Serra
02-26-2006, 08:50 PM
Okay Macintosh folk, it's time for you to shine! I may have a very annoying task in front of me, and I would really appreciate some help. I am not a _total_ n00b with Macs, but please treat me like I am. And while you read on, please be aware that I am just fine with everything else required of this job (most of which is not listed because it's irrelevant to the problem)... it's just the Mac part that I'm stumbling with.
Background Info:
I just discovered I have a very good chance of being asked to re-design and implement a network that contains both PCs and Macs (a small variety of OS versions), which have heretofore been unable to communicate with eachother (don't ask me why - the soon to be former network admin guy sounds like a bit of a flake). Obviously, the management wants them to be able to communicate... which is where I get a little stuck. Now, I'll admit right now that I'm not sure what kind of servers they're running, but I do believe it's Windows-based. What flavor? No clue. Logic says it must be NT, 2000, or 2003... but I don't know which or what edition.
The Questions:
1. How do you join Macs to a domain? I know it became natively supported at some point, but I don't know what OS revision that became the case with nor the different procedures (I know it changes a little version to version).
2. Now assume we're dealing with Active Directory: how do you integrate Macs of various OS versions with Active Directory? I'm told OS version 10.3 and above integrate decently, but I don't know how to do it and I'm quite sure a number of machines will be of lower OS revisions.
Please send me any links you have on the subject, or anecdotes of experiences you have had which are of similar veins. It would be much appreciated, as successful completion means a great job offer once I'm done school (even while I'm in school, actually).
Serra
Background Info:
I just discovered I have a very good chance of being asked to re-design and implement a network that contains both PCs and Macs (a small variety of OS versions), which have heretofore been unable to communicate with eachother (don't ask me why - the soon to be former network admin guy sounds like a bit of a flake). Obviously, the management wants them to be able to communicate... which is where I get a little stuck. Now, I'll admit right now that I'm not sure what kind of servers they're running, but I do believe it's Windows-based. What flavor? No clue. Logic says it must be NT, 2000, or 2003... but I don't know which or what edition.
The Questions:
1. How do you join Macs to a domain? I know it became natively supported at some point, but I don't know what OS revision that became the case with nor the different procedures (I know it changes a little version to version).
2. Now assume we're dealing with Active Directory: how do you integrate Macs of various OS versions with Active Directory? I'm told OS version 10.3 and above integrate decently, but I don't know how to do it and I'm quite sure a number of machines will be of lower OS revisions.
Please send me any links you have on the subject, or anecdotes of experiences you have had which are of similar veins. It would be much appreciated, as successful completion means a great job offer once I'm done school (even while I'm in school, actually).
Serra