Profiles on server and being synced locally

[HELLBRINGER 0]

I am trying to do something and it is not working out so well. I have a computer operating as a server. I want to make it so all users on my network can logon and all their settings will be on the server as a profile. I got that working fine. Except I am having trouble with synchronization. Is what I want to do is have it so that every time you log on, it will synchronize it self. So that if a user takes their computer to another location, they will still have their settings. And say they change something during their gone time. When they get back and hook their machine to my network, it will sync their changes with the server. And, like if say they logon to another system with their settings being on the server. They change something, then log off. Then they can go back to their computer that is theirs and log in and see the changes they just made on the other computer. Like synchronization I guess.

 

Kind of like having a Novell network with all yer settings on the server.

 

How can I do this? I am partly there but am having problems.

 

Please help me any way you can. I would really appreciate it.

 

My e-mail is the_quake_master@hotmail.com

My AIM handle is Zee HELLBRINGER

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DNS may not be updated yet, use my ip http://63.227.241.196

 

Please contact me in any way you wish.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[HELLBRINGER 0]

I read this post in here

http://www.ntcompatible.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14460

and was wondering. How do you do this network logon stuff?

[AndyFair 0]

You need to use Roaming Profiles - this means that the profiles are stored on the server, and wherever a user logs in from, they will get all their settings the same - as long as it is on the same domain.

 

If a user makes changes to their profile while not connected to your domain, they will get the option to use the local or the remote profile - they can use the local profile, and the remote (server-stored) profile will be updated when they log off.

 

Hope this all makes sense,

Rgds

AndyF

[HELLBRINGER 0]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!... Ok... How do I do roaming services?

 

Will this work on a workgroup instead of domain?

 

Can you tell me more about this by I mean how to set it up...

 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[HELLBRINGER 0]

oh... and what do I need to do on my server, and client machines?

 

Will this work with Windows 2000 SERVER, and Windows 2000 Profesiional for my clients?

 

Thanks again!

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Looking at the help file in Win2k. It says to create load Active Directory USers and Comptuers...

 

DOes this mean I have to have active directory on?

 

If so... how does AD work? Why do I need it? How do I set it up?

 

I am new to all this stuff. SO I appreciate all yer help.

 

Thanks again.

[AndyFair 0]

I'm not entirely sure how to do this on Win2k server, but on NT4 all you have to do is set the User Profile path to point to a network share.

Maybe someone else could confirm if that's all you need to do under Win2k.

 

Sorry I couldn't help more.

Rgds

AndyF

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Well thats what I did... But Do I do that on the server or the client? What do I do on the client? How do I logon from the client? I have seen (I think with Alt-O) which computer to logon to on the login screen. But how do I connect from the client? Is what I did earler when I was messing around with the idea before knowing anything about roaming profiles, I copied my entire profile dir to my server, then told my machine (a client machine) to use the profile from my server. It worked fine. But I dont think anything worked for local. Although I'm not sure, it seemed like it was downloading the profile from the network onto my system. Cause the second time I logged in it was a lot faster. Does it automatically sync it self?

 

So I'm not sure what needs to be done on server and client. And do I need to copy a profile?

 

Oh and do I need active dir setup? It doesnt look like it I think...

 

Thanks for the help AndyFair. You helped a lot. I think you can help more. Can you answer my questions.

 

But I think you are right. It's the same on Win2k Server as NT4.

 

You said all you have to do is set the user profile path to point ot a network share. From the client machine? Right?

 

I think though this is right. Can you help me more?

 

Thank you so much! I am getting there!

[HELLBRINGER 0]

I'm sorry but I am still tring to understand this. I think I am in the right direction and my inital though will work. It seems very similar. And my computer (a client) said roaming in user profiles in system properties on my system. I think it was using the profile form my server. Is this right? Can I do this?

 

Do I have to setup this roaming on every computer I want to logon to? Or can I do the logon to remote server from workstation in the login screen. Is that Alt-O?

 

I'm confused. Someone please clear this up.

[AndyFair 0]

If the user profile on your local machine says roaming, then you have it set up correctly.

There is nothing to do on each workstation, it is something that is set at a user level on the server (using User Manager for Domains). This needs to be set up for every user that you want to have roaming ability.

 

As long as you log on as a user on the workgroup/domain (ie the workstation is a member of the domain/workgroup, and you have the domain/workgroup shown in the logon box), you will use your roaming profile from the server. If the workstation doesn't have a copy of the profile, it is downloaded from the server; likewise, if there is nothing in the profile on the server, the workstation uses the local profile, and then saves the profile to the server.

 

Beware that user's IE cache & temp folder will also be copied to the server unless you disable it (again, not entirely sure how on Win2k, but on NT you can do this using poledit)

 

You need to set up the share for profiles to be stored on the server, and make sure that all your users can access it. If you set up the share on the local workstation, nobody else will be able to use it while the PC is turned off!

You will also need a separate directory for each user on the server (eg //SERVER/Profiles/User1, //SERVER/Profiles/User2) otherwise everybody will end up using the profile of the last person to log off!

 

As far as I can see, I don't think there is any need to use AD for this.

 

Quote:

A 3-step plan to set up roaming profiles

1. Create a share on the server (call it something like "Profiles"), grant access to all your users. Create a directory in the share for each user.

2. In User Manager for Domains, set the profile direcory setting to point to the subdirectory of this share. You will need to use the UNC format of the share. So User1 will have the Profile Directory set to \SERVER\Profiles\User1

3. You're all ready to go. Next time the user logs on they will start using roaming profiles

 

 

I hope I've managed to answer all your questions - it is quite easy really - honest!!!

 

 

AndyF

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Ok yes thank you. I understand all this now fine.

 

I just don't understand one thing. I don't need to setup any thing on the client machine except to login to the server right? How do I do that? I think I'v seen it by pressing Alt-0. But there is only my computer. How do I tell the client systems it needs to use a profile on the server? Do I have to setup all the user names on the client and then point their profiles to the server where their profiles are? That's how I was doing that originally, but if I don't even have to make profiles on the clients that would be a lot eaiser.

 

Wow I think I almost got it. I just need to figure out how to set the client up. I think I got everything ready on the server.

 

Thanks man I really appreciate it. I owe ya one.

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Ok I am messing around on a client system (mine). And what I mention being Alt-0 for "Log on to: COMPUTERNAME" is only when your computer is locked.

 

From looking at when you lock the system there is a hint if you will. Only MIKE\Mike or an administrator can unlock this computer. Well say, if I want to use my profile from the server named Mike. Do I type in SERVER\Mike for the user name? Just a though. I am going to go try it now.

 

Tried it. Did not work. But probably because the computer I tried it on had no network stuff setup yet.

 

So how do I do this though?

 

On my server do I setup my profiles to point to c:\server\users\username1 or \\server\server\users\username1?

 

I think I am almost there.

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Sorry I keep making new posts. It's just eaiser that way.

 

Ok I was reading the help file (surprise) and it says something about to logon to a network, select options, and in login to: put the server that you are logging in to.

 

Well LOGIN TO does not exist! Only thing I see is a check box for Log on using dial-up connection

 

That is it! The only place I see Logon to is if I login, then lock the computer, then do Alt-O for options, then I see logon to, but only my computer and not the server.

 

What is wrong? Is there something I dont have setup?

[AndyFair 0]

OK. Here goes.

 

The logon screen is when you first turn the computer on - when you installed Win2k, you may have chosen to log on automatically. Not being at home (and my work PC is not set up like this), I can't tell you how to take it off, but it probably comes off when you add your workstation to the workgroup/domain.

 

This has nothing to do with locking the computer or dial-up networking. It is when you log on to the computer at start up (or you can choose log off from the start menu)

 

In the user profiles section, you need to set the profiles path to \\server\profiles\user1 where server is the machine name of your server, profiles is the name of the share you have set up, and user1 is a subdirectory within that share.

 

 

You're almost there - keep on trying!

 

Rgds

AndyF

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Ok well I dont have that lame *** auto login bullshit. I make veryone login. So yes I get the login screen on every machine when it is turned on.

 

Well I think they way I had it earlier was working. I did it again. And I can logon using the server's profile. Then logoff (letting it update server's copy) and login on another computer, changed settings show up. So I guess its working.

 

Only difficulty is. Everything has to be in the same location on harddrives and stuff in order for the links on desktop that have been created to work. I little tricky but I can get all computers almost the exact same program locations.

 

I think I got it though. Seems I do.

 

Thanks for all the great help.

 

PS: Is there an option to select profile before logging in? I mean local or server profile?

[AndyFair 0]

Glad you've got it working!

 

Yes, for stuff to work on different PCs, you will need to have apps installed in the same place - I usually set up one PC, and then clone that to every other workstation using Norton Ghost - it makes sure that each workstation is absolutely identical to every other, and causes no problems with orphan shortcuts.

 

I don't think there is an option to select the profile type at login, but if your workstation can't contact the server, it uses the local copy.

 

You should also beware that each user profile is also stored locally on each workstation that they log on to, and if you have many different users logging on to the same machine, it will contain a copy profile for each of them - which can eat up disk space fast!

 

 

Glad to have been of help (for possibly the first time in my life!!)

Rgds

AndyF

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Yeah that's what I figured out. Obvious though.

 

I'd like to do that except not all my workstations have the same system hardware, so when anything big, like a harddrive, motherboard, or cpu or something changes a lot Win2k WONT START! You know how that shi* works.

 

Ok thank you. Although I think 36GB of free space will sufice if duplicate profiles are created LOL. But no one will be logging in that many times. Speaking of which is there a way to limit simultaneous logins? I didnt see anything for it.