I'm curious how people handle group policy in windows networks that
use Linux and Samba.

Is it possible to replace AD with Samba and then run only Group Policy
on a Windows server? Or is the group policy stuff too tightly
integrate with AD?

Are there other alternatives? I'm not looking to really lock down
desktop computers (although that might be a nice option) as I am in
pushing settings like redirecting a folder to a network share and
software installs/updates.

Thanks