[K12OSN] Authenticate to OS X Open Directory SOLVED

[Christopher Butler]

"Support list for opensource software in schools." <k12osn at redhat.com> on
Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 9:07 AM -0500 wrote:
>> their home directories on the LTSP Server.  Seems to work just fine - I
>> login with my username and password on a think LTSP client and I get my
>OS
>> X desktop and folders.
>> 
>What are you using for your thin clients? x86 machines (PCs) or Macs? 
>What I'm really 
>after is understanding how your clients get an OS X desktop and folders. 
>Can you 
>elaborate on that?
Our LTSP thin clients are currently old Pentiums (leftover HP Vectras). 
I've got a room full of old Bondi iMacs that will be rolled out this
spring or next fall as a set of additional thin LTSP clients (I just need
to work out some of the little details like keyboard mappings and getting
my hands on some multi-button USB mice).

I followed the instructions in the K12LTSP Wiki regarding OS X home
directories (it's in the Interoperability section):
  http://www.k12ltsp.org/phpwiki/index.php/Technical%3AIntegrateWithOSX

Basically, I have my OS X server pushing out the home directory folder via
NFS to my LTSP server.  On the LTSP server, I set up a mount record for
the NFS mount.  When a student logs into a thin client, the LTSP server
authenticates to my OS X Open Directory server, grabs the home directory
information, and since I have the NFS mount going, it can correctly set
the Desktop and provide access to the Documents folder that lives on the
OS X server.

Our OS X setup is very centralized - one OD Server, one file server with
everyone's home directories - all OS X clients require a network login. 
For the OS X side of things, any student can sit down at any Mac on
campus, log in, and get their personal desktop and home folder.

I can now get the same universal access for anyone who sits in front of a
K12LTSP thin client.
>
>
>> Your question leads me to 2 other questions
>> 1 - is there a way to hide or minimize the X session to get back to the
>OS
>> X destop?
>I don't know if it's available on Mac but you might check out Xnest,
>which allows you to 
>run a separate X session within a window in the existing X session.
On my PC I use Cygwin and just open up a bash shell and type the same x
command and I get a window that is my X session.  That window gets the
standard Windows minimize/maximize buttons so I can hide it.  When I run
it on my Mac, I don't get any minimize/maximize buttons, so it just takes
over the whole screen, covering up my OS X desktop.

Christopher Butler
Director of Technology
Shore Country Day School
Beverly, MA 01915
cbutler at shoreschool.org