NetInfo networks

WeeZer51402

WeeZer51402

Registered
is there a way that i could create a netinfo network w/out dns? heres the scenario

Server -
mac os x jaguar
sharepoints - created in netinfo, /Library/FileServer/share
users - 3 local 1 local admin two for other workstations
user 1- server
user 2- emac
user 3 g4

Emac -
1 local user

g4 -
1 local user

now the question is can i bind these to the server through directory access and do i need dns, if so how do i setup a network tag for the server in netinfo?
 
Why would you have your netinfo master db on a 10 client? I am not sure I follow here.

With Mac OS X Server, you can have all the machins bind to the parent without any problems. All you need to do is go into directory access on the clients and type in the connect to netinfo parent under the netinfo configure button and select the IP address of your server as well as the network setting.

If you are just running a single netinfo domain as in /netinfo/root and nothing else then the binding should be simple. You should also take the netinfo clients from binding to through DHCP and BootP protocols. Also, DNS on the server is a huge benefit as it allows the server to do forward and reverse lookups on your clients as well as itself to authenticate it.

From there, you have to decide if you want to automount different shares in your domain to your clients to eliminate the need for them to connect to the server everytime. These are things such as the "Users" folders for home based directories, and any other share points you wish to share out to them.

You may want to have a compiled set of Fonts for your machines so that everyone uses the sames ones. In that case you could automount them in /Network/Library so they are able to open and use that set of fonts but cannot under any cirmumstances modify the folder.

Maybe I am a little off topic here. Sorry is I went way overboard...
 
This is a small network so I've considered a second option, i could probably create a sharepoint on what will be the server in netinfo and on the two clients just have them automount statically at boot or should they be dynamic, do i need dns? I dont think there is going to be a issue with user names and what not, ill just turn on guest access and give everyone read write and execute privs on the sharepoint so i wont have to worry about passwds which shouldnt be a security risk because the machines are on a switch behind a router without a nat for afp, im just looking for a low maintnance, simple solution that wont cause too many headaches, the computer guy that previously set it up had 3 accounts on every machine and people manually using the connect to server option which was just too confusing i think with just one sharepoint that everyone can do there job much easier.
 
See dthompson101, that's why I asked. I figured it was client since it's pretty simple to do with OS X Server and the admin guide.
 
OK, Sure it might be easy with OS X Server.
But he was asking for OS X Client...
I can't believe there is no way to do this with a normal OS X configuration. I can't afford OS X Server ATM, and I just want to set it up for a simple home network
 
Well the basis here that you have to understand is that to get a client to "bind" to a netinfo database, you need to have a netingo with more capabilities than what is built into Mac OS X Client.

There are however other ways to bind your clients to a parent server. One of the best ways to do this is to go and download the latest distro of openLdap: www.openldap.org

Here is the FTP link:
ftp://ftp.openldap.org/pub/OpenLDAP/openldap-release/openldap-2.1.21.tgz

This is the latest and most stable release. From there, with LDAP, you can have any Macintosh based Mac OS X Client connect to your LDAP server (which is running on Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar) and not server and serve up your clients home directories, share points, etc etc.

If you just want to do simple peer to peer AFP over TCP/IP file sharing, Mac OS X client has the abillity to do this natively without any special needs. The problem being here is that you can only natively assign one share point to one machine. There are third party apps out there that allow you to expand on this, however also keep in mind that the version of AFP file sharing in the client is a lot less than that of its server parent that offloads the strains of multiple users on the server better.

My opinion to you is to leave the netinfo all alone and try to get openldap running on your client for authentication...Its the way that Mac OS X Server is going anyways, so you will one step ahead of the race here :)
 
Cant netinfo still work for if i used one sharpoint per machine, dynamically automounting at start up, i think the client version should be able to handle that, now since all that is possible is there such thing as application linking in os 10? would that be automounting something in /Network/Applications and if so how? do i really need to waste more time learning ldap?
 
do i really need to waste more time learning ldap?
Click to expand...

Well, it's not really a waste of time as thats where the user management in Mac OS X is going as they move away from the older netinfo system.

I am sure there are ways where you can share points automount within netinfo in Mac OS X Client, but there are 2 different databases in Mac OS X Client and Server.

Yes, you can have applications linked within the /Network/Applications in Mac OS X. I have never had too much success in program linking like this though. For linking parts that you may want to serve for your users such as fonts for instance, that works fine.

I am not sure Mac OS X Client or Server are set up yet for Application linking as such. Its been sort of hit and miss anytime I have ever tried to set that function up. I am sure in the next gen of their OS, they will deal with it a little more.
 
hmm, what if i automounted the remote hard drive in /Network/Servers and then i just had an alias to the directory within that drive, then would the app automatically look in it? By the way is there any good beginners info on ldap anywhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top