I’m curious as to why someone would need to do that short of having a bunch of users and a small office at home. Or maybe managing the family’s computers is easier that way?
I was considering a domain controller (biased towards linux since most servers/VMs are linux) but right now, for the homelab, it just seems like a shiny new toy to play with rather than something that can make life easier/more secure. There’s also the problem of HA and being locked out of your computer if the DC is down.
Tell me why you’re running it and the setup you’ve got that makes having a DC worth it.
Thanks!
To deploy AD, that depends.
If you like to sail the high seas AND aren’t trying to use it for a business, then no.
If you don’t want to sail the high seas or need to use it for a business, then yes, you’ll need to buy a Windows Server license
Windows server license and CALs… don’t forget that extra little cost just because from MS
Samba v4 has been able to be a domain server forever and it’s free. You can also use Synology if you want it off the shelf.
You can have ad dc on samba, without windows. Nice all in one solution is UCS univention, works really well and free: https://www.univention.com/products/ucs/
Even in docker, last time i tried this, it was buggy: https://github.com/Fmstrat/samba-domain