[K12OSN] Apple Folks

[Jamie McParland]

> marksarria at socal.rr.com wrote:
>> I too will be setting up 2 Mac labs, one for our graphics art department
>> and another for an online English course. It would be helpful if the
>> ideas were posted for all to see and comment about or add to...
> 
> Ok, I'll start spewing ideas & questions on the list.  Maybe some of you
> guys & gals will have some insight, success stories, new ideas, etc.
> Here we go:
> 
> 1) I currently use NIS, but plan to switch to LDAP.  Is it possible for
> OSX to authenticate to an LDAP server?
> 

Absolutely! 

> 2) How about mounting /home directories?  Can the user's directory be
> pointed to an NFS/SAMBA/ETC sharepoint, or do you just have to figure a
> way to mount a document folder on their desktop?

You can do network home directories using NFS or AFP.
> 
> 3) Is a program like DeepFreeze required when using OSX?  If so, does it
> work well with network authentication & directory sharing?
> 

Not sure what deep freeze is.


> 4) Anyone know if files saved in Microsoft Office 2004 (on OSX) can be
> edited in openoffice?  How about going from Office 98 (on my OS9
> machines) to Office 2004?  Do the 2 versions of MS Office play well
> together?

I never have problems opening old word documents, or even PC word documents
and vice versa.

> 
> 5) If a user's /home directory is mounted on the eMac, can abilities
> still be locked down?  (ie, changing things in the hard drive, or
> setting the background, removing dock items, etc)

Yes you would manage the client using the MCX settings from your ldap
server.
> 
> 6) If the /home directory stores everything, so each user has a unique
> environment -- what kind of load on the network does that NFS share
> take?  More than a thin client?
> 

Got me on this one.

> 
> It looks like I had all questions, and no ideas.  :)  (ok, well, the
> ideas sparked the questions, so I'll forgive myself!)
> 


I would read up on OSX server. All the stuff in osx server is opensource.
Like their ldap server is openldap, they use samba, etc.

So you'll get a feeling of what is possible to do for your clients and how
to do it. - Jamie

http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/

> -Shawn
> 
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