macosxlabs.org is a good site to visit. Several universities are trying this, including the one I work at.
We've got a lab with both XP Pro and OS X computers who have their home directories mounting of a network attached storage device. Account info is pulled from a Samba server for the PCs and an NIS server for the Macs. Marcel Bresink has a nice utility for placing the NFS mount info into Netinfo's database with the right syntax. He also has thorough documentation on getting Mac OS X to speak to an NIS server.
One thing I'd like to see is better documentation for OS X Server 10.2. OS X Server 10.2 is supposed to be do "NFS resharing over AFP" making it easier to have home directories stored on an NAS device. That gets NFS mounted to the OS X Server which looks at that as the home directory location for all the users. That mountpoint then gets shared to users over AFP. It has not been successful and the nice thick server admin guide isn't very clear on the resharing feature except to say that it is there.
Actually, it's a deterrent. If your lab is made up of new flatscreen iMacs, you'd have to prevent the base from being opened up. Four screws for the RAM access plate, then some torx screws inside that for the drives. PowerMac G4 computers and CRT iMacs are better protected because their access doors can be secured with a cable. Bottom line, the Open Firmware password is a Maginot Line. It's great until someone realizes they can go around it. You'd better be ready to use other utilties or practices in conjunction with the password.
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macosxlabs.org is a good site to visit. Several universities are trying this, including the one I work at.
We've got a lab with both XP Pro and OS X computers who have their home directories mounting of a network attached storage device. Account info is pulled from a Samba server for the PCs and an NIS server for the Macs. Marcel Bresink has a nice utility for placing the NFS mount info into Netinfo's database with the right syntax. He also has thorough documentation on getting Mac OS X to speak to an NIS server.
One thing I'd like to see is better documentation for OS X Server 10.2. OS X Server 10.2 is supposed to be do "NFS resharing over AFP" making it easier to have home directories stored on an NAS device. That gets NFS mounted to the OS X Server which looks at that as the home directory location for all the users. That mountpoint then gets shared to users over AFP. It has not been successful and the nice thick server admin guide isn't very clear on the resharing feature except to say that it is there.
Actually, it's a deterrent. If your lab is made up of new flatscreen iMacs, you'd have to prevent the base from being opened up. Four screws for the RAM access plate, then some torx screws inside that for the drives. PowerMac G4 computers and CRT iMacs are better protected because their access doors can be secured with a cable.
Bottom line, the Open Firmware password is a Maginot Line. It's great until someone realizes they can go around it. You'd better be ready to use other utilties or practices in conjunction with the password.