Server 5.x keep having to reset password

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Level 1

32 points

Server 5.x keep having to reset password

Have you seen this issue?

Students and teachers keep losing access to file shares on our Mac mini server running Server 5.2. In each case all I do is launch the server app on the mac mini, find their user account and change their password to the SAME as it was before. We do not change passwords in the school computer labs. Once I click change password and type in the same password as it has always been, they can connect to the share again. A few weeks go by and then some other random user has the same problem and I repeat the fix.

We have all shares setup using AFP, but we have used SMB as well with the same issues. All of the computer labs are running iMacs with OS X 10.11.6. I have left POSIX at defaults and only control access with ACL.

Why would someone connect to a share one day, then not be able to connect, but changing password on the server for their account to the same password it has always been allow them to connect again? If this was an issue on the clients machine, changing password on server should not fix it. The server just stops authenticating that user, and somehow resetting the password always fixes it. I have done this fix several dozen times and in every case I just change the password and tell them to click again and they get in.

Dennis

Posted on Oct 6, 2016 11:40 AM

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Answer 1

dlevens Author

Level 1

32 points

Sep 1, 2017 12:12 PM in response to dlevens

I have opened a case with Apple enterprise support.

First issue / solution they suggested was to rename the server from rnas.local to server.rnas.pvt to take the server out of the chatty .local domain. This did not help, the issue still came back.

Second issue / solution they suggested was to replace the shortcuts the users use to connect the share so that they use afp://10.11.0.10/share instead of afp://rnas.local/share. This also did not help, the issue came back.

still waiting to hear back on what to try next.

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Answer 2

dlevens Author

Level 1

32 points

Sep 7, 2017 3:11 PM in response to dlevens

Another fix attempt resulted in upgrading the server OS to OS X 10.12.6 (Sierra) and upgraded the Server app to 5.3.1. This was done but did not solve the problem. Teachers continue to lose access to the file shares and the only fix is to reset their passwords in the server app.

I have since captured the logs for both client and server while the issue was occurring and have logged the exact second of the issue. These logs have been sent to Apple, who are currently investigating.

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Answer 3

dlevens Author

Level 1

32 points

Aug 29, 2017 2:19 PM in response to dlevens

This is the pop up the users get when they lose access.

"There was a problem connecting to the server...The share does not exist on the server. Please check the share name, and then try again."

Resetting their password on the server.app to the same password as it was before fixes this. The user can then double click the same shortcut on their desktop and it connects just fine. Resetting a user password does not magically make the share exist, the share is fine as others are connected and connecting fine. There is no pattern I can find, some users have this happen to them several times a week and some once in a month and others not at all.

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Answer 4

dlevens Author

Level 1

32 points

Aug 28, 2017 4:05 PM in response to dlevens

This issue continues to happen. Several times a week a teacher will lose access to the network share and the only fix is to reset their password on the server. I am resetting the password still to the same password it always was, then double click on the shortcut on their desktops and the connect to the server just fine.

Is no one else having this issue?

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Answer 5

dlevens Author

Level 1

32 points

Aug 30, 2017 3:43 PM in response to dlevens

I have tried replacing the shortcut (afp://server/share) with smb://server/share but did not help, the same issue still happens.

I have tried rebooting, and have tried turning wifi off and back on and it does not help.

So far the only fix is reset password on the server.

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