Server Admin 10.4 Help

Setting Up an Automountable NFS Share Point for Home Directories

Although AFP is the preferred protocol for accessing home directories because of the security it offers, you can use Workgroup Manager to set up a network NFS share point for home directories. NFS or SMB share points can be used for home directories of users defined in shared directory domains, such as the LDAP directory of an Open Directory master or an Active Directory domain. The share point must be automountable—it must have a network mount record in the directory domain where the user account resides.

An automountable share point ensures that the home directory is visible in /Network/Servers automatically when the user logs in to a Mac OS X computer configured to access the shared domain.

1. On the server where you want the home directories to reside, create a folder that will serve as the share point for home directories.

   Because of the way home directory disk quotas work, you may want to set up home directory share points on a partition different from other share points. See Setting Disk Quotas for more information.

2. In Workgroup Manager, connect with the server identified in step 1 and click Sharing.
3. Click All (above the list on the left) and select the folder you created for the share point.
4. Click General and select "Share this item and its contents."
5. Specify the share point owner and group names by typing names in those fields or by dragging names from the drawer that opens when you click Users & Groups.
6. Set Owner permissions to Read & Write, set Group permissions and Everyone permissions to Read Only, and click Save.
7. Click Protocols, then choose NFS Export Settings from the pop-up menu.
8. Select "Export this item and its contents to" and make sure Client is chosen in the pop-up menu below it.
9. Add client computers you want to be able to access the share point.

   Click Add and type the IP address or host name of a client you want to add to the Computer list.

   Click Remove to remove the selected address from the list.

10. Set up share point permissions.

    Select "Map Root user to nobody" and deselect the other boxes.

11. Click Network Mount and authenticate as an administrator of the directory domain in which the user account resides.

    Use the Where pop-up menu to choose the directory domain in which the user account resides. Then click the lock and authenticate as an administrator of the directory domain.

12. Select "Enable mounting of this share point" and "Use For User Home Directories."
13. Choose NFS from the Protocol pop-up menu and click Save.