Network Directory Mount/PHD

Hey guys-

I was hoping you could provide some insight here....We are just getting started with Casper, and I am trying to set up a script that will mount our users network home directories when connected to the network. One method we have talked about it portable home directories, which would allow them access to their files even when offline. The problem I keep running into is that PHD is configured, but it cannot mount the home directory. The network directory is a DFS share, but I was able to get that to mount correctly using the mountNetworkShare script from the Resource Kit. Is there any way to make the PHD sync to the user's network share?

Thanks for your help,

--benji bergstein
Giant Eagle, Inc.

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Unless you use ExtremeZ-IP I dont think you can support DFS shares on a
Mac,

are you using Open Directory to setup you PHD ?

Criss

Criss Myers
Senior IT Analyst (Mac Services)
iPhone / iPad Developer
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator v10.5
LIS Development
Software Management Team
Adelphi Building AB28
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
Ex 5050
01772 895050

We have to use DAVE from Thursby Software to get DFS to work in our environment. Then we are able to mount all of our shares using their software.

-Steve

I have been ripping my hair out, trying to get PHD sync to work towards SMB file servers (ie w2k8r2).
A few weeks ago, I gave up, mostly due to the fact that I got word from Apple that it does not work (they didn't spell it out, but pretty close).
So, we have now gone for Apple File servers and all tests so far are looking really good. SSFT works, AD is used for authentication.

The problem with having PHDs on anything but proper Apple servers is that sooner or later, the sync errors will drive users nuts. I blame bugs in samba (used for connecting to SMB servers) and ExtremeZ (nope, it does not work either). It seems as without SSFT, sync is a lot less reliable, and on SMB- and ExtremeZ-IP-servers, some functionality in the file sharing protocol is lost (sync logs sometimes says: "not implemented" when syncing to ExteremeZ-IP shares) which breaks the sync.

So, even if you manage to get the folder connected, the sync will not work. I have received word that it actually works with SMB folders connected via DAVE, but it's too expensive and adds to complexity. Save your strength and either go for Apple servers for users homes, or, if that is not an option, forget it and go for some backup software instead.

Sorry ;-)

//Patrik

---------------------------------------------------------------
Patrik Sonestad
Avdelningsansvarig
Avdelningen för ABM och Bokhistoria
Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
Lunds universitet
Telefon: 046-2223141, 070-3219074
E-post: Patrik.Sonestad at kultur.lu.se

14 feb 2011 kl. 15.48 skrev Bergstein, Benji:

Has anyone looked at hosting them on a Linux box with NFS? I remember
reading an article where the author got PHDs to work on Debian. Looks
like my Google Fu paid off

http://mattfleming.com/node/190

Most of the info on that page is defunct, as it is written for 10.4 (yikes).

And, even if you get it to work with NFS, I bet you'll run into the same problems. It seems Apple did some black, undocumented, magic with the AFP protocol to make PHD-sync reliable.
I can share a row from the FileSync-log when using ExtremeZ-IP:

:: [10/12/21 15:08:11.257] EXCEPTION: Operation not supported <-[SStoreFileOperator_FS writeCompleteWithTempOperator:setModDate:] (StoreFileOperator-FS.m:1220): copyfile(from='/Volumes/kult-pso/Pictures/._.fstemp.+PHD-R-K6X47q24kh9-kult-pso+i4RuFIZVPA1.noindex', to='/Volumes/kult-pso/Pictures/.fstemp.+PHD-R-K6X47q24kh9-kult-pso+i4RuFIZVPA1.noindex', state=0x103e6e440, flags=0x9c0007)--> Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=45 UserInfo=0x104b574f0 "Operation not supported">
0:: [10/12/21 15:08:11.257] NSLocalizedDescription = "Operation not supported";

A simple "StoreFile" should be implemented in ExtremeZ-IP ;-) so my guess is that there's something fishy going on under the hood with these .fstemp-files.

//P

14 feb 2011 kl. 16.20 skrev Thomas Larkin:

Ladies and Gents,

I have been using PHD's and sync'ing (as well as Apple can) since
starting to use Casper. I just chose to use BOTH Casper AND Apple's
managed preferences. It can be done cleanly and easily. I worked with
Jamf on this. Through Apple's managed prefs you can do all the sync'ing
you want and you automatically get the home directory mounted. You can
also mount any AFP or NFS directory you desire. It works for me.....

Cheers,

Roy

Yeah I noticed that article was old, but I remembered reading it at one
point. I wonder if you could write your own, say rsync script and use
Casper to run it via log in/out to sync the home folders from the
servers? It is my understanding that is what PHD uses under the hood. If you use Kerberos it wouldn't be too hard to pass the user's
credentials to the server for authentication.

You could also make it a launchagent for each specific user and have it
execute at log out to sync the folders. For user triggered
synchronization you could use self service. I know this sounds like a
hassle but if it doesn't work native on the OS itself to SMB you may
have to write up your own solution....

Keep me posted as I am interested to hear how you pan this one out.

Thanks,

Tom

Well, the preferences are no problem. Neither are the automounts, works perfectly (but simpler using OD/WGM than Casper), even with SMB-folders and whatnots. The big, ugly problem is that the sync does not work properly towards anything but Mac OS X Server-shares.

I dare anyone show me a working configuration using nothing but Apples built-in AD-plugin and a Windows server... (and a OD for prefs if you like) ;-)

//P

14 feb 2011 kl. 16.43 skrev Roy A. Baril:

The problem with using rsync is what it does when there's a conflict. The nice thing about Apple's HomeSync is that it lets the user decide which version to pick. Unfortunately, this is also a major annoyance when it occurs too frequently. I seem to recall seeing some evidence that some unmodified files that were reported as modified merely had the modification time about one second off; I'd love to know where to fix that...

On Feb 14, 2011, at 10:43 AM, Thomas Larkin wrote:

Yeah I noticed that article was old, but I remembered reading it at one point. I wonder if you could write your own, say rsync script and use Casper to run it via log in/out to sync the home folders from the servers? It is my understanding that is what PHD uses under the hood. If you use Kerberos it wouldn't be too hard to pass the user's credentials to the server for authentication.

You could also make it a launchagent for each specific user and have it execute at log out to sync the folders. For user triggered synchronization you could use self service. I know this sounds like a hassle but if it doesn't work native on the OS itself to SMB you may have to write up your own solution....

Keep me posted as I am interested to hear how you pan this one out.

Thanks,

Tom

We had been having pretty good luck with PHD sync between our OS X 10.5.x clients and our Windows 2003 file share (there were some file sync conflicts but not many). However our luck changed quite considerably once we started updating users to OS X 10.6.x We started to see many, many file sync conflicts and other errors. I opened an Apple Enterprise support ticket a couple of weeks ago regarding this and so far the only feedback I've really got is that it's "an issue we may already be investigating with software engineering". I'd really like this to work, but we may have to look at some other paid products instead.

paul

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