Is there an easy way to set up an authentication server?

[txos]

I have been running a CentOS 4.x server for almost a year now and I love it. Very stable and so far very user friendly. I would consider myself somewhat of a newbie to Linux but I know my way around. I recently decided to set up my server to authenticate network users in a testbed environment. I have done some research and so far it looks like my options are as follows:

1)Set up an NIS server. I have read that this protocol can be somewhat insecure and is no longer supported by Sun.

2)Set up an LDAP server. This appears to be the popular choice but it also appears to be very difficult to set up.

I realize I may be asking for something that does not exist but I would really like a network that functions as a cohesive unit as opposed to a bunch of computers that share media. I would also like to be able to do it without dedicating countless man hours to figuring it out. Don't get me wrong I enjoy a good problem as much as the next guy but configuring Kerberos, Samba, and OpenLdap and then trying to get them to work together seems like a daunting task. Does anyone know of another option that I might be missing? If not perhaps someone could point me in the direction of a good book or online resource for me to take in if I have never done anything with any of the mentioned protocols at all.
Thanks

[kentyler]

LDAP is the only way really.