When we started our software development company, we decided to use Samba as a PDC for the few Windows workstations we had. We use Samba with OpenLDAP, and it has been a good replacement for AD for almost 6 years now (using Windows XP workstations).

Now I'm facing a few problems with our setup:

• The Linux server where the PDC runs is very outdated (and is a Gentoo install, don't ask why!)
• We started using Windows 7 on some of the workstations, and these can't join the Samba domain (there's a workaround, I know)

Our company has grown a bit, and we have now about 20 workstations (and plan to have more in the near future).

I have to reinstall our PDC, and was thinking on updating to another Linux distro and the latest Samba 3.4. However, I started having second thoughts, and now I think going to a Windows Server for the PDC is the way to go. The main drivers to opt for a Windows Server would be its easy administration and the ability to use Windows 7 out of the box, without any registry hacks.

My question(s) then is(are):

• How should I do this migration?
• Can I keep the same domain name?
• What will happen to the users? Will they be recreated and won't be identified by the workstations as being the same user, even if the actual username is the same?

What steps would you recommend me to migrate from Samba to Windows Server?

Bonus question: If you think staying in Samba is the way to go with my current setup, I'm also interested on your thoughts.