How to configure Airport Extreme AFP disk sharing to host multiple users' home-directories (Lion, using autofs)
I have this working, but only by completely bypassing access control, using guest access with read+write permissions.
Do I need to buy Lion Server, to do this. All my past unix/linux experience says Lion Server should _not_ be necessary.
This seems like a simple & obvious setup objective, but it is proving to be harder than I would imagine.
Setup:
- multiple users, sharing two mac mini's running OSX Lion
- connected to an Airport Extreme (4th gen) with a USB disk shared (either via disk password, AEBS password, or using AEBS user's passwords).
After much experimentation and web research, I finally have managed to get the mini's to auto mount the Airport Extreme's AFP shared USB disk. Well almost... It only works if, on the Airport, I set the guest access permissions to read+write and select the "Secure Shared Disks" method to "With disk password" or "with Airport Extreme password". In other words, it only works if I essentially bypass/disable access control by using the guest authentication mechanism to the AFP shared disk.
On the Lion side of this, I am automounting the users directories via "autofs". The config files for this are
/etc/auto_master:
#
# Automounter master map
#
+auto_master # Use directory service
/net -hosts -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home auto_home -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers -fstab
/- -static
/- auto_afp
/etc/auto_afp:
#
# Automounter AFP master map
#
# https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3336384?start=0&tstart=0
/afp/users -fstype=afp afp://;AUTH=No%20User%20Authent@10.0.1.1/Users/
Then, after rebooting and verifying read+write access to the /afp/users directories, I change each user's home directory: In System Preferences > System > Users & Groups, I right-click over the users to access the Advanced Options, changing the Home directory field to point at the AFP-mounted /afp/users/Users/* home directories.
I experimented with alternate UAM specifications, as well as both OSX and AESB users & passwords. Using guest access is the only thing that has worked.
Any pointers would be appreciated...
Airport Extreme -OTHER, 4th Generation, Firmware v7.6