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Back up home folder to network share

I was just wondering what other enterprise companies are doing for backup of home drives to a network home share. We have our macs working under active directory nicely and they can make the network home drive without issue. We have them have a local home folder so they can work offline if needed. We'd like to have a backup in place that will routinely scan the home folder and upload any changes to the network home folder. What are others using for this?

Posted on Jul 24, 2011 2:30 PM

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6 replies

Jul 26, 2011 1:20 PM in response to Roie Gat

It's called mobile home directories, and it's a feature of MOSXS 🙂. !


Other solutions can be :

- create a logout hook to rsync the home dir at user's logoff.

one issue with is are the portables : if you user close the lid without logout and don't wait for the login window to reappear, the rsync won't happen.


- periodic rsync while your user is logged, via launchd + script. More safe but your user will "feel" the machine slow down during the sync, and you may experience problems with open files at sync times.


Hope this helps,

Antoine

Jul 26, 2011 2:12 PM in response to Roie Gat

Hi


"Can we set up mobile home directories with just Active Directory?"


Yes. Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices and launch Directory Utility. If the lock is closed authenticate using the local administrator's name and password. Double-click the Active Directory plug-in. Click the disclosure triangle to reveal Advanced Options. Tick the "Create Mobile Account at Login" option.


". . . do we need to have some Mac Server doing it?"


Not really although enabling the Mobility Preference will achieve the same thing but offers further options (assuming you want these?) you won't get with the AD plug-in alone.


HTH?


Tony

Jul 27, 2011 5:47 AM in response to Antonio Rocco

Tony,


So it looks like the person who set up the AD connection on the mac before I started in May did have the "Create Mobile Account at Login" checked. Although I checked my network share and there doesn't seem to be any files from my current home drive there. How often does it actually do the backup to it?


Is there a attribute from AD that it uses to detect the home drive? It could be that we might be using the wrong attribute, but I can talk with our AD guys to get that fixed.


Thanks Tony!

Jul 27, 2011 6:28 AM in response to Roie Gat

Hi


"Although I checked my network share and there doesn't seem to be any files from my current home drive there?"


That's because the user who logs in has to specify what Sync Preferences he/she wants. The AD Plug-in does not do this automatically.


"How often does it actually do the backup to it?"


Explore the settings in the Accounts Preferences Pane for that User once he/she has logged in and you'll see what options there are. If OSX Server is in the mix you can define sync preferences from there. Otherwise it's purely User driven.


"Is there a attribute from AD that it uses to detect the home drive?"


Yes. This has already been pre-mapped for you by Apple and is part of what you get when using the AD plug-in. To see what attribute this is launch Terminal on any client that is bound to AD and use dscl to 'read' what's being accessed from Active Directory. Assuming default settings something like:


dscl /Active Directory/All Domains -read /Users/nameofuser


I'm not connected to an AD at the moment but the above should work? IIRC you're looking for SMBHome or something similar. Assuming you know what to expect from AD it should be obvious to you? All of this assumes a fairly out-of-the-box AD and Microsoft's 'Best Practices for AD' and the Home Folder has been specified in the UNC path for that User's Profile in Active Directory.


You're not limited to using the AD plug-in if you don't want to? You can modify and extend the AD Schema itself and map as many attributes and values as you see fit. Assuming this is something you want to do Apple have made available a Technical White Paper outlining what needs to be done.


You may find these useful?


http://www.inspirednetworks.ca/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Modifying_the_Act ive_Directory_Schema.pdf

http://www.seminars.apple.com/contactme/pdf/L334436B_ActiveDirect_WP.pdf


There is of course far more than what Microsoft and Apple provide themselves. There are some extremely good - but expensive - 3rd-Party products that make a lot of this easier and more seamless for IT Departments and Users wishing to integrate the platform into AD.


HTH?


Tony

Back up home folder to network share

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