Apple Mac OS X Server (Administrator’s Guide) - Manual (Page 160)

160 Chapter 3
Choosing a Protocol for Home Directories
You can set up home directories so they can be accessed using either AFP or NFS.
The preferred protocol is AFP, because it provides authentication-level access security; a user
has to log in with a valid name and password to access files. AFP also simplifies the setup of
home directories; home directories are automatically created the first time a user logs in.
Use NFS only if you need to provide home directories for a large number of users who use
UNIX workstations. NFS file access is based not on user authentication, but on client IP
address, so it is generally less secure than AFP. In addition, NFS home directories need to be
created manually.
See the next two sections information about using AFP and NFS protocols for home
directories.
Setting Up AFP Home Directory Share Points
Before setting up an AFP home directory for a user, define an automountable share point in
which the home directory will reside. Setting up a home directory in an automountable
share point makes the home directory available in /Network/Servers and lets other users
access the home directory using the ~username shortcut.
Because of the way home directory disk quotas work, you may want to set up home
directory share points on a partition different from other share points. See “Setting Disk
Quotas” on page 164 for more information.
To define an AFP share point for home directories:
1 Create a folder on the server where you want the home directories to reside, and share the
folder using AFP. See Chapter 4, “Sharing,” for complete instructions on how to accomplish
this and the remaining steps.
2 Enable guest access to the share point so users can access other users’ public folders without
authenticating. Also, ensure that the share point owner has Read & Write privileges and that
Group and Everyone have Read privileges.
3 Configure a mount record for the share point. To do so, set up the share point to automount,
using AFP, in a directory domain in the search path of Mac OS X computers that need to
use it.
Setting Up NFS Home Directory Share Points
Before setting up an NFS home directory for users, define the share point in which the home
directories will reside. Because NFS offers less access security than AFP, define one NFS share
point for use by all UNIX users who need home directories.