[K12OSN] Managing identical logins...

[Tom Lisjac]

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 09:58:07 -0500, David Trask
<dtrask at vcs.u52.k12.me.us> wrote:
> Here's where the problem lies....you are trying to make a multi-user
> environment into a single-user environment.  Unlike your probable current
> situation....the users data is saved locally on the hard drive.  Thus you
> can use the same login for everyone as they physically are on different
> machines.  In an LTSP situation....they are all on the same machine...and
> under your proposal...the same account.  Each time certain programs load
> and execute there are certain things that get written to the user's
> "profile" in the home directory.  There are a multitude of hidden files
> such as .gnome, .kde, .mozilla....etc.  While Mozilla and OO will be the
> biggies, there are many other programs that will also cause issues.  When
> one student makes a change it writes to the home directory....if you have
> multiple logins to the same home directory...imagine the collisions.

Yes, that  summarized the first half of the problem perfectly.

> Some
> where here on the list or in the wiki is a method for "auto-login" of
> workstations.  Thus you could have each workstation log in automatically
> to its own account.....create a location (common) as a drop box for
> storing files....and that way have your cake and eat it too.

Therein lies the second half of the problem. The teachers don't want a
common share for all the classes to drop their work into. I suggested
that initially... and they gave me a flat no! They've been using
Windows file sharing permissions to keep the kids where they belong
(and keep them from clobbering the work of others) for several years.
They like this system and want to continue using it with the new
K12LTSP box.

So to satisfy both requirements, I need to create a unique directory
name at login for each user (such as /home/grade8-ws215) while
retaining the grade8 username for the sid that samba uses to walk the
directory tree of the file server.

Thanks!

-Tom