User domains will be volatile

I have the same issue. I've been trolling the web and discussions for answers. So far I've come up with:

1. Check the DNS; make sure the client DNS is pointing to the server.

2. Configure the home directory for system user _teamsserver; this is located at /var/teamsserver (per Directory Utility) and doesn't exist.

3. Edit collabpp.sb to look for /var/teasmserver and the GlobalPreferences.plist

Similar discussions with these clues are at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4207019?start=15&tstart=0

So far not one of these suggestions has worked for me, but they might for you. I have one mobility user whos' login is so slow it times out: I'm pretty frustrated.

All roads lead back to the DNS.

By default the DNS server sets up the DNS WRONG.

Yup. If you setup your server new, from scratch, in 10.8 using Server, the DNS is wrong. I don't know if that is your problem, but it turned out to be mine.

In Server, go to the DNS tab, then select the gear button at the bottom of the window and select "Show All Records." This is the mystery item that I couldn't find to see how DNS was actually configured. If your primary Zone name is the same as your server machine name, you've been setup wrong by the Server setup process. The Zone should be equal to your domain name, Mydomain.com, with a machine record for your server of Myserver.mydomain.com.

If you have anything else, go fix it.

To verify DNS, launch Terminal.app from Applications > Utilities and issue the harmless diagnostic command:

sudo changeip -checkhostname

That'll display some host information, then an indication that no changes to DNS or related are required, or that there are DNS or related errors.

The server name as the domain name in a default install is a longstanding and expected behavior of OS X Server, if you don't already have DNS running. It's a little odd-looking, but it does behave entirely correctly for a local host.

Now the next thing I do with that is clean that out and set up DNS services for the local network, but that's fodder for another discussion. What the installer does is good enough to get OS X Server installed and going.

As for the OP, I would recommend not using .private or any other made-up domains. Spend the ~US$10 per year and get yourself a real and registered domain, or use a subdomain of some domain you already have registered. (FWIW and AFAIK, .private isn't an officially-registered top-level "private" domain, and all sorts of new top-level domains are coming online and making me rather skittish about recommending that and other "bogus" domains. Not until there's a registered "private" domain, that is. Or just use a real and registered domain.)

All roads lead back to the DNS.

By default the DNS server sets up the DNS WRONG.

That they do and that it does. It's amazing how many issues with server, and client, go back to DNS and where Apple really doesn't help by putting many in the wrong place by trying to dumb the administration of DNS down. I find that the DNS admin is Server.app in Mountain Lion server more complicated than it is in Server Admin in Lion and Snow Leopard servers.

The fact of that matter is that one just has to know what they're looking at with DNS to ensure a well behaved server and network. Better documentation and documentation from Apple would help greatly. To figure out how to correctly set up DNS in ML server I actually had manually set some domains up via Terminal in /var/named to actually see how it's supposed to represented in Server.app and I found I was wrong half the time… and that's just sad!

I'm having what may be related problems.

May I ask whether you are actually using your server for DNS on your network?

We are not. It is just an Open Directory server connected to AD. It has a FQDN registered on our company DNS, etc. So DNS is not turned on locally. But I'm wondering if I should add a record in the DNS on the server anyway.

Thanks.

Chris

chrisale2: If you're assign a proper host name to your server (that'll not be one ending in .local, and preferably will be a real domain that you've registered) and then aim your OS X Server DNS settings at your Active Directory DNS servers, and you're done.