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I'm looking for a way to manage Linux workstations in the same way that a Windows domain manages windows clients. Just to be clear, I'm not looking for a Windows domain server replacement, I want a Linux server to manage Linux clients.

My workstations run Debian 8.5 with Cinnamon Desktop.

I need to be able to create new users and groups in the network, attach workstations, set policies by group or user, remote updates, installs, logs, etc.

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You may look for samba client which allows joining Linux to the Active Directory domain. You'll log in with AD user on the Linux desktop and access shares and resources then. But Windows policies can't be implemented on Linux of course.

You can look into configuration management systems like Puppet, Ansible or Chef. They will get you user management tools, update policies, software install, logs management, etc.

But it will not be an easy job because you'll need to program such a CMS login literally before you can use it. It will looks like that for Puppet:L

class my_desktops {
  package { 'mc':
    ensure => 'installed',
  }
  package { 'nano':
    ensure => 'installed',
  }
  package { 'sysstat':
    ensure => 'installed',
  }
}

Looks much like programming, don't you think?

Take a look here for the short overview of your possibilities here.

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  • As a programmer, I'm not afraid of code :P
    – phper
    Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 13:18
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    Then you can pick any of configuration management systems and try it :) I like Puppet but that's personal.
    – Valentin
    Commented Jun 30, 2016 at 13:49

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