[K12OSN] Improve loading time for OOo
Samps
samps at redjocks.com
Sun Oct 17 02:22:41 UTC 2004
David Trask wrote:
> OK....several questions....see below
Answers attempted inline....
>
> Samps <samps at redjocks.com> on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 9:21 PM +0000
> wrote:
>
>>
>>The E-Smith is set up as a Domain Controller and we're using roaming
>>profiles for the Windows clients.
>>The LTSP servers have one NIC each and are all on the same switched
>>subnet, along with 240 clients and some 10-11 other servers, mostly
>>E-smiths.
>>
>>
>>On the E-smith DC:
>>
>>Installed PORTMAP
>>Installed NFS (older version, newer one refused to install)
>>
>>Created a folder, /home/e-smith/users/LTSPhomes
>>exported /home/e-smith/files/users/LTSPhomes over NFS to our LTSP servers
>
>
> +++++++++++
> how do you....or is it possible...to simply export the home directory and
> have it show up as the "home" directory on the K12LTSP desktop. My users
> are used to saving to their home folder on the K12LTSP desktop OR in
> Windows...to their home folder which is mapped to drive Z in "My
> Computer". The only hurdle I see, and it may not be one as I've not tried
> it ...is the fact that the SME user directories contain both "maildir" and
> "home".
You hit the nail on the head, the problem is that E-smith doesn't export
the same folder that gets mapped as 'home-dir' in Windows, at least I
haven't found a way to achieve this.
Did you create "LTSPhomes" prior to creating the users....
Yes, the LTSP-homes folder is created first, exported through NFS and
when users are created on the LTSP server I tick the option "create
/home/username" which gets created as a folder on the E-smiths
LTSP-homes folder
did the
> permissions set right?
Yes, I use the parameters RW, no_root_squash in the line in EXPORTS that
defines the exporting of LTSP-homes. I think I can recall that NFS
relies on UID and GID to allow access to folders and files and only the
folder with the users name has the right UID/GID and gets shared read/write.
How about this scenario? Could I create
> /home/e-smith/files/users/LTSPhomes export and mount via NFS as the users
> home directory on K12LTSP (no desktop mapping or anything like that...I
> simply want the "home folder" to be the default simply mapped to the
> LTSPhome on SME server....I use SAMBA/LDAP now and I export and mount
> "home" from one server to another...on the desktop it's transparent)
> Then in Windows..simply mount "LTSPhome" as a drive?
> ++++++++++++++
>
I don't know if that's possible, haven't tried. My guess is that it is
possible. The users will then see a list of all users folders and will
have to find their own..? Better hope permissions are okay. I'll give it
a go tomorrow, I still have a week 'till I have to get 'airborne'.
>>
>>(having trouble making PORTMAP and NFS start up at start-up, still
>>starting them manually)
>>
>>I have given up on getting LDAP to work for authentication, at least for
>>now, I've spent too much time on it, compared to the expected outcome.
>>Samba will have to do for now.
>>
>>
>>
>>On LTSPs (4.1.0):
>>
>>Set authentication to SMB, entered IP-addy of DC (just in case DNS ain't
>>working), used the GUI 'Authentication Tool' for this.
>>
>>Added an entry /etc/fstab like:
>>server-ip://home/e-smith/files/users/LTSPhomes /home nfs rw,udp 0 0
>>this ensures that /home is in one spot (the e-smith DC), regardless of
>>which LTSP the user is currently using.
>>
>>Our internal IP-range has been split between our four LTSP servers, with
>>about 500 addresses each, no overlap. The idea being that whichever
>>server is fastest to answer a DHCP request is also the one best suited
>>to serve the client asking. Not 'real' load balancing but it seems to
>>work okay with the few clients that I have tried it with.
>>
>>Added a folder in /etc/skel, called H-Drive (our users are in the habit
>>of saving their stuff to a drive representation... it's a Windows
>>thing, don't ask ;-) and a hidden file called .creds.txt which is,
>>initially, empty.
>>
>>Users data, residing on the e-smith DC, is mounted to their
>>/home/H-Drive folder by a line added to GDM:
>>/usr/bin/connect.sh
>>the contents of which is:
>>
>>#!/bin/bash
>>smbmount //DC-name/$USER /home/$USER/H-Drive -o
>>uid=$USER,gid=$USER,credentials=./.creds.txt
>
>
> ++++++++++++
> Assuming that I mount the export of LTSPhome as "home" on the K12LTSP
> server....since I'm authenticating to the SME server anyway...I shouldn't
> need or be bothered by a password at all right? Especially when dealing
> with my "own" home directory.
> ++++++++++++
>
That is a fair assumption. Since you're logged in, your credentials are
known to the E-smith. Is there a variable in Linux like $PASSWORD or
$SMBPASSWORD? If so, replace the crdentials=./.creds.txt with
username=$USER,password=$PASSWORD and it should mount during login...
Another thing I'll have to try tomorrow.
>>
>>a launcher is added to /etc/skel/Desktop which points to connect.sh.
>>When the launcher is called, smbmount will ask for the password for the
>>users home-directory on the Samba e-smith DC and mount it on the
>>/home/H-Drive folder.
>>If the user adds a line like: password=users-samba-password in the
>>.creds.txt file, the home directory will be added by GDM during logon,
>>no questions asked. Tip from Mike Rambo, thanks Mike.
>>
>>
>>
>>The reason we are mounting stuff from other servers, using descriptors
>>like 'H-Drive', is, that all our client computers are running Windows
>>2000 at the moment and we want to make it as transparent as possible for
>>the users to switch between Windows and Linux, as all our PCs (bar a
>>handful specialised Windows ones) will PXE-boot into K12LTSP unless the
>>users interrupt this process, in which case they get a Windows 2000
>>loaded from the local disk.
>>
>>The beauty of this setup is:
>>a)That we don't have to rush out and re-image a Windows installation,
>>they can do most work on the K12LTSP
>>b) Even as hardware fails (disks) the PC is still usable
>>c) The K12LTSP is always 'fresh' (or can be made 'fresh' by the users
>>themselves
>>d) As the size and complexity of applications increase, the locally
>>installed Windows suffers from hardware restrictions and the K12LTSP
>>scales to suit
>>e) In some areas, where the most unruly kids hang out, there won't be a
>>possibility of booting to anything BUT K12LTSP
>>f) We are able to use quite old hardware, which we actually buy as 'good
>>second hand', so we get twice as many 'bums on seats' as we would if we
>>had to constantly cater for the latest and greatest in locally installed
>>Windows programmes.
>>
>>cheers
>>Samps
>
>
>
> David N. Trask
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