using OD for authentication with NO home folders

[beemerkid]

We are looking to set up an Open Directory on a Snow Leopard server in our medium sized company – we would like to use it for Single Sign On authentication but do not want to create home folders on the server. All we want OD to do is authenticate

We have been able to authenticate using OD bound and unbound but both need home folders. Is there a way to have no home holder and still authenticate?

thanks

[s_groening]

You could opt for a setup involving mobile accounts, which are OD controlled Macs with OD users allowed to login with local home directories instead of server based home directories.

Setup a computer group to contain your individual computer accounts and setup the desired login preferences directly from WGM.

MCX is then active on the computers, allowing you to force change of passwords, group memberships, print quotas etc.

If you wish, you can let users replicate/syncronize data towards the server based on either a selection of folders or the entire home directory (which seems to defy your purpose, though).

[arekdreyer]

[QUOTE][u]Quote by: beemerkid[/u][p]
We have been able to authenticate using OD bound and unbound but both need home folders. Is there a way to have no home holder and still authenticate?[/p][/QUOTE]

—
Here are two ways to have users from OD log in with LOCAL home folders (rather than network home folders). Note that an OD user must have SOME home folder defined in order to log in at the loginwindow on a bound client.

One way is to use managed preferences to force the creation of mobile accounts, and specify “Home folder location” as “on startup volume”
See the illustration on page 67 of the tandtleo14.3.pdf document (use google to find it).

Another way is to use Workgroup Manager to specify a local home folder for a network user account:

Select the user
Click the Home tab
Click the Add button (+)
In Full path, enter /Users/arekdreyer
Click OK
Now /Users will be listed in the Home tab
Select the other users, select /Users, and click Save.

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