[K12OSN] Managing identical logins...

[Tom Lisjac]

On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:46:21 -0500, David Trask
<dtrask at vcs.u52.k12.me.us> wrote:
> "Support list for opensource software in schools." <k12osn at redhat.com> on
> Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 11:33 AM +0000 wrote:
> >Change is sometimes hard for people, teachers moreso than students, as
> >has been observed many times on this list.  Tom recognizes that having everyone
> >share the same ID is a bad policy, but as he said, he's not the policy maker. I
> >think the *policy* task at hand is to plant the seeds with the teachers and policy
> >makers about why the current policy is bad and first get them to see that the
> >present practice has some vulnerabilities, which--knock on wood--haven't resulted
> >in any disasters so far. 

Well said... that's the situation in a nutshell.  It's hard to make a
case for change when the decision makers are happy with the way things
are... but all it takes is a (hopefully small) disaster to raise their
awareness and open the door to an alternative approach.

With our Linux initiative, we've learned to be careful and cautious
when recommending change. After two years of patiently sneaking Linux
in wherever we could, we finally amassed enough credibility to have a
shot at putting an LTSP lab in at a high profile school. The admins
expect our multi-user system to authenticate against the domain with
class logins just like our stand alone Linux workstations do and
that's what we're going to deliver. If the system works out well and
they like it a lot (which I expect they will), tomorrow is another
day! :)

> Exactly.  I actually had a similar set up prior to using Linux (back in
> the mid-90's) with Win 98 and mapped drives.  We did end up with a few
> "lost" files and folders.  I actually just changed everything one summer
> and then "trained" everyone on the new setup.  Once I began telling them
> that the only one who can do anything to the files in their home folder is
> themselves....they were actually quite excited.  Teachers asked about how
> kids can "pass in" files to the teacher...so I made "drop boxes" for each
> class, but the students were encouraged to make a "copy" of their file and
> put it in the "drop box" as opposed to saving the original there.  This
> way everyone has their cake and can eat it too!  Teachers are happy, kids
> are happy, and everyone's files are MUCH safer.  You might try this
> approach as a "meet you in the middle" idea.  I bet you can sell it.

Yes, that's definitely a better way to go... and if we can log a few
months of flawless operation with the new library lab, we'll have the
stage set to make that case.

> (PS...I highly recommend roaming profiles in Windows....and I recommend
> using DeepFreeze to keep the Windows machines "pure"....makes life a LOT
> easier)

We are running DeepFreeze... our computer lab teachers like it a lot!

> With regard to "managing" multiple user accounts....with the new scripts
> and all available today...that's a no brainer. 

I just found your package and am going to thoroughly review it over
the weekend. Looks excellent thusfar!

-Tom