Change path to identity folder....

[rayiron]

I run a Mac lab with about 10 computers in which logins are integrated
into Active Directory. I set it up so that there is no local profile
created when students log in. Basically all the computers share the
same folder (desktop, library, preferences, etc.) on the server and the
same user is listed as logged in on up to ten machines.
I like this set up because all the settings (screen saver, wallpaper,
filenames) and user files can be changed by simply changing one
machine.
But...
The first person to open an Office program apparently owns the identity
which is stored on the server. The file is locked and I get Framework
Lib errors for all subsequent users. I would like to relocate the
Identity folder to the 'Shared' folder on each machine to avoid this...
Or if there's any other fix or workaround, I am open to suggestions.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi,

I run a Mac lab with about 10 computers in which logins are integrated
into Active Directory. I set it up so that there is no local profile
created when students log in. Basically all the computers share the
same folder (desktop, library, preferences, etc.) on the server and the
same user is listed as logged in on up to ten machines.
I like this set up because all the settings (screen saver, wallpaper,
filenames) and user files can be changed by simply changing one
machine.

I'm not sure I understand the exact way you setup the accounts... Do
you mea everybody uses the same identity ?? (That's usually bad
karma...) or only some of the folders are shared??
If everybody has the same pref folder for instance, that could actually
make a lot of things really complicated.
Do users have a separate ~/Document folder ??

But...
The first person to open an Office program apparently owns the identity
which is stored on the server.

When you open Office for the fisrt time in your account, it asks you for
a customization that includes your name, etc. If other people open the
app under the same account, they see the same ownership information.
That's because the data is stored in ~/Library/Preferences (and you told
us they use the same prefs).

The file is locked and I get Framework
Lib errors for all subsequent users.

It looks like a permission issue. SInce I don't know exactly the way you
setups things I can only guess, but if people have different accounts
but a shared pref folder, some prefs can be owned by one user as it is
created and other users have no read/write permission to it. You could
probably correct that through applying read/write permissions on all
files in the Pref folder. Again, I'm not so sure sharing the pref folder
is a good idea in light of all the trouble this can lead to.

I would like to relocate the
Identity folder to the 'Shared' folder on each machine to avoid this...
Or if there's any other fix or workaround, I am open to suggestions.

You could move it and create a symlink (I'm not sure an alias would work
for a pref folder like that - but you could try).

I fyou really want to share *some* prefs, I would leave the pref folder
alone and keep the regular non-shared folder in each account, then
create a shared folder in /User/Shared (or whatever location on your
server as long as you specify it in the NetInfo database so that it's
accessible fromall computers - or whatever network shared folder). In
this folder, you can place the prefs that you want to see shared (so
that you could replace thm for all computers at once).
Make sure the fiels are read/write for all and create symlinks in the
pref folders of the users. It would share only the prefs that need to
and leave the rest alone. The pthing is that I'm not even sure I'd want
to do that for *any* file. What happens if two users access the same
pref at the same time ?? And what if they make changes as someone else
has the file open ??? Bad karma IMVHO.

I would leave the pref fodlers alone (not shared) and create scripts top
push new versions of my pref files to the 10 Mac whenever I need to (and
when people don;t have the files open).

Corentin

 

[rayiron]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your feedback.
Basically, users do not permanantly store files on these computers.
They are used by the entire student body of about 200 students. Our
servers are Windows 2003. What I figured out how to do is to use the
Active Directory plugin to do the authentication. When you bind to the
Directory, you have the option of creating local profiles or not. I
chose not to, so basically all the users log in as user and share the
folders on the server. There are no local files at all.
I haven't had any problems with this with any other programs or
preference sets besides MS Office X (what we're using).
The problem seems to arise from the fact (stupidly, in opinion) that
you cannot choose the location or name of the "Microsoft User Data"
folder. If you could, I would simply create a separate data folder or
Entourage identity for each machine.
It seems that the first user to start Word gets possesion of the
identity and locks the file so that subsequent users cannot access it.
(If there's a way around this, I would love that).
I love this setup, it works perfectly except for MS Office.
I am not all that familiar with scripting for this platform and don't
have time to fool around with it, so that option didn't really enter
in.
I don't want to go back to having local profiles as it becomes a
nightmare to keep all the computers identical.
Any ideas....

 

[William Reading]

Is it the first user that access it in the network of 10 machines or
the first user that accesses it on that particular machine? Are the
applications themselves stored on a file share or locally?

Additionally, what is the framework error that you're getting?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The problem seems to arise from the fact (stupidly, in opinion) that
you cannot choose the location or name of the "Microsoft User Data"
folder. If you could, I would simply create a separate data folder or
Entourage identity for each machine.

Welllllll, even though you can't do it through Office, Office will
follow an alias or symlink.

If you craft the symlink carefully (eg: using relative paths like
~/Documents/Here) the MUD might then be reloacted wherever users
actually have ~/Documents located as specified through Active Directory
(and then the NetInfo database),

I've never had a chance to test relative paths in symlinks in that
context, but it might do the trick quite well for you.

Corentin

 

[rayiron]

Hmmm...That's a really good idea. I could store the identity locally
that way and each machine could have its own local templates folder
but, in the Office:File Locations preference it would be the same
(relative) path (hopefully parsing out to the local directory.)
The Normal.dot being locked by the first user to log on as 'user' has
also been a problem because on quit, Word for subsequent users wants to
save the Normal.dot and can't. This would allow me to keep the
templates local and separate, as well.
I will try this and let you know what happens!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I will try this and let you know what happens!

Yes, please, let us know,


Corentin