# network user account



## illi (Nov 12, 2008)

is there a way to make network user account and use a mac server os x for authentication?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 12, 2008)

Yes.

Research "Open Directory" (and then install and configure on the server), then use the "Directory Service" application on the client machines to bind the clients to the server.

Use "Workgroup Manager" on the server to administer user and group accounts.

Do you have a specific question about the setup of a Mac OS X Server running Open Directory, or is this just a question in general?  If you have even minimal experience with Mac OS X Server, this setup shouldn't be difficult at all.


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## illi (Nov 14, 2008)

Hey ElDiabloConCaca's, 
thanks for the info, i got it working! wow its amazing, the only problem i am having is setting up a home folder for the user on the network server, i want the users to save work on their own personal folder on the server (dedicated hard drive on the server) i tried the sharepoint option but it seems to only save on the client home folder.  Can someone help me out? thanks!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 14, 2008)

If you're using Leopard server and Leopard on all the clients, read this:

http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=MCXRedirector


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## illi (Nov 17, 2008)

Can we use NFS for setting up home folders? if so who do i get it to automount using NFS, any guides?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 17, 2008)

http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/...dFile&user=wyuen&path=/Public/NFS_homedir.pdf

By the way, I found all of this information I linked to in this thread with simple Google searches, and usually didn't have to look in more than a few results before coming across these guides.


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## illi (Nov 17, 2008)

ElDiabloConCaca said:


> http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/...dFile&user=wyuen&path=/Public/NFS_homedir.pdf
> 
> By the way, I found all of this information I linked to in this thread with simple Google searches, and usually didn't have to look in more than a few results before coming across these guides.



Is this for 10.5 or just specific for 10.4?

I tried using afp & nfs and i keep on getting an error stating unable to create home directory- an error has occurred.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 17, 2008)

It was written for 10.4, but 10.5 is extremely similar if not identical.

Where are you creating the home directories?  Do the users have read/write access to that location?

Here is an Apple tech document on good practices and things to avoid when using NFS home directories:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2799?viewlocale=en_US


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## illi (Nov 17, 2008)

this is my setup
i have a windows domain environment and i am installing a mac osx server along with 5 imacs. 
My setup is as follows for the server

Network - static ip, for dns setting - we have two dns server in the windows environment so i have entered those and the domain search is the our domain (eg test.com) so thats my network setting on eth01 on the mac, nothing else

It is setup as a OD master and i am able to create network user account on it and have clients to authenticate with the server and the home folders are created on the clients machine they log on to. I want change that, so i implemented the use of afs and nfs but each time i create them, and then hit the create home folder button i get home directory can not be created an error has occurs, the user acct do have read & write permissions bu its a no go so can you give me so tips. thanks!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 17, 2008)

Strange... where are the network home folders being created?  Are they within the guidelines of the Apple tech article I linked to in my last post?


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## illi (Nov 17, 2008)

ElDiabloConCaca said:


> Strange... where are the network home folders being created?  Are they within the guidelines of the Apple tech article I linked to in my last post?



I have the setup as to be created on the server, but its not working out.  If i try to log on to the server thru a client machine i can't log on and if i manage to it says the errors says the home directory can not be located or is unreachable, so i am lost! Help!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 17, 2008)

Ok, one more time... does the location on the server that you're trying to create the home directory in conform to the specifications listed in the Apple tech document I linked to?

Specifically, is the absolute path to the home directory location sufficiently short enough (89 characters or less)?

I know you're using 10.5, but in 10.4, spaces were not allowed in the pathname to the user's networked home folder.  Just t make absolute sure, are their any spaces in the absolute path to the location in which you're trying to create home folders?


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## illi (Nov 17, 2008)

I am going have to get back to you on that one as i am rebuilding my server to begin from starch, then i will report, thanks for all your help bro.


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## illi (Nov 17, 2008)

Quick question,
do i need to run DNS in the server services in order to make AFP and NFS work?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 17, 2008)

Nope, don't think so.  You mentioned that you're running other DNS servers, right?  Those should suffice -- I would just think that you need to be able to resolve DNS on your network, so running the DNS service on your Mac OS X Server shouldn't be necessary as long as you're running it elsewhere.

It may not be needed at all, though.


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

Ok so i finished rebuilding my server and i have setup the OD along with a test account, but i haven't set a home dir for the test account.  I set up the home dir for the diradmin account and tested it by logging out a client machine and i was able to log on and have the diradmin account work but he home dir is on the client machine.  So how to make sure that i can setup network home dir for the account? please help!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 18, 2008)

The "network home" service will create two copies of the user's home folder -- one on the local machine and one on the server.

The two home directories will be synchronized when the user logs on and off.

You may want to read up about AD and OD in the server manual:

http://images.apple.com/server/macosx/docs/Open_Directory_Admin_v10.5_3rd_Ed.pdf

I don't know if it's possible to have a home folder solely located on the server without one on the local machine as well.


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

Ah man
again i get the same error, all i did was create the OD, started that service, added afp service then created a folder under the users folder called home shared it, then set the permissions for all as read & write,then went into file sharing tab on server admin, set the folder to automount, selected afp service for access, disabled the rest then went into workgroup manager, selected the user, then home tab, selected the afp command, then clicked create home now, clicked save then i get the message unable to create home directory- The home directory could not be created because an error occurred. help anyone!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 18, 2008)

Maybe clicking "create home" created the directory for you, and since you already manually created the directory, it's erroring...

Hey, it's worth a shot.  Don't manually create the home folder.

Perhaps it's the ordering of commands as well -- first, do the "create home folder" button, THEN go into Server Admin and do the automount stuff.


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

Ok i will give that a shot,
first i will convert the server into a standalone then convert it back to od,
create a test user, then under the user's home option, type in the commands for afp to map home drive on the network, then go back to admin server file sharing tab, then set the folder to automount and set afp as the protocol to access the folder, sounds good?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 18, 2008)

It's worth a shot -- I don't have a Leopard server here with me to really dive into this, but under 10.4 it was pretty simple (I think one of the documents I linked to was a how-to on network home folders under 10.4 server).


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

No go bro, let me document my steps:

after configuring the OD master, i installed the afp service under server admin, then went into workgroup manager, created a test unit, then went into the home tab, then clicked the + button and entered the following:

1st option- afp://myservername.server.com/Users
2nd option- username
3rd option- /Network/Servers/myservername.server.com/Users/username.

then i clicked the create home folder button then save- then i get the same error
the afp service is running, i dont know what i am doing wrong man!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 18, 2008)

What happens if, in option 3, you simply entered:

myservername.server.com/Users/username

instead of prefixing it with /Network/Servers?


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

let me try that and then i will report, thanks!


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

no its doesnt work, it just creates a folder named the myservername.server and then creates the porfile local on the machine i log on to, so please help
i need for user to log on to any client machine then have the home dir show up on the server, thanks again!


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

Nope no go, what it does it makes a folder local on the machine i log on to with the user account, but i need the home folder to be on the server, i have tried everything any more ideas.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 18, 2008)

Weird -- well, it seems, after some research, that you do need to create the folders yourself, then point the network home directory path to the folder.

Try running through this, making sure you do every step as described:

http://macos-x-server.com/wiki/index.php?title=Network_home_dirs

Other than that, I'm at a complete loss as to why it's giving you an error when you try and point the network home directory to the share.


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

hold on hold on hold on, do i need to run kerberos on the server?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 18, 2008)

Ooh, perhaps!


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## illi (Nov 18, 2008)

but isnt kerberos used for authentication? anyways is there is a simple guide to setup kerberos?


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## illi (Nov 20, 2008)

I think i know what the problem is, when i go into server admin & try to add a server to configure, i can not ever add server using its name eg. myserver.domain.com.  the only way it works is when i use the ip address, how can i resolve that? please help.  thanks!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 20, 2008)

Is the name of your server "myserver.domain.com"?  If you ping that name, does it resolve to the IP address of the machine?

Also, unless the server is the DNS server and authoritative name server for your ".com" domain, you should typically use ".local".


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## illi (Nov 20, 2008)

No it does not resolve the ip address and i think that is the problem.  right?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 20, 2008)

Yup.

What is your domain name?  Since your server name is "domain.com" (where "domain" is your domain name), and that resolves somewhere else, then your server being named "something.domain.com" won't resolve to your server.

Do you have a website that is hosted somewhere, or is another company responsible for the DNS records, on the domain "domain.com"?


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## illi (Nov 20, 2008)

I'll have to check on that and get back with the info, thanks so much for supporting my questions! and responding quickly!


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## illi (Nov 21, 2008)

In terms of the DNS records, the server is on the eternal network & so r the DNS servers so we are responsible for the eternal, so i think our DNS servers dont have a record of the mac server - ip address right? any help?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 21, 2008)

Yes, that would make finding the server difficult.

But it doesn't explain why the Server Admin doesn't recognize the "server.domain.com" name -- all computers should know their own name, regardless of whether there's a DNS server present or not.  Are you using Server Admin and Workgroup Manager from the server itself, or are you connecting to the server from a different Mac?


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## illi (Nov 21, 2008)

Well at times i use a mac book which has admin tools install on it and i use server admin to connect to the server- i have to use the ip address to connect.  At other times i use server admin right on the server & to connect on there i still have to use the ip address because the server.domain.com name does not work or register. so i think that is the problem because it is not resolving the server name to ip address. How can i fix that any idea?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 21, 2008)

Did you ever find out where "domain.com" resolves to?  Also, you need to find out where "server.domain.com" resolves to, since that's what the server is called, right?

If you have domain.com resolving somewhere outside of your local network (like to a website hosted somewhere else), then the subdomain server.domain.com will proably resolve there, too -- or nowhere at all.

Like I said, unless this is an "outward-facing" server (a server that is directly connected to a static IP address and is the checkpoint between the network and the internet), then it's better to use "server.domain.local" instead of "server.domain.com" to prevent any issues with "domain.com" pointing to another IP address.


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## illi (Nov 21, 2008)

Nice ok i will rebuild the server & change it to server.domain.local & then i will report, thanks for the tip bro, GOD BLESS


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## illi (Nov 21, 2008)

Ok wow, i cant believe, it worked, thanks a bunch man! wow i am so happy!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 21, 2008)

Nice!  And it only took us 6 pages of posts!  

Glad to hear it's working now.


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