About This Guide
Preface
This guide explains how to use Workgroup Manager to set up and manage accounts and preferences for clients.
Mac OS X Server includes Workgroup Manager, a user management tool you can use to create and manage accounts.
When managing accounts, you can define core account settings like name, password, home folder location, and group membership. You can also manage preferences, allowing you to customize the user’s experience, granting or restricting access to his or her own computer’s settings and to network resources.
Workgroup Manager works closely with a directory domain. Directory domains are like databases but are specifically designed for storing account information and handling authentication.
What’s New in Workgroup Manager
ÂComputer accounts and computer groups. You can create computer accounts for individual computers. By managing computer accounts individually, you can fully customize preference management settings for those computers.
You can create computer groups composed of these individual computer accounts, or of hierarchical groups. Managed preferences for a parent computer group in a hierarchical group also apply to child computer groups.
The addition of computer accounts and computer groups eases administration and increases flexibility. For more information, see Chapter 6, “Setting Up Computers and Computer Groups.”
ÂImproved mobile accounts. Mobile accounts are now more secure, efficient, and portable.
You can protect mobile accounts with FileVault. You can set account expiry options so that local home folders are deleted after a period of inactivity. You can also create mobile accounts on an external drive, so users can still access a synced home folder with cached managed preferences even when they don’t have their computers.
13
