<div dir="ltr">It's possible that I'm simply not getting the point, or that I don't understand the documentation correctly, but this is what I don't find clear:<div><br></div><div>I had seen the instructions you pointed me at. These are not specifically about home directories.</div><div><br></div><div>However, this section is: <a href="https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html-single/Linux_Domain_Identity_Authentication_and_Policy_Guide/index.html#homedir-reqs">https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html-single/Linux_Domain_Identity_Authentication_and_Policy_Guide/index.html#homedir-reqs</a> <br></div><div><br></div><div>It first suggests that automatic creation of home directories over NFS shares is possible: just automount /home and then use pam_oddjob_mkhomedir or pam_mkhomedir to create homedirs at first login.</div><div><br></div><div>But then it also suggests that mounting the whole /home tree could be an issue, and says: "<i>Use automount to mount only the user's home directory and only when the user logs in, rather than loading the entire /home tree."</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>That means that automatic homedir creation is out of the game, doesn't it?</div><div><br></div><div>That's what I find confusing. What's the recommended way?</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 19 March 2015 at 20:49, Dmitri Pal <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dpal@redhat.com" target="_blank">dpal@redhat.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span class="">
<div>On 03/19/2015 02:46 PM, Roberto
Cornacchia wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Hi Dmitri,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I do realise my question is borderline and I accept that it
is considered off-topic.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I did post it here because I believe it's not *only* about
NFS, but also about its interaction with freeIPA. The issue of
NFS home and in particular about their creation is touched in
all the links I posted (all about freeIPA) and never really
answered.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br></span>
This is what documented and recommended:<br>
<a href="https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html-single/Linux_Domain_Identity_Authentication_and_Policy_Guide/index.html#kerb-nfs" target="_blank">https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html-single/Linux_Domain_Identity_Authentication_and_Policy_Guide/index.html#kerb-nfs</a><br>
<br>
RHEL6 has a similar chapter in its doc set though books have changed
significantly between 6 and 7.<br>
<br>
I do not see any chicken and egg problem there.<br>
The instructions show how to create home dirs on the first login.<br>
<br>
It mounts the volume and then creates dirs on it as users log in if
they are not already there.<br>
<br>
It is unclear what problem you see with doing it the way it is
recommended.<div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Best,</div>
<div>Roberto</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 19 March 2015 at 19:36, Dmitri Pal <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dpal@redhat.com" target="_blank">dpal@redhat.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>On 03/19/2015 05:29 AM, Roberto Cornacchia wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">On 6 March 2015 at
11:15, Martin Kosek <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mkosek@redhat.com" target="_blank">mkosek@redhat.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"><span>On
03/06/2015 10:56 AM, Roberto Cornacchia
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"> Hi there,<br>
<br>
I'm planning to deploy freeIPA on our
lan.<br>
It's small-ish and completely based on
FC21, so I expect everything to work<br>
like a charm.<br>
<br>
Except one detail. We have Synology NAS
station, which uses DSM 5.0.<br>
The ideal plan is to use it as host for
shared NFS home dirs once we switch our<br>
desktops to freeIPA.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
</span> Great!<span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"><br>
</blockquote>
</span></blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Hello,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The first thing I'm struggling with is
to find the correct approach about NFS home
dirs.</div>
<div>The ideal setting would be:</div>
<div>- home dirs on the NAS</div>
<div>- IPA manages automount maps</div>
<div>- home dirs are created automatically at
first login</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The documentation I could find on these
topics includes only not-so-recent pages
(anything I missed?):</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div><a href="http://wiki.linux-nfs.org/wiki/index.php/NFS_and_FreeIPA" target="_blank">http://wiki.linux-nfs.org/wiki/index.php/NFS_and_FreeIPA</a><br>
</div>
<div><a href="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/18/html/FreeIPA_Guide/automount.html" target="_blank">http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/18/html/FreeIPA_Guide/automount.html</a><br>
</div>
<div><a href="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/18/html/FreeIPA_Guide/users.html#home-directories" target="_blank">http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/18/html/FreeIPA_Guide/users.html#home-directories</a><br>
</div>
<div><a href="http://adam.younglogic.com/2011/06/automount-and-home-directory-creation/" target="_blank">http://adam.younglogic.com/2011/06/automount-and-home-directory-creation/</a><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Now, I admit I don't have much
experience with setting up NFS homes,
with or without freeIPA, so trying to
get this done correctly in the context
of freeIPA and without clear howtos
isn't very easy, but I'm willing to get
my hands dirty.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The first problem I struggle with is on
the correct approach. </div>
<div>From the documentation above, I
understand that there is a bit of a
chicken-egg problem about the creation of
home dirs.</div>
<div>On the one hand, it would be optimal to
have automount maps to load only single home
dirs on demand, rather than the entire /home
tree. </div>
<div>On the other hand, if the /home tree is
not available, then creating /home/user1 dir
automatically isn't really possible.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Just mounting the whole /home tree would
make things easier, but I don't have a
feeling of when it starts to become a
performance issue (assuming recent hardware
and up to date software). 10 users? 50? 100?
500? No idea.</div>
<div>The realm I'm dealing with at the moment
is in the range of 5-10 users and probably
won't be larger than 50 in the next few
years (and if it will, it means things are
going well, so what the heck ;)</div>
<div>Also true that, with such few users, I
could just create the homedirs manually when
needed (this is not an organisation where
many users come and go) and just mount the
individually.</div>
<div>Any tips about this?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best, Roberto</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
Some of these questions are really outside the scope of
this list.<br>
You might consider asking them on the NFS list.<span><br>
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Thank you,
Dmitri Pal
Sr. Engineering Manager IdM portfolio
Red Hat, Inc.</pre>
</span></div>
<br>
--<br>
Manage your subscription for the Freeipa-users mailing list:<br>
<a href="https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/freeipa-users" target="_blank">https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/freeipa-users</a><br>
Go to <a href="http://freeipa.org" target="_blank">http://freeipa.org</a> for more info on
the project<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Thank you,
Dmitri Pal
Sr. Engineering Manager IdM portfolio
Red Hat, Inc.</pre>
</div></div></div>
<br>--<br>
Manage your subscription for the Freeipa-users mailing list:<br>
<a href="https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/freeipa-users" target="_blank">https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/freeipa-users</a><br>
Go to <a href="http://freeipa.org" target="_blank">http://freeipa.org</a> for more info on the project<br></blockquote></div><br></div>