Is DNS really needed for Open Directory to serve up Network Users?

[kd4ttc]

I have been trying to set up my X Server 10.4 to serve network users. The documentation didn’t say anything about needing DNS. Well, lots of frustration. Finally called the Apple tech support (who pointed me here among other tips for a newbie) and explained that DNS was needed.

Well, I kept messing around in Workgroup Manager (WGM) where I kept messing around with the home directory settings.

I found that if I typed in "afp://NGI-Server.local/ngiUsers" in the share point URL and "usera" in the path I would get "/Network/Servers/NGI-Server/ngiUsers/usera" in the home directory created by the magic of WGM. So I changed that to "/Network/Servers/NGI-Server.local/ngiUsers/usera" to see if adding local would obviate a need to call the DNS and now it seems to be working. (I have directory ngiUsers at root level which is set to be shared with AFP as the protocol.)

Any comments?

Steve

[kd4ttc]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply. I was getting anxious working with the server software setup. There is a missing element to the Apple documentation of a general overview of what the server parts do and the interdependencies that exist. When I called apple support I came to realize there were a lot of details that I was ignorant of, and I had an Arthur Dent moment. The DNS best practices link is great. You could even put the words “Don’t Panic” there in nice friendly letters. Glad I found this site.

Steve

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