Do "Network Accounts" still exist after the dismantling of macOS Server 2 years ago?

[Eliott69]

I need to replace a small LAN. It consists of a MacPro 3.1 running MacOS X Server & 10 older iMacs. I would like to stick with macOS Server if possible and lease from Apple a Mac Mini as server and 10 iMacs.

The server only needs to fulfill two requirements: sharing files and network accounts. No problem with the first – this service has not been removed by Apple in 2018. But what about the latter, the network accounts? I tried by googling but I didn't find anything confirming continuation or removal.

I could do a test setup, but I do not want to order two Macs just to find out that network accounts are not supported anymore.

Just to make sure what is meant by "Network Account": each user would be created in the macOS Server software and not on each of the 10 iMacs. The iMacs would only have a local-admin account each.

So the 10 user home folders (containing their documents, downloads, music, websites, etc. and the "Library" folder) are residing on the server only. So it does not matter on which of the 10 iMacs a user logs in, she or he always gets the same home folder no matter which iMac it is (no content is synced from the server to the user's iMac, it is just presented as if it were on the iMac).

 

[hobowankenobi]

To the best of my knowledge, Apple no longer supports Portable Home Directories. They do support network accounts, via OD or AD, but not data (home directories).

Honestly...it was always problematic if users had a decent amount of large files to sync their local home directory with the server. The sync to the server takes too long except with a small amount of data. Even worse for mobile users on wifi.

Making and managing accounts on a Server (AD or OD) is still worthwhile, so any user can log into any Mac. It is also possible to set up a syncing so that once a user logs in, their data could come down to that machine. Or it is possible to have SSO server shares mount, so they can see and use all their data held on a server.

Other challenges include syncing user metadata and preferences...like Finder and app preferences, browser bookmarks, etc. There are ways to handle much of that as well. For default settings, Profiles are the best path.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Portable home directories are gone, however if you are on Catalina and create a user via the server app (not system prefs), the OS will create a home folder for each user. There used to be a checkbox to select “services only, do not create a home folder”.

I discovered this while testing the broken OD / file sharing in Catalina. Connecting to AFP will show you these home folders. Connecting via SMB they are inaccessible.

Buy a NAS.

Buyer beware, even though Apple has steadily reduced the list of features available in MacOS server app, what was left has always worked, until now. OD is broken, as well as file sharing. I have a ticket spanning months that they still haven’t been able to resolve. Abandon ship and get a NAS.

 

[hobowankenobi]

I have not found one yet, but a complete list of tools to substitute/replace/minimize the need for Portable Home Directories might be useful. Curious what others are doing to get data to users on shared machines, like in school labs, etc.

 

[Eliott69]

Portable Home Directories are not needed – the question in our case is only about "Network accounts". We do not need any other services from the server.

A NAS is not an option at the moment – we will move with our company in two to three years and then change anyway to an linux-based solution and bring all services inhouse (Univention Corporate Server or the like). So the easiest for us would be to update the current infrastructure and then abandon the macOS Server.

Thanks to you all for your comments.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Thanks for that. UCS looks pretty interesting. Not familiar with it.

"UCS supports all common IT standards such as LDAP, SAML, Kerberos, SSL, Active Directory, Docker and many more."

Sounds promising!

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Thanks for the tip on UCS - will demo this.