The default root directory for users' home directories is /home, but it is the responsibility of the system administrator to ensure that whatever value is specified for this attribute is actually available.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and most other Linux distributions include a PAM module called pam_mkhomedir that can be used to automatically create a home directory if one does not exist for the user authenticating against the system. Red Hat Enterprise IPA does not force the use of this module because it may try to create home directories even when the shared storage is not available. It is the responsibility of the system administrator to activate this module on the clients if needed.

If a suitable directory and mechanism are not available for the creation of home directories, users may not be able to log in successfully.