Leopard client login problem (Tiger server) why can’t I authenticate?

[ITbloke]

I look after a number of Macs and PCs at my company. Most Macs are running the latest version of Tiger but the newest machine came with Leopard. All users log into network accounts on our Xserve, running OSX Server (Tiger). However, the Leopard client machine refuses to log in to any network account, including the one I set up specifically for the machine’s user, shaking its login window at me.

Users connect using Open Directory Master on the server and none of the Tiger clients have ever had problems logging in.

On the troublesome client machine, I have bound to the server correctly in Directory Utility which declares that the server is responding normally. At the login screen I get a green light and “Network Accounts Available” when I click through the options above the user name field so I know the machine can see the server.

I can successfully log in to a local account and subsequently mount the server volumes using the new name and password I’ve set up for the user.

What have I missed?

So far, in my attempts to resolve this I have done the following:

Removed the password from the new account;
Unbound from the server, changed the short name of the computer, re-bound to the server;
Tried logging in to other accounts known to be working;
In WGM checked that the NFSHomeDirectory entry shows the complete path for the user’s home directory;
Deleted and re-created new user account;
Trawled through endless forums for clues.

Kerberos is not running. Does it need to be for authenticating Leopard users?
Is there an issue with clear text passwords in Leopard? Seemingly eliminated through a no-password test account.
I’m sure that I logged in successfully once after setting up the machine but, after installing Leopard updates, logging in has consistently failed.

In Server Admin, the Open Directory Password Service Server Log has this entry relating to a failed login attempt:
Apr 25 2008 12:34:07 GETPOLICY: user {0x4811b79c648853780000002e0000002e, jonprice}, policies: isDisabled=0 isAdminUser=0 newPasswordRequired=0 usingHistory=0 canModifyPasswordforSelf=1 usingExpirationDate=0 usingHardExpirationDate=0 requiresAlpha=0 requiresNumeric=0 expirationDateGMT=4294967295 hardExpireDateGMT=4294967295 maxMinutesUntilChangePassword=0 maxMinutesUntilDisabled=0 maxMinutesOfNonUse=0 maxFailedLoginAttempts=0 minChars=0 maxChars=0 passwordCannotBeName=0 requiresMixedCase=0 notGuessablePattern=0 isSessionKeyAgent=0
Apr 25 2008 12:34:07 QUIT: {no user} disconnected.

Password Service Error Log has this:
Apr 25 2008 12:02:09 LauchTaskWithIO path = /usr/sbin/kadmin.local, arg1 = -q, arg2 = add_principal +requires_preauth jonprice, status = 1

Anyone else having similar problems? Better yet, anyone have any answers?

John 🙁

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