[K12OSN] Re: An idea regarding SME server and authentication

[David Trask]

"Support list for opensource software in schools." <k12osn at redhat.com> on
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 at 7:29 PM +0000 wrote:
>Hello David,
>
>Instead of an answer I've Got a few questions for you.
>
>Why is the directory structure an issue? 

Yes....when exporting via NFS....K12LTSP expects home to be /home/username
>
>How are you integrating your Samba-LDAP with SME?

I'm not....at this point I'm simply trying an experiment....this would be
in place of Samba/LDAP  (and not for me necessarily)

>
>Why are you using SME as your /home file server?

I'm not....again...it's an experiment.  I'm trying to see if it might be a
viable alternative for small installations.  I still use a Samba/LDAP
server
>
>
>The only reason I ask is I am getting ready to make some big changes
>next week and am still at a point where could make some adjustments.

For now SAMBA/LDAP is your best bet
>
>
>As per your suggestion about a year and a half ago I installed SME 
>but only use it with Dan's Guardian along with the DG dungog add-in. 

I still do....I have several SME servers....one is my
proxy/firewall/gateway/DG filter.....one is a web server.....one is an NFS
server for backups....etc
>
>
>Using your LDAP how-to and a couple of others too as references I've
>decided to implement that also. 

Cool!  :-)
>
>My plan is share /home on a fc3 based samba-ldap with all users /home
>being on
>that server. I hope to add an ldap address book and authenticate moodle
>and 
>phpGroupWare against it also. Have you worked with that end of LDAP?

Let me know how it goes with FC3....I'm curious...document any gotcha's
and I'll put them in the how-to
>
>
>One thing I'm not quite sure how to set up is the staff's home
>directories.
>As it is now the staff home directories are on an NT server. Student home
>directories are on one of the k12 servers. k12server/home is owned by the
>the teachers group and all teachers have complete access to all student
>directories. I was thinking of making a separate dir named /staffhome in
>order
>to keep things separated. Not sure that is the best way to go but I know
>that
>the teachers would feel better if their "home folders" were not mixed in
>with
>the students. That is what they are use to. If I keep it separated they
>will
>not be aware that a change has taken place. But if they come back after
>Christmas 
>break and their "home folders" are mixed in with the students they will
>want to know
>why.

My opinion?  Put the staff home dirs in the same place as the kids.  /home
  Done right...everyone should only have rights to their own home dir
anyway....if not run  chmod 700 /home/*   Sometimes you have to do that if
you use the reset-all-desktops script.    Since they can only see their
own folder....they'll never know.  :-)  Will you be doing roaming profiles
for Windows users?  Do you run primarily Win98, XP, or Win2K?
>
>
>Thanks for any input and have a great holiday.

You too :-)
>
>John
>
>
>
>



David N. Trask
Technology Teacher/Coordinator
Vassalboro Community School
dtrask at vcs.u52.k12.me.us
(207)923-3100