This would prove very useful, as I have client machines that are laptops, and this sounds like the solution to them being on the net, and off the net.

st

Some thoughts after days with configuring home directorys for students.

When working with video, I also dont want them to use homes on the server.
But sooner or later everybody will edit video, the solution must be generic.

Homes on client machines…is a problem since they can be off or at sleep, or involved in something else…

I make all homes on the server.
I make three accounts local on every client, identically.
1- My own admin on the client
2- A user admin, if they or a teacher needs to access the client.
3- A student account, (login and psw written on the wall)

The 3d, student account, has its home local on every computer, the files stays local.

To make things easier I create four links on the student-local-accounts desktop:
-print center (a lot of trouble when the queu is stopped etc…)
-/Network/…/server
-The home/documents folder, named “The lokal documents on this machine”
-The /Users/Shared folder named “The shared documents on this machine”

Now they can work locally, access the server if they need, were they can access their own home, as guests though.
They can also leave files in the local “shared” folder, for later, loged in as user, move to the server.

To keep the folders there I run a script daily to create the links.
I also run a crontab every 5th minute to set the priviliges off the shared folder…
***crontab:
#set priviliges shared
*/5 * * * * chmod -R 777 /Users/Shared

#create folders
10 17 * * * /usr/bin/scripttomakefolders.sh

***

script to create folders:
***
#!/bin/sh
sudo ln -sfh /Network/Servers/domain.com/server /Users/studentaccount/Desktop/
sudo ln -sfh /Users/studentaccount/Documents /Users/studentaccount/Desktop/Local_Documents
sudo ln -sfh /Applications/Utilities/”Print Center.app” /Users/studentaccount/Desktop
sudo ln -sfh /Users/Shared /Users/studentaccount/Desktop/Shared_Local_Documents
***

I also…erase all but three folders in the local home
Documents, library, desktop:
***
sudo rm -fdR /Users/elev/Movies
sudo rm -fdR /Users/elev/Music
sudo rm -fdR /Users/elev/Pictures
sudo rm -fdR /Users/elev/Public
sudo rm -fdR /Users/elev/Sites
***

Thats for the clients!*******************************

More I want to share, that made my last days easier:
1)
If, like me, You want the home dirs on other places then /Users on the server, like on an other drive etc, You must configure the “Advanced” under “Home” in WorkgrpManager…

The hints there are WRONG!!!!! ..took me sweat and tears to figure out:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107624

2)
Its easy to move accounts from the local netinfo directory to the shared /root directory, if You do it in Netinfo manager…hm.. maybe I read that here. Ask how.
8I had all school students and staff under the local…

3)
Under /system/library/User template/eng…/
The home directory template is located. I altered it like I wanted it, with links on students desktop and “Read me” files etc. Cool!

But then again…the school hasnt started yet…everything Ive done might crash and burn when 100 students login simultanesly…

Joachim Schmidt
[email protected]

[quote:7c8fdda891=”MacTroll”]

We have an article on this that should be posted shortly.

Joel[/quote:7c8fdda891]

The article is very helpful. I was attempting to figure out how to do this last month for a pair of shared use student Macs. I have some observations and suggestions…

It would be helpful if the article mentioned the niutil methods for each step, instead of just mentioning they exist. This would be helpful to script writers.

The article could mention how one might approach this in a managed environment.

[code:1:7c8fdda891]So again, to reiterate – we need two users with identical UIDs, GIDs, and password "hash" keys on both machines.[/code:1:7c8fdda891]

Shouldn’t this say we need “the same user” on both machines? The wording is confusing.

[code:1:7c8fdda891]Back on the client, we now need to get it to "automount" the server machine regardless of where the user is logged in. Again, we turn to HornWare’s SharePoints Automounter, but this can be done via niutil or Netinfo Manager as well.[/code:1:7c8fdda891]

Please list the niutil and NM methods as well.

[code:1:7c8fdda891]I am testing some weirdness that seems to arise in SOME programs and saving preferences. The fix may be to make the server user instance also a "client" as with the client machineóthat way both boxes are really "network" users.[/code:1:7c8fdda891]

Even simply relocating the home directory to another local disk partition can cause all sorts of difficulty. MS Office (the spawn of the devil) has all kinds of issues with this. You must play games with pref files to get VB Script to work correctly for one thing. It’s such a pain that we have given up partitioning and relocating altogether in my group. It makes me wonder what will happen if/when we switch to a managed environment with remote directories for everyone.

–MM

Mark Moorcroft
SysAdmin.
NASA/Ames RC