Logging on to OS X Server

[martinbly]

hi ...

I am a bit miffed .... i am assuming that this is going to be a simple answer but i cant figure it out .... how do i get my os x client to log into is x server ... i have set up the user on the server etc ... what do i need to do on the client??? (both are versions 10.1.2)

many thanks

[Craig R. Arko]

Are we talking filesharing, ssh login, Server Admin, or which?

[martinbly]

em .. well i want to actually login to the server ... having my home directory etc on it ....you know logging in as a user on the server instead on the client os x??

[Craig R. Arko]

If I understand what you mean, which is having /Users/myuser point to a home directory which is on the server, instead of the workstation, you should follow the steps in the Admin Guide, since the process takes up parts of serveral chapters in there.

Steps 4-8 in Chapter 1 give the basics, then you'll need to read up on setting up automount shares in Chapter 4, around page 80, and then when the share is automounting correctly on the workstations (I'm having some problems with this part) then use NetInfo to move the user's home directory onto the shared volume. You should probably read "Understanding and Using NetInfo" before doing that, especially Chapter 2, around page 38.

If anybody has a good example of doing this, please let us know...

[martinbly]

just to makesure that everyone understands what i want ....
here is an example .... 1 server 10 clients which are used by 100 students .... so any1 of the 100 students can use any of the client macs ... they would log in to their information located on the server from any of the machines .... do you understand what i want?? obviously tho here there is only 1 server , 1 client and 1 user ...

[meancode]

hi,

what Craig has described is exactly what you need to do. it will take a little reading and some work. but to get the 10 clients logging into the OSXS, you need to do some work with NetInfo Manager to have them point to the OSXS for login ingormation.

you might recall one of the setup screens whe you first installed OSX (Client) asked were to get the NetInfo DB, and Locally was the default option, and you just clicked continue, like many of the other screens you clicked contine on when setting up OS X client.

what Craig described is what you need to do if you originaly setup OS X Client to run from a local NetInfo DB. so readup on the manual, and give it a try. getting the auto mount thing to work is fun, but it is doable. i just setup this past weekend 25 OS X Client boxes to login to a UNIX NIC network, with automount even, so 10 clients to 1 server is very do-able.

if you have not already, you might want to purchase the OS X Admin Guide on paper so you are not burning your eyeballs out. you can buy the book on Fatbrain, http://www1.fatbrain.com/asp/bookinfo/bookinfo.asp?theisbn=1400526973&vm=

[brother_lizardo]

The Two key things I ran into were DNS and automounter.

Make sure to have DNS entry's for each of the machines.

Then make sure to set the Users folder on the OSX server to automount on the client machines. It is set in the automount popup in Sharing / Set Sharing attributes in Server admin. You also need to hup automounter on the client or reboot the client after the changes are set.

I do admit it took alot of head pounding to get everything working. Apple needs to update and better document automounter and netinfo. Then this would be much easier.

shawn