Cross Server Network Logon's

[AtomicGrog]

Back a few OSX version ago (Mountain Lion and prior) I used to have OD based logons using one of my home machines (a mac mini) as a directory server.

It wasn't ideal though, essentially dependency on a single machine wasn't where I wanted to go, and to be brutally honest once OSX server became an 'App' it seemed to regress a lot in terms of quality.

What I tried at the time was to set-up a couple of machines (as servers) each with their own OD setup and user base.

It worked fine from a 3rd machine, from there I could log onto users from either server.

What I couldn't do though was cross log-on from the servers...

If I could I'd set up each with a user representing the machine owner (me, wife, daughter son etc. as appropriate), and if they wanted to log onto another machine they would use their own user/account remotely.

Does anyone know if this would now work? At time time I couldn't get a definitive "that's not supported" or a "it's a bug", it just didn't work though.

Cheers

AG.

 

[Altemose]

Back a few OSX version ago (Mountain Lion and prior) I used to have OD based logons using one of my home machines (a mac mini) as a directory server.

It wasn't ideal though, essentially dependency on a single machine wasn't where I wanted to go, and to be brutally honest once OSX server became an 'App' it seemed to regress a lot in terms of quality.

What I tried at the time was to set-up a couple of machines (as servers) each with their own OD setup and user base.

It worked fine from a 3rd machine, from there I could log onto users from either server.

What I couldn't do though was cross log-on from the servers...

If I could I'd set up each with a user representing the machine owner (me, wife, daughter son etc. as appropriate), and if they wanted to log onto another machine they would use their own user/account remotely.

Does anyone know if this would now work? At time time I couldn't get a definitive "that's not supported" or a "it's a bug", it just didn't work though.

Cheers

AG.

You can have network accounts in the latest version of OS X Server.

 

[AtomicGrog]

You can have network accounts in the latest version of OS X Server.

Thanks. Do you know if that's a newly implemented feature or do you just happen to know that it works because you tried it?

 

[chrfr]

Thanks. Do you know if that's a newly implemented feature or do you just happen to know that it works because you tried it?

It's existed for many years in OS X Server, and is still there in 10.10.x.
You're still dependent on a single server, however, because you can't have more than one home folder in any sort of supported or reliable way. (You don't want independent directories as this will never work with any server environment.) Honestly, though, using network homes in a home environment seems like far more hassle than it's worth.

 

[Altemose]

Thanks. Do you know if that's a newly implemented feature or do you just happen to know that it works because you tried it?

A network account follows the user and not the machine. If user named John Smith usually uses an iMac, but needs to access his account via a Mac Pro, he can provided they are all connected to the same server. That being said, this is usually much more hassle than it is worth and if you just need files to follow the user I recommend a NAS.