[WBEL-users] Roaming profiles

[Tom Kovalcik]

>Have you been successful implementing roaming profiles using Samba
>and what are the pit falls? Most of my users use Win2k Pro and XP.

I am using roaming profiles with Win2K machines, Redhat 9 Samba 2.2.7. I am holding off updating to WB and Samba 3 and LDAP until next summer. I found two problems. First, large home directories take a long time to load. The temporary internet files seem to be the biggest culprit. I do not have a good fix for this one. Second, by default Win2K keeps a copy of the profile on the local computer. This is good if the user uses that computer almost exclusively, as the data is available even if the domain server is down or unreachable. In the computer lab however where many different people log into the computers and students are using several different computers, the disks start to fill up with these copied profiles. I found a registry setting that deletes the stored profile on the local computer and that has been working well. I can send it along if you want. 

Other problems that I am dealing with include permission issues on some 
programs and users knowing the difference between saving files on the 
local drive as opposed to the domain server. I am hoping Samba 3 will 
help with the permission problems.

I would also recommend a 1GB card for the domain server. 

Otherwise, the roaming profiles are working well. I am able to provide 
nightly backup since only the server needs to be backed up, and students 
can use almost any computer in the building.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions (or solutions).

-- 
Thomas Kovalcik
Orion Design Technologies
122 Mast Road 
Lee, NH 03824