[wplug] "roaming profiles" in linux..

[Bill Moran]

techmike wrote:
> I know this has been posted before, but I know a bit more about linux then 
> I did last time I attempted this project.
> 
> I'm sure there are good walkthroughs for this out there, so feel free to 
> point me in the right direction.
> 
> We have about 12 computers on our lan running Redhat 8/9 (mostly 9).  Not 
> all users use the same desk.  How could we setup a "roaming profile" type 
> system where all user accounts and home folders are stored on a central 
> system.
> 
> This central system cannot be a M$ machine due to me having no budget to 
> work with.  :)
> 
> Last time I attempted this I was looking into setting up NFS on the 
> "server", but failed misreably.
> 
> Any guidence is greatly appreceated.

While there _may_ be other ways to do it, I would suggest NFS, with the
/home directory mounted on the server, as well as some system of centralized
user accounting (LDAP or NIS or Kerberos)

With Red Hat, it seems like the default packet filter rules block NFS,
so you'll probably have to tweak your packet filters in order for NFS
to work.  If you don't use centralized user accounts, you'll need to
ensure that each machine has the same user/groupname <-> user/groupid
mapping, or permissions won't work right.  Depending on how many
machines you have, that's an administrative nightmare.

-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com