OD Bind Issues

Hi all,

Having an issue with our 10.7.5 machines binding to Open Directory.

We have 1000+ computer AD environment and are just beginning to branch out into Mac territory for our photography and graphics departments, and I have the pleasurable task of integrating/testing the new machines with our existing environment. Having no trouble at all with binding the machines to AD and logging in with AD credentials etc, but we are having some odd issues with binding to OD.

I'm able to bind any of our macs to our OD server (currently a mini server configured as an OD master) however this is where the oddities begin. When I bind to OD via Directory Utility, everything appears to go as planned. However then when I drop back out to the Users & Accounts page, there is a red dot next to the Network Account Server indicating a problem. If I then click on the Edit button, I see in the drop down box one entry for our AD domain (palmers.ac.uk with a green light), another entry for the OD master (osxsrv.palmers.ac.uk also with a green light) and then a third entry which has as it's name the IP address of the OD master (172.16.3.19) however this entry has a red light next to it.

Firstly, is it normal to get this extra entry or should it just be showing on entry for the AD Domain and another for the server running OD? Why the extra entry with the IP address?

Secondly, it gets weirder if I restart the machine or log out and leave the machine sitting at the login screen. When I come back and wake it, I get an amber light showing that "some network accounts are available", and then upon logging in and looking at Users & Groups > Login Options > Edit, there are now red lights next to both entries representing the OD connection.

Does anyone have ANY idea what's going on here? Occasionally the connection will come back briefly, only to be lost again when the machine goes to sleep or restarts. This is obviously a bit of an issue when attempting to configure things with mcx, as preferences will only get applied when the machine has a connection to OD.

Thanks in advance for your help people!