Did Apple push for the support of AD or did Microsoft want to sell extra licenses? I'm surprised we don't have AppleNetDirectory or something based off LDAP.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
Did Apple push for the support of AD or did Microsoft want to sell extra licenses?

Under Microsoft's Windows Server licensing, it doesn't make any difference if a Macintosh joins the Domain or not. There's really not much reason for a Mac to join the Domain anyway, since most of the things you do with a Domain (install software, set policies) don't apply to Macs anyway.

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
Did Apple push for the support of AD or did Microsoft want to sell extra licenses?

Under Microsoft's Windows Server licensing, it doesn't make any difference if a Macintosh joins the Domain or not. There's really not much reason for a Mac to join the Domain anyway, since most of the things you do with a Domain (install software, set policies) don't apply to Macs anyway.

Well I was meaning CALs, but it sounds like a potential total waste of a CAL if it can't do much. Maybe Apple will find some way to make this useful. I can already see some people throwing away some money because high level people have Macs, and they'll want to have it in AD. Can you at least not have to reset their password locally? I remember having to walk/drive to some places just to reset a password. Some basic remote administration would be good and maybe worth the CAL to some people.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
Well I was meaning CALs, but it sounds like a potential total waste of a CAL if it can't do much. .

Well, in most offices, Macintoshes will be accessing file shares and printers on the Windows Server or will read email hosted by the Server. I guess I don't see that as a "waste of a CAL". If the Mac doesn't need to access anything on the Server, then no need for a CAL.

The biggest password issue with Macs used to be that there was NO WARNING that the User's Windows Domain password was expiring. And there was no way to change the User Password from the Macintosh. Supposedly, more recent versions of Mac OS have fixed that.