Using Networked Home Directories with Mac OS X?

trouser asks: "I work in a small office using Macs running Mac OS X and PCs running Linux (Debian). There's no problem sharing files between the machines using Samba, Netatalk, and FTP. However, we want to set the Macs up so that at login they mount home directories from one of the Linux boxes so that we get the same home directory no matter which machine we login on. I've read a little about doing this using NetInfo but I gather with LDAP being included with Jaguar that there might be other options now. Any clues?"

Comments

LDAP Infos/MacOS X

[Anonymous Coward]

The MacOS X Server Guide from Apple answers some of you questions...

http://a320.g.akamai.net/7/320/51/1739d12419ef7c /w ww.apple.com/server/pdfs/Mac_OS_X_Server_v10.2.pdf

LDAP = Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

Server

[Johnny Mnemonic]

While you don't need Mac OS X Server to do this, the same resources will apply. I would recommend the OS X Server mailing list, or the X Server Admin Guide. Both are good sources of info for doing just this kind of thing.

Also take a look at some non-Apple resources: AFP548.com is consistently the most current, and has a question and answer bulletin board; there's also StepWise, an oldie but goodie.

Hope that helps, and good luck.

Apple Training

[plsuh]

Warning: Shameless Plug! :-)

Apple provides for-fee technical training that covers this and other very useful topics. The courses are generally a week long and involve instructor-led, hands-on training in setting up a network with Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. IMNSH (and quite biased 'cause I helped write it! :-) O, the training is good stuff, meaty and chock full of technical information. Almost everyone who goes through these courses says something like, "Wow, that's a lot of good, useful information."

We're working on the revisions for Jaguar right now, and expect to go live with the first course deliveries in a month or so. Go to the Apple Training website for more information.

--Paul

Paul Suh
Curriculum Developer
Apple Technical Training
(Help me keep my job! Buy training from Apple! :-)

Re:Apple Training

[jbolden]

I've looked at the training. IMHO I think you guys should do what many of the vendors do and offer a range for the technical certification. You already have the tests in place. Have details on what's covered on the test. Sell textbooks at a reasonable costs. And then offer the training to people who would rather spend the money then work at home.

Someone who has passed 3 of the 5 Oracle exams and is having trouble with the last 2 will drop a few grand for a weeks training easy. Someone who hasn't passed any isn't nearly as likely to. Further without all this detail its hard to know if the training is worth anything.

Just my $.02

Lots of stuff depends on HFS+

[bill_mcgonigle]

On 10.1, I hacked NetInfo to keep my home directory on a linux NFS share. Lots of stuff broke. Lots of stuff, even good stuff like Mozilla, doesn't work because the filesystem isn't transparent to Carbon on non-HFS+ volumes. Even local UFS doesn't work.

Slightly OT for those having automount issues

[alyandon]

For those that were using the following format for fstab: /dev/disk### /Applications hfs rw 1 2

You may have noticed that automount refuses to mount partitions on your /Application and /Users mount points under Jaguar like it did for before. The correct format for your fstab entries should be:

LABEL=(partition name as mounted under /Volumes) /Users|/Applications|/Whatever hfs rw 1 2

Instead of spaces between the items use tabs -- I haven't verified if spaces work yet.

I'm not a mac user myself but my roommate struggled with this issue for quite a few hours before hitting on the solution. I figured I'd pass it along in case anyone else was struggling with it.

OpenLDAP and 10.2

[fordgj]

Yes, OS X 10.2 should be able to automount an NFS volume from a linux box, deriving the required information from the an LDAP database. Yet, this isn't that easy. Over the last two weeks, my work has been attempting to do a similart task with a combination of Jaguar server and Linux. Basically, the issue of where your home directory is doesn't matter a whole lot. The problem is working with LDAP. Our issue has lied in getting the LDAP database setup wioth the proper base such that the fields exist. The LDAP server MUST accomidate all the fields. This includes regular Posix account information, plus special Apple fields such as MCX flags,etc. If you examine the apple.schema file that comes with 10.2 (/etc/openldap/schema/apple.schema), you will see all of these. The 10.2 documentation is good and bad, it says some stuff about this and leaves out a lot. Another problem is the generation of all of this information. I believe that it isn't all regular ASCII (mainly MCX flags). If you already have a netinfo database under Jaguard server, you can migrate the output from slapcat. The problem is, this doesn't work under the client verion, though this may be a matter of configuring the ldap.conf file properly. As another clue, check out the Unix RFC preset in the LDAPv3 section of the 10.2 Directory Access utility. This has additional information regarding mappings. In essence, we have yet to be able to maintain an OpenLDAP directory under linux that could authenticate OS X. However turning on slapd under 10.2 did work with LDAP authentication. It's all a matter of having a database with the proper fields and information. I'll post more as I remember more of the details, my notes are all at work.