Starting back over from Scratch

[pedz]

I just bought a G5 Quad from ebay. I am currently using a G4 MDD. I have Mac OS X Server 10.4.4 on the G4.

The G4 was never really set up right -- for various reasons. I want to start clean and set the G5 up "right". For example, the G4 does not really know about my laptop. So I can't use the Software Update service from my server. There is just a whole list of things that kinda sorta work but not really.

So... the question is, where do I start? I find the Admin guide very wordy. I also find that it never answers the questions I have (or I don't find the answers I'm looking for is maybe a better way to put it.)

I'd like the server to know about the laptop. On both machines I have an admin user of root_ad and a normal user of pedz. I'd like the server to know about both but, obviously, if the laptop is not on the local netowork, I still need to be able to log in to the laptop.

As I said, the server doesn't know about the laptop so the laptop can not use the software updates on the server. But it looks like the server can not (or does not) use the updates on the server either. Can I get the server to just use the updates that it already has downloaded?

Thanks,

 

[Go3iverson]

To make the server aware of the laptop, create an Open Directory Master and publish MCX data to the laptop. You'll need to create a user account in the directory and manage the software update preference for that user. Bind the laptop to your Open Directory and use that created username and password to login. You can set up the user to use a portable home directory, so that the home directory info is stored locally and on the server, as well as login info.

Michael