NFS Question.

[GreezyE]

Hello All,

I understand that Ubuntu can allow a user to have a 'home' directory located on a server and thus all their settings and whatnot can be the same whatever the computer they log onto.

(Thanks to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpNFSHowTo)

Anyway, the thing I would like to achieve would be that on the server I would choose to install applications and this would be reflected on all computers that users connect to.

So, It would be like this;

- On Server Install Example App.

- On Remote Computer, User Logs on, Home Directory on the Server

- Example App now installed on the Remote computer when user logs on.

I would appreciate any help,

Thanks :)

[pebo]

Sounds like you don't need a hard disk on the client at all - you could try creating a thin client network like this (http://www.ltsp.org/) ;)

[GreezyE]

Interesting, however I would need to make sure that the laptops can always use the hard drive should a network connection to the server not be available.

Ideally this would then mean that any new data would be synchronized when connected to the server again.

Realistically I'm looking for a simple way to maintain the applications across all users/computers.

Thanks so far.

[SeijiSensei]

Realistically I'm looking for a simple way to maintain the applications across all users/computers.

In general, the easiest solution is to set up all the machines to update themselves automatically from the repositories. If you're looking for a more centralized solution, Novell offers a commericial application called ZENworks (http://www.novell.com/products/zenworks/). I don't know of any free applications that handle this task.

One intermediate solution is to maintain a local repository containing only those packages you've approved. Then you could point all the workstations at your repository and have them update from there.

[GreezyE]

One intermediate solution is to maintain a local repository containing only those packages you've approved. Then you could point all the workstations at your repository and have them update from there.


I think i'm going to give this a go and see what can come out of it :)

Thanks for the help guys.