Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I am trying to setup network users on Open Directory and having the home folders sync over the network, but when I log in on a workstation, I get the following error: The sync could not complete because your network home at “(null)” does not allow writing. Please help!
iMac 24, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
This is all internal LAN network. No DNS pointing or internet involved.
Ok so how is your client going to resolve the hostname of your server??
It has to be pointed to a DNS server that will tell it where the computer with the hostname of your server is located or nothing is going to work properly.
Clients (network computers) were connecting before. The Network Account Server directory light IS RIGHT NOW green and active. I had no problems connecting or logging in before.
In fact, we are all successfully accesing shared folders across our network. We are sharing iCal calendars. No problem.
The only problem was getting the users mobile accounts home folder recognized when the user logged in..as the home folder we need from the server. Not the local computer.
I needed you to answer my question about the result of the changeip command. You said the command wasn't recognized. Did you type that command on your server and it said it's not recognized? Please run it on your server and paste the output here.
Please understand without being very specific about your setup and how you have things configured, it can be almost impossibe for anybody to help you out.
Sorry..I know what I did wrong with the command. Here is the result from the server.
Primary address = 10.0.1.44
Current HostName = mcpserver.com
The DNS hostname is not available, please repair DNS and re-run this tool.
dirserv:success = "success"
So you've found your problem. Your DNS is hosed. The reason I wanted you to run this command is I supected this was your problem from the start.
The DNS hostname is not available, please repair DNS and re-run this tool.
Many things on OS X Server (especially things like network accounts and mobile accounts) require that you have perfect DNS records, both forward and reverse. The changeip -checkhostname command checks to make sure that you have correct DNS. It has told you that your DNS is not set up properly.
This will keep your server from working correctly. If you had correct DNS, the result of the command would be something like this:
Primary address = 192.168.4.3
Current HostName = athena.hfcnetwork.net
DNS HostName = athena.hfcnetwork.net
The names match. There is nothing to change.
dirserv:success = "success"
Regarding File Sharing SHARE POINTS...
Do I add the Users folder as a Share Point? What should be the correct priviledges..or does the created user profile handle this.
This is not clear when setting this all up. I get no dialog that says "We are going to create user folders for your users".
So this is probably a problem with newbies setting up mobile accounts. There is no feedback on what the server is going to do along the process.
I had to asssume that if there is a File Sharing access point I would have to add those for each user's space.
If I was told that the App was going to create users folders...I wouldn't have tried to map out network paths etc all over the place.
But FYI..I where I could log into a network account on a network machine..I can no longer log in now after changing the User's home folders to the newly created on via the Mobility Preference pane in the Workgroup Manager.
Server.app will make home folders for you. You should not try to pre-make them.
You need to fix your DNS or it's never going to work correctly. You also need to point your clients to your server for DNS lookups.
So how do i run this tool?
Under SERVER APP
HARDWARE / Network / Host Name: Edit?
Kimbakat,
I think you should do some more research about OS X Server and DNS before you precede any further or you're going to be frustrated.
I'm glad to help you out but I can't walk you thru the entire process of setting up your server from scratch (which I think is the best thing for you to do) on here w/o you having a little understanding about what you're doing.
But we did figure out the cause of your problem, you now know why things aren't working.
I would start here: http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/1436
These mobile accounts can't be done locally on our own network? I don't want to do anything outside to the internet..just on our local ethernet.
It doesn't matter that you don't want it to work on the outside, you still need local DNS running on your LAN.
Ok..so now I'm kind of freaking out because I've consumed so much time to setup this server, users, shared iCals etc.....AND had finally got it so that users could log into other machines..and now it feels like it's all screwed up.
This whole DNS setting up is not mentioned in any other forums as a necessary for a local users to login into local machines....and I was told setting up a Lion server would be easy and straightforward..and it is not.
So...what do I do at this point..because I I'm not sure about this whole DNS thing...is I feel like I need the "six steps and here is EXACTLY what you type in this field" instructions here on fixing this.
The DNS tips site says:
"Mac OS X Server needs DNS running, either locally, or somewhere within its network. Failure to have functional forward and reverse DNS (rDNS) available will cause various instabilities, and will cause changeip -checkhostname to flag errors."
I would like it Locally. Sooooo in SERVER ADMIN.app / DNS (zones and settings) (and does this app have to be constantly running in the background like Snow Leopard Server did?)
To what do I set it to forward or reverse? Do I make this stuff up as I type or what?
I really need to know exactly what to type. I do not have this information.
If you feel like you need further assistance and you need it now, I would spring for an account at the training website lynda.com. I know they have traning videos on OS X Server as well as videos dedicated to DNS and networking. You might find that helpful.
I'm sorry I can't offer more help, I'm busy at my job today!
I know DNS and I know OS X. There are a lot of issues and oversight in the OpenDirectory environment in OS X. The only way to get it to work is to configure a lot of it manually, through the command line. Even after that, it probably won't work the way you want.
I would cut my losses if I were you. You are exactly right, it should be easy and Apple made it seem like it would be based on their advertising for Lion server, but it's not. In my opinion, it's a bigger pain in the *** to do anything useful than it was in Snow Leopard server.
Apple obviously don't get what users want in this area of functionality. They want us to purchase multiple products, but getting them to all work seamlessly together is only a dream
Look at what a joke MobileMe was. Their solution to that fiasco was to strip out a lot of the functionality and call it iCloud. Building the kind of environment you and I are looking for wont be streamlined until it becomes the pet project of some executive at Apple.
So BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK about starting a LION/SNOW SERVER..here is what you MUST do. (of course it's not part of ANY Basic Setup instructions on SNOW hard manual that comes with the Mac mini server..or LION server instruction pages......or neither in the Lion Server Manual that you get when you download it.
AND THIS - People - SHOULD BE IN BIG RED LETTERS on any document or instruction for SERVER SETUPS as THE FIRST STEP in SETTING UP MAC SNOW OR LION SERVER
1. HAVE A DOMAIN REGISTERED somewhere on the internet.
2. SET UP ALL DNS SERVICES and CONFIGs FOR THE DOMAIN BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK about doing anything else.
Before going to STEP 3....see step 1 and 2 again and double check you did it right.
3. Everything else with what you need the server to do.
Can't sync home folder
