Will disk quota work in this situation?

[steve62388]

Hi,

I have a single iMac at home with multiple user accounts. Can I install OS X Server on it and configure to enforce different disk quotas for each user on this machine?

Thanks.

 

[sevoneone]

Hi,

I have a single iMac at home with multiple user accounts. Can I install OS X Server on it and configure to enforce different disk quotas for each user on this machine?

Thanks.

The quota wouldn't impact local user accounts, you would have to convert them into network users and set up the disk quota. Once that was done, the quota should apply.

 

[steve62388]

The quota wouldn't impact local user accounts, you would have to convert them into network users and set up the disk quota. Once that was done, the quota should apply.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have been doing some more thinking and wondered if the following is possible without too difficulty? I am new to networking.

In our house we have three people all with various iOS devices. We will have one iMac that we all will use. I also have a rMBP that I will use.

Here is what I want to happen. Each user has a login on the iMac with disk quota enforced. Each user can setup their email etc as iMAP just like it is on our iOS devices. All other iCloud services (contacts, calendar etc) will continue to sync across the iMac and iOS devices for each user. They can attach their iOS devices to the iMac and manually backup on iTunes and also have the option to wifi backup to the iMac.

The rMBP will share documents etc with the iMac for just one user (me). So can I update a document on my rMBP and have that reflected on the iMac? My rMBP in mainly used at home on our network but is occasionally taken out and off the network, is that ok? Will it automatically sync when I return home?

Is this possible?

The iMac hasn't arrived yet so I will be able to set that up as new with network users. My rMBP already has my local user account though. After reading here http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht5338 it looks like it might be better to restart a new network user on my rMBP, I don't like the idea of links being broken.

What happens if a user logs onto the iMac? Does that stop the rMBP syncing, does it have to be logged into my account? Do OS X Server operations always run in the background no matter who is logged in? Will iOS wifi synch back to the iMac work if the particular user is not logged in on the iMac? OS X Server operations always run in the background no matter who is logged in?

Thanks.

 

[sevoneone]

Thank you very much for your reply. I have been doing some more thinking and wondered if the following is possible without too difficulty? I am new to networking.

In our house we have three people all with various iOS devices. We will have one iMac that we all will use. I also have a rMBP that I will use.

Here is what I want to happen. Each user has a login on the iMac with disk quota enforced. Each user can setup their email etc as iMAP just like it is on our iOS devices. All other iCloud services (contacts, calendar etc) will continue to sync across the iMac and iOS devices for each user. They can attach their iOS devices to the iMac and manually backup on iTunes and also have the option to wifi backup to the iMac.

The rMBP will share documents etc with the iMac for just one user (me). So can I update a document on my rMBP and have that reflected on the iMac? My rMBP in mainly used at home on our network but is occasionally taken out and off the network, is that ok? Will it automatically sync when I return home?

Is this possible?

The iMac hasn't arrived yet so I will be able to set that up as new with network users. My rMBP already has my local user account though. After reading here http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht5338 it looks like it might be better to restart a new network user on my rMBP, I don't like the idea of links being broken.

What happens if a user logs onto the iMac? Does that stop the rMBP syncing, does it have to be logged into my account? Do OS X Server operations always run in the background no matter who is logged in? Will iOS wifi synch back to the iMac work if the particular user is not logged in on the iMac? OS X Server operations always run in the background no matter who is logged in?

Thanks.

What you're doing is definitely above and beyond the average home user and you're starting to tread outside of the Apple realm where "It Just Works" and you need to have at least a basic understanding of the underlying tech or you will end up with a lot of frustration as you try to get it right. If you want to do the, I would start reading up on OS X Server, Network User accounts and Profile Manager to beef up your knowledge of these systems. Chapter 4 of this PDF from Apple is a pretty good primer on where you're venturing: http://training.apple.com/pdf/mac_management_basics_10.9.pdf


I'll touch on some of your other questions:

The Server processes will run the background. Most of the services are already in the base version of OS X running, the Server app just turns on some options and gives you a GUI with more capability to easily configure them.

You can pre-configure a lot of settings for your users in Profile Manager. Some will say setting up profiles for just a family of users is overkill. It is just my wife and I at home, but we have an iMac, a Hackintosh desktop, a MacBook Pro, two iPhones and two iPads. Being able to just push all of our settings to a new device or after a clean install/restore wherever we are is really nice.

For your MBPr account, yes, I think I would recreate it as a network account on the iMac when you get it. You'll want to configure it as a mobile account in Profile Manager so that a local copy of all the user data is saved on the MBP and not just accessed over the network. You can also do this with any other accounts that might want to login to the MBP. You setup Home Directory sync to your preference. Mine is setup for at login and logout. You can also set it up to sync in the background every x minutes. This is all configured in Profile Manager.

Being logged in to your account on your MBPr will not stop anyone else from logging in locally on the iMac. For simplicity's sake, though, you should try to avoid being logged into the same account on both the iMac and MBPr at the same time so you don't end up with a bunch of sync discrepancies.

I'm afraid I don't know much about WiFi sync/backup between iOS and iTunes. I backup to iCloud and use Google drive to move data between my devices. I can't be much help to you there, but from my basic understanding, iTunes must be running in the target user account to sync over wifi.

 

[steve62388]

What you're doing is definitely above and beyond the average home user and you're starting to tread outside of the Apple realm where "It Just Works" and you need to have at least a basic understanding of the underlying tech or you will end up with a lot of frustration as you try to get it right. If you want to do the, I would start reading up on OS X Server, Network User accounts and Profile Manager to beef up your knowledge of these systems. Chapter 4 of this PDF from Apple is a pretty good primer on where you're venturing: http://training.apple.com/pdf/mac_management_basics_10.9.pdf


I'll touch on some of your other questions:

The Server processes will run the background. Most of the services are already in the base version of OS X running, the Server app just turns on some options and gives you a GUI with more capability to easily configure them.

You can pre-configure a lot of settings for your users in Profile Manager. Some will say setting up profiles for just a family of users is overkill. It is just my wife and I at home, but we have an iMac, a Hackintosh desktop, a MacBook Pro, two iPhones and two iPads. Being able to just push all of our settings to a new device or after a clean install/restore wherever we are is really nice.

For your MBPr account, yes, I think I would recreate it as a network account on the iMac when you get it. You'll want to configure it as a mobile account in Profile Manager so that a local copy of all the user data is saved on the MBP and not just accessed over the network. You can also do this with any other accounts that might want to login to the MBP. You setup Home Directory sync to your preference. Mine is setup for at login and logout. You can also set it up to sync in the background every x minutes. This is all configured in Profile Manager.

Being logged in to your account on your MBPr will not stop anyone else from logging in locally on the iMac. For simplicity's sake, though, you should try to avoid being logged into the same account on both the iMac and MBPr at the same time so you don't end up with a bunch of sync discrepancies.

I'm afraid I don't know much about WiFi sync/backup between iOS and iTunes. I backup to iCloud and use Google drive to move data between my devices. I can't be much help to you there, but from my basic understanding, iTunes must be running in the target user account to sync over wifi.

Thank you very much for your input, I have read the document you linked. I like to tinker around so I'm hoping OS X Server will be a new and exciting step.

I like the look of the Software Update Service, with two OS X and five iOS devices in the house it will come in handy.