Ubuntu Hardy and Active Directory

After enabling the universe repository in my install of the Ubuntu Hardy Heron (still in beta), I installed Likewise Open. It was a very simple process and required no actual knowledge of active directory or even linux, for that matter. To install I typed the following code:

sudo aptitude install likewise-open-gui

After the installation was complete I was able to launch a gui application from Applications -> Internet -> Likewise to join my computer to an active directory domain.

The only information I needed for successfully joining the AD domain was

  1. the name of the domain to join
  2. a domain administrator username and password

Enter that information into the application and lick the “join” button. Voila! Your ubuntu desktop is now a member of an active directory domain.

In order to log in with a domain account, log out of your current session. Log back in with a domain account prepended with the domain and a backslash ie. domain\user. Enter the domain user’s password. All home folders for domain users are stored in /home/DOMAIN/username.

Have fun.