[ramberk]

Let me tell you what I want to do, then you can tell me if its possible or if I should go about it differently.

I have a computer lab of 8 computers. I want to make one computer with 40 users on it. I want to have the other 7 computers be able to access any of the 40 user accounts on that single computer. All 8 computers are running OS X 10.1.5 client. So how do I do this? How can I login into any user account from any computer on the login? Is this possible?

Please don't tell me I have to get OS X server. How can I do this? I've looked extensively here and on the help guide but haven't found a thing.

[BigMark]

You should look into NetBooting. Check it out here:

http://www.apple.com/server/netboot.html

[tooki]

Netboot requires Mac OS X Server, and besides, only OS X 10.2 can netboot.

Doing what you ask, ramberk, absolutely, positively, no-way-around-it, requires a server, and in this case, it'd have to be an OS X Server (OS X Server can run off an NT server, but not the client). However, at least in Mac OS X 10.1.5 and lower, there is a bug in Netinfo (which is responsible for user accounts) that causes the computer to crash frequently (with a kernel panic) when logged in with a network user, making it very unreliable to work on. I'd say to wait until it's known whether OS X Server 10.2 with 10.2 clients fixes this problem.

In the mean time, look at programs like MacAdministrator and the like.

tooki

[[email protected]]

i'm having no problems using a network user and netifno domains on my home network.

i am running mac os x server on the 7600, and that is the only place my main username is definded on the network. i access clients running 10.1.5 and 1.2 without any problems.

of course if the 7600 went down, i would be completey stuck until it came back up. but if i clone the netinfo db to another machine, i'd have a fallback.

i did it all from the iinstructions in this book:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_...ingNetInfo.PDF

and after it was all said and done, i believe i could have pulled it off with vanilla os x (not server) it was all managed by netinfo on the server, and directory setup on the client.

it's very nifty...

[tooki]

It's a known bug that Netinfo is unreliable when doing network logins. (For example, quitting Entourage causes a kernel panic every time.) Not every application triggers the bug, but it's common enough to be a significant problem.

tooki