Macs in Windows Domain re: Home directories

Hi everyone,

Just doing some research into using Macs in a Windows domain.
I've been looking into Centrify and it seems like a great solution; but I can't find what sort of options you get regarding home directories.

We want the pupils to log on the Macs with their Windows logins but to have a different home directory to the one they'd have on a Windows computer. These home directories would be hosted on a separate SAN.

Does anyone have any experience with Centrify or anything else that might do what we want?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Jack

When you log into AD on a mac with our without a management system link centrify you have the option to force local home drives or mount the home drive to the home drive attribute on AD. This option is in directory utility under the advanced options of Active Directory. If you tick the box to force the home drive to the local drive then all work will be saved locally but it will mount the home drive and put it on the desktop / Dock. If you untick the box all work will instantly be saved to the windows home directory.

Ross

Hi Jack,

You will be able to get what you're looking for with a Mac that is joined to AD with Centrify DirectControl in a mode called "Zone Mode".

In Zone Mode, you have complete control over the AD User account's attributes and how they are presented to the Mac machine - normally, this would be configured to be read automatically from their regular AD attributes set in ADUC, but you can also choose to use your own values - and in your case - home directories. This can all be configured via the DirectControl console (this Windows app is kind of like the Centrify-version of ADUC; it allows you to manage the UNIX attributes of your AD users.)

You can read more about Centrify Zones here:
DirectControl's Unique Zone Technology


Note that the Centrify Express version that is also available doesn't offer this kind of granular control - Zone Mode is only available in Centrify DirectControl. If you want to give it a go you can contact us for an Eval license: Your Options for Trying Out and Purchasing Centrify Solutions

Hope that helps!
Brian

Thank you very much, Brian, you've certainly covered what I needed to know.

Regards,
Jack

Happy to help. =D

I just added an entry to the hosts file. Same path/folder layout but on another server, you can use afp too.