[dhi]

I'm trying to set up mail on an Xserve - but I'm trying to do it remotely.

There have been several issues but the crux of the problem is getting Open Directory Manager working remotely so I can manage user accounts correctly.

First off mail seems to be working as I have a couple of users set up that can have their mail successfully redirected. Also the logs seem okay.

So the issue is configuring users mail accounts, adding new users and the like. To do this I'm using Workgroup Manager. The users appear in Workgroup Manager but for new users there are no user accounts created on the server when viewed using terminal. This is even after I've checked the box for a local home directory to be created. It appears thaat WGM is not creating the accounts correctly. Perhaps a problem with Admin privileges?

Also on occasion this error appears: -

Error -14487

This Apple Document describes the problem: -

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107612

So I attempted to set up the admin user, using Open Directory Assistant, to be authenticated using password server as described in this article: -

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106989

However when I run Open Directory Assistant remotely it seems to do the job, I restart the Xserve but Workgroup manager still says Password server is unavailable. I've restarted Workgroup Manager client as well.

So finally the issue is this: -

How do I start Password Server Remotely? - it is installed but not running.

[dhi]

Okay,

I've managed to get the password server working.

I used Open Directory Assistant and used the settings

- Provide directory services to other computers

A couple of screens on I chose: -

- provided to other systems


I guess one of those forced password server to start - however this is perverse as there is no need for this server to provide services to other computers/systems - it is a standalone web/mail/Quicktime server with no local network in a datacenter.

I then had to restart my client OS X box as OP Assistant refused to work! Then OS X reset a lot of my preference - Dock - cookies etc... not sure if it is related - but scary (OS X 10.2.6)

Now OP assistant is working but the old users are gone, new users can't use the same usernames as the ones that are missing - and still the mail server is not seeing the user accounts.

All very confusing. It appears that there are now multiple user configs somewhere - and there is no manual on the Apple site.

Any ideas on how to resolve this. I'm not convinced Apple have got an intuitive system here yet. Starting password server was particularly confusing.