Moving local users to network-based home directories
As a system administrator, I have experienced one particular problem with User Names when moving users from local to network-based home directories. The long name(s) or short name(s) cannot be the same on the local machine as the one on the ODM (Open Directory Master). If the long name or short name is the same, the user just logs in locally (local NetInfo is always first on the search list).
A solution:
1. Log in as an admin user and delete your account, DO NOT PRESS THE IMMEDIATE BUTTON!, just hit return and it will create a compressed .dmg file and place it in a “Delete Users” folder.
2. Create a new user with a unique long and short name with admin privileges and log in as that user.
3. Open the .dmg file and overwrite the contents of your Home Folder. A utility called BatChmod can be used to verify privileges. Now you can set up Directory access and log in to the Network-based Home directory…
4. To move your Home Directory to the network -
1. Log in locally as user you want to move to the network.
2. Connect to Server and login with credentials of network user.
3. Copy contents of Home Directory and overwrite network folders. I suggest not copying Movies, Music, Pictures, Public and Sites to the network for space reasons.
You may want to leave the local Home Directory intact, for use when the network is down, or delete the local home user and keep an admin for installations, etc. Unless you make the user a local admin on each machine, you will still need a local admin to install apps and make changes to System Prefs.
Interesting factoid - Once a mobile home user has been set up to synchronize, it can only be stopped by modifying the com.apple.MCX. The net result is that if you turn off mobile home directories, the user will still synch from the laptop that has the mobile home directory, but, now the user can log into any other machine and use their network home directory.
