Open Directory Mac OSx Server You are unable to log into the user account "Name" at this time.

The best first test for a server is to run the following command in Terminal on the server (or servers if you have more than one).

sudo changeip -checkhostname

Have you configured a fileshare to hold users network home directories? This is an extra option in File Sharing in Server.app.

I do have another question...... If this is even possible. basically i use my laptop outside of the network at work all the time. So if i had a centrailised login in it would not connect to the server. How can i take the laptop out of my house do my work, and when i come home that all my documents and everything sync to the server, that way if i log onto another machine such as my imac then those documents would appear?

There are four types of user account.

1. Local account - nothing to do with a server, user files are stored locally

2. Network login - files are stored on a server

3. Mobile account - account is defined on the server but files are stored locally and a copy of the account is used locally and the password synced to the server.

4. Portable Home Directory account - account is defined on the server and a copy of the account is used locally and the password synced to the server. The files are stored locallly and synced to a copy on the server. This means in theory the user could also login on another computer and see their files.

This is usually configured via Workgroup Manager as a managed preference.

You would start off with the server running Open Directory and sharing a volume or folder configured to hold user home directories i.e. a setup for network logins with network home directories.

You would then in Workgroup Manager need to put the users you want to do this for in a group, you then select that group and select the preferences icon and configure that group (via the Mobility choice) to Create a mobile account when a network user logs in. You then the Rules tab set the rules for Home Sync.

The above would apply to a group of users, meaning that no-matter what type of computer the user logs in via the settings would apply. It is also possible instead to set this for a group of computers. You can then add just laptops to this group so it only applies when they login on a laptop. You can then have a traditional network account on a desktop, and a mobile/portable account on a laptop for the same user.

The following may be of help.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-configure-the-mobile-home-folder-on -lion-se.html

It still applies to Mountain Lion.