central network management in Linux/Unix
I was always curious how a Linux/Unix network would be centrally managed.
In the Windows world there is Active Directory which is based on LDAP. Which creates domains and domain authentication for users.
I know SAMBA can act as a domain controller and all that, but I'm not interested in making Linux act like Windows, I want to know what the Linux/Unix approach would be.
Or would you simply use another LDAP based tool on a purely Linux/Unix network too?
I also thought about NIS/NIS+ but that seems to have fallen by the wayside, or is it still a popular solution?