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Open Directory over WiFi

I have been told that Apple does not recommend Open Directory over WiFi, specifically when user's home directories are on the server. I have not been able to find any tech notes on this, or really much info at all. Does anyone have negative experiences with this?


Thanks.


Bill

Mac mini, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Running OS X Server

Posted on Oct 9, 2015 7:24 AM

Reply
1 reply

Oct 9, 2015 7:21 PM in response to William Bates

Apple has been selling Macs on a cart for years. And it still works. Over the summer I reset two schools using Network Home folders and so far so good. Yosemite has been solid as a rock. Good performance. Bugs have been squashed. Obviously the machines in the cart are laptops. And obviously the association to the network is wireless.


The issue is simple. Not everyone can afford one-to-one. If you have a student body of 2500 students and you buy 11" Airs at $899, you are looking at a bill of $2,247,500. That is a huge nut to drop. Ah, but are all 2500 students using the machine all day? Likely not. You might be able to get away with a fraction of that. Say 750 machines @ $899 and you are looking at $674,250. Then the devices are shared across you student body with all content stored at the core of the network.


This opens up the ability to offer digital portfolio, allowing students to build a digital history of work over their academic tenure.


But, you must ensure that you build your environment properly. First, you need to really understand wireless networking and placement of your access points. Use N or better. Second, you must ensure that your OS X servers (or windows servers offering home folders) has as big a pipe to the network and you have fast storage. Next, ensure that you distribute the load across a number of servers. Don't expect one server to serve 2500 students. Understand your networking over-subscription ration and load balance. Heck, even talk to the scheduling folks and understand when the devices will be used. Base you home folders distribution on the class schedules. Link aggregate your server. Give it the fastest access possible to support as many clients as possible.


Aslo, you need to understand your tools. If you are supporting a bunch of users who need to use AfterEffects, then Network homes is a real bad ideal.


Now, I assume you are in education. I had a business customer give this a go for about a year. The issue we discovered is that even with 10GigE and multiple servers, we ran into IOPs issues on storage. And the nature of business is that the apps are more demanding. Also, in business, users are connected for a longer period of time. For example, you come in a 9 and leave at 5. This means your network needs to be flawless for 8 hours at a time. In education, you need to managed your perfection by the class period. As longs as you can handle the load at the beginning and end of the class, you get a breather every now and again.


Bottom line. OD works for network homes and works over wifi.


Reid

Apple Consultants Network

Author "El Capitan Server – Foundation Services" :: Exclusively available in Apple's iBooks Store

Author of Yosemite Server and Mavericks Server books

Open Directory over WiFi

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