This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
How to Join Debian to Active Directory joins one Debian host to an Active Directory domain you administer. It is not a way to enter a domain you do not run.
Time has to agree before a join. The join account is not a domain admin password left in a script. prompt-for-this marks the gap. Debian, not Ubuntu. Package names and the network file can differ.
One host. Do not store the password in the generator output you commit. AppArmor may be present. Do not disable it to make a package start. SELinux is not the Debian default.
The generator drafts the join. It does not connect to the domain. 192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Confirm the domain is one you administer.
- Confirm time sync.
- Name the host and the account. Leave the password as prompt-for-this.
- Read the draft and delete any password.
- Do not run the join during the reading.
- Stop after one host.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Domain join from Debian goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- Pasting a draft you did not read.
- The wrong hostname.
- A secret in the ticket or in git.
- Two changes in one window.
- No copy saved before the change.
- A documentation address left on a host that is leaving the lab.
- Disabling a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
- Calling the generator output a finished production change.
- A domain you do not administer.
- A domain-admin password in the script.
- Joining a pile of hosts in one window.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Domain join from Debian: The domain is yours. Time sync is the step before the join. The password is not in the note. One host is this window. And the draft was not committed with a secret.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The domain name is written. The host name is written. No password is in the draft. Time sync is named. And the join was not run during the reading. If one of those fails, stop.
# Domain you administer only.
# prompt-for-this is not the join password.
# Do not commit the script with a secret.
# 192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.Before you leave the host
How to Join Debian to Active Directory ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
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