Best way to achieve PHD-like ability in home environment?

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Best way to achieve PHD-like ability in home environment?

We have 4 Macs at home. Each mac (except mine) has 4 identical logons -- one for each member of the family. The physical Mac themselves become just generic devices -- i.e. grab whichever one is available. The problem arises when Kid 1 writes a term paper on Mac 1, later picks up Mac 2 and tries to edit it. She then needs to find Mac 1 and log into her account....

I read about OSX Server and thought about buying a Mini, turn on PHD, and have home directories sync'd in the background/logon/logout so that it truly doesn't matter which Mac a family member picks up. Thought also about having a shared PHD for things likely to be accessed by multiple family members at the same time -- pictures, music, etc...

Q: Is OSX Server the best way to achieve this?

Q: OSX Server on a dedicated Mini or just on my Macbook (which has tons of storage, the shared family stuff is there now anyway)?

Q: I've seen mention that two people can't simulataneously connect to the same PHD. Is that true? Would that make PHD unsuitable for a group shared file area?

Many thanks in advance,
Marty

Posted on Jul 9, 2014 7:12 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 9, 2014 9:41 AM in response to marty_mc

OS X Server can do this. You'll need to set up local DNS, local shares and the rest, and then bind the client Mac systems to the Open Directory server.

A Network Attached Storage device — or accessing a share that's been configured on whatever Mac was used, technically there's no need for server to export shares from Mac systems — is another and potentially much simpler option here. Put the shared files there, and any Mac can access them.

With Open Directory, folks would have their own logins, and I'd generally not look to have multiple logins in parallel with portable home directories in use. Portable home directories are useful when the Mac systems are portable and leaving the local network on occasion. If the Mac systems are not leaving the local network, then a network home directory is probably better.

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jul 9, 2014 3:18 PM in response to marty_mc

I've seen mention that two people can't simulataneously connect to the same PHD. Is that true?

No, but if two different users (or the same user on two different clients) make changes to an account between syncs, the result will be a sync conflict. Portable home directories are not a substitute for a client-server database, which is not included in Server.

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