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Network Homes: Folder Redirections

Hello everyone

I start this thread to gather some experiences with the MCX redirector property in Apple Open Directory.

I've integrated a bunch of Mac Clients in an existing MS Active Directory enviroment and additionally joined them to an OD Master as the AD Admins voted against any schema change (this is known as "magic" ord "golden" triangle).

The machines are configured to fetch the users home directory from their AD record (unc path) and mount it upon login, so they work directly on the network home. They don't have mobile accounts which take too long to sync as the storage node is a non-apple machine (EMC) and therefore the homes are accessed by smb.

I've come across several stubborn applications which cause some severe problems with this configuration, especially the network home folders.

Here are the most common:

- Adobe product family: Reader and Pro (v9 & 10) won't even launch without crashing

- Microsoft Office since ever (v X-2011): Files change permissions on the fly, vanish, become read-only, Fonts are not displayed correctly in the font menu, etc.

The Adobe problems disappeared as soon as I configured the MCX redirector to redirect the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe to the local folder /Users/Shared/%@/Library/Adobe (%@ stands for the user's shortname)

The Office fonts are fixed by redirecting ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft to /Users/Shared/%@/Library/Preferences

Well, I'm trying for quite a while now to fix the permission/dissapearing issues the very same way. So far with no luck. In very randomly occuring cases (seems to me) office files are not accessible anymore, the users can't save their changes or even loose the file they're currently working on.

I already tried redirecting these folders (with no luck I must say):

~/Documents/Microsoft Application Data/Office XXXX AutoRecovery -> /Users/Shared/%@/Documents/Microsoft Application Data/Office XXXX AutoRecovery (XXXX being 2008 or 2011 respectivly)

~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft -> /Users/Shared/%@/Library/Application Support/Microsoft

Has anyone encountered similar problems (and more importantly solved them ;-))?

Or what folders are generally recommeded to be redirected locally by the MCX redirector? Are there any other applications that need redirected settings/caches?

Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions.

Cheers

Posted on May 30, 2011 10:02 AM

19 replies

Jun 9, 2011 12:05 PM in response to M@CMAN2011

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

After launching Adobe reader so many times and seeing that wretched error message, It was such a relief when I opened a PDF and it remained on the screen!

Yeah, I know those feelings :-P

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

I notice you run a logout redirection, what is the benefit of this?

I just make sure that the Cache folder is empty in case there's something wrong in it or I want save storage space in a backup. Also, I wanted to make sure that the Caches redirection (the one that caused me some headaches) is gone for everyone ;-)

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

Are you still having issues with Word autosave?

Yes, unfortunately I have. I'm quite frustrated at the moment and realized that this won't work (or I'm not able to solve this and get this thing to work properly). So I decided to switch back to mobile accounts with a special setup to decrease sync times. I adjusted the sync rules in a way that only the really necessary items in the Library folder are in the sync process. E.g. I'm skipping the Mail folder since people can get their emails by IMAP (or just leave it on the server while doing POP) and will have a backup anyway. So, the folder sync has some ten thousands of files less to scan and the syncs are quite fast now ;-).

Once again, the guys from Redmond have spoiled my day.. -.-

Now is your last chance for a helpful input concerning this matter :-P

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

You're welcome. I've the impression this is done far too little (no offense :-P).

Cheers

Jun 9, 2011 2:14 PM in response to Community User

Quite ironic really, I have just swapped back to pure network accounts and you have gone back to mobile accounts!

For now I have just disabled the autosave in word 2011 and all appears to be well.

Not sure if this is of any use:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/CantSaveToServer.html

Thank goodness 90% of our network clients are windows 7, much easier to look after as far as networking goes..

Cheers

;O)

Jun 9, 2011 10:38 PM in response to M@CMAN2011

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

Quite ironic really, I have just swapped back to pure network accounts and you have gone back to mobile accounts!

Yes indeed.. -.-

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

For now I have just disabled the autosave in word 2011 and all appears to be well.

Yes, I know this would help. But turning that "feature" off is not an option for my users, as they are in need of a proper restore in case they loose the network connection (or word crashes)..

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

Not sure if this is of any use:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/CantSaveToServer.html

Hu, didn't know about this one, I'm gonna give that a try..

Sean Carmichael wrote:

"After playing a bit I found this...

When you save, Mac Word saves a temporary file to a hidden folder called .TemporaryItems which it makes in the root of the share you are connected to.

If the user doesn't have permission to make or use that folder, it fails to save and will even delete the original file.

The fix is to create the folder if it doesn't exist and give Domain Users, or whoever should be using that share, full rights to the hidden folder.

We tested this with Office 2011 & Office 2008 on Macs running 10.6 (various sub-versions) hitting a Windows 2008 R2 storage server.

;O)

That could explain why most admins have far less problems with Office..

M@CMAN2011 wrote:

Thank goodness 90% of our network clients are windows 7, much easier to look after as far as networking goes..

Well, it's a product of the same company that deploys Office for Mac, I'm not sure about the details ;-)

Cheers

Sep 18, 2012 1:51 PM in response to M@CMAN2011

Would you be able to share with me how you set up your customised sidebars? I am trying to deploy 300+ Macs in a college enviroment (we are currently using NHD's and its a pain!) The AD home folders in the Docs sound like the best option.

Network Homes: Folder Redirections