[BBLISA] solaris, windows server, and virtualization

[Edward Ned Harvey]

Based on recent discussions in this group, I want to do some academic work
for myself.  I'd like to install solaris and get some file sharing &
snapshotting started.

I like dell pc's because the price is right, but I've had problems
installing & running linux on machines that are only intended for windows.
So I'm leary of installing solaris directly on one.  Anyone have personal
experience to influence my bias on that one?

So then I'm thinking, I can build a minimal centos 5.1 virtual host, and run
solaris in a VM inside there.  It should be compatible, I think, and easy to
migrate to new hardware as required.

So then I'm thinking about authentication and permissions on the file share.
The most seamless thing I've seen is when you have Active Directory, and
windows users browse to CIFS shares, that are served by windows server, or
other windows machines within the domain.  Authentication is automatic, and
permissions are very granular, via ACL's.  I assume solaris can join windows
AD (haven't read any about it) but again, I'm looking for someone with
personal experience to say it's really smooth and easy, or it's not quite as
good.  The possible problems I see are difficulty joining the domain, or
difficulty with setting permissions.

And finally then, I'm thinking perhaps I'll run the AD server inside a VM,
run solaris inside a VM on the same hardware, and my goal is to have
seamless secure network file server with snapshotting available for use by
my laptop.

Anyone want to chime in before I take the plunge?

Thanks, ttyl...