Re:How about the "third solution..." (Score 1)

I would have to agree with weakethics. Having been a card-carrying MCSE and CNE I can tell you that the best way to manage any NT/2K network is to put a Novell server at the root of your tree, and run NDS. I only have about one solid year with *NIX (GNU/Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD), and so have played with this only for fun. On my network (RH7.1, Sol8, NW4.2SB, NT, 2K servers with DOS, 9X, NT, 2K, RH, Mac, and OS/2 clients) I had it installed and configured in about 2 hours. The only system I couldn't get it to work with was BSD, but given the time to research and hack at it, I am sure it would work. I don't know how much faith (read: job security) I would put into a network relying on Win2K for all authentication. Novell has been in the directory game for a long time and supports industry standards. They also have a history of reliably taking poor MS authentication methods and replacing them with solid, functional code. With NDS you can partition and replicate the schema with ease, not so with the MS attempt. I would seriously consider the NDS approach, and as far as your deadline, it is better to be late 2 weeks and functional than lying down on-time. Just my 2 cents, hope it helps a little.