User Work Environments

User work environments include desktop items and settings such as screen colors, mouse settings, window size and position, and network and printer connections. Using the Solstice Network Client management tools allows a user to have an identity independent of their PC. With this independent identity, a user can maintain a home directory on a file server and have user-based privileges to access other file systems.

Using management tools available in Solstice Network Client, you can set up individual work environments for each user in the network as well as common work environments for groups of users.

Management Tools

Windows 95 and Windows NT systems include mechanisms that are used to set up and configure the user's work environment. These include user profiles and system policies.

Solstice Network Client provides a way to use these management tools from a central location. It also provides a script interpreter that allows you to write or convert SNC scripts, which mount drives and directories, create Registry entries, access shared applications, and manage user views.

System policy files, user profiles, and scripts can be stored on the authentication server (the server running the pcnfsd daemon) and made available to a user logging into a client computer anywhere on the network. The files are stored in the directory /opt/MSPolicy on the authentication server.

• User profiles

  A user profile defines the desktop environment that is loaded by the system when a user logs in. A user profile contains configuration preferences and options for each user, such as:

  • Control Panel settings and preferences for the user interface

  • Settings for persistent network connections

  • Settings for applications that can write directly to the Registry

  Use the user profiles to enforce a consistent desktop for users. A user can log into the network from any computer and work with the same desktop settings. Multiple users on a computer will retain their personal settings.

• System policies

  System policies enable the system administrator to control user-definable settings in Windows NT and Windows 95 user profiles, as well as system configuration settings.

  Use the System Policy Editor to change desktop settings and restrict what users can configure, such as network settings and network client configuration options.

• Logon scripts

  Logon scripts are batch files (*.bat) that run each time a user logs in to a computer on the network. logon scripts contain system commands, such as commands to start applications. They can also call user-specific batch and executable files stored anywhere on the network.

  Use the logon scripts to manage part of the user environment (such as network connections) without managing or dictating the entire environment. Use the scripts to create common network connections for multiple users.

• SNC scripts

  SNC scripts are script files (*.snc) that can be run in the 32-bit Solstice Network Client environment. SNC scripts previously written for a PC-Admin network can be adapted to run on Windows 95 and Windows NT clients.

  Use SNC scripts to securely manage SNC features, mount user network drives, create Registry entries, and set environment variables.

Setting Up the Authentication Server

Solstice Network Client provides a mechanism for central management of clients from a server in the network. System policy files, user profiles, logon scripts, and SNC scripts can be stored on the authentication server (the server running the pcnfsd daemon) and made available to a user logging into a client computer anywhere on the network. The files are stored in the directory /opt/MSPolicy on the authentication server.

If you have more than one authentication server, you must ensure that the appropriate files and scripts are available to clients on the network. You can do this by:

• Setting up duplicate scripts and files on each authentication server. If a client broadcasts for an authentication server, it will get the same scripts no matter which server responds.

• Setting up a specific authentication server for each user's network configuration. You can then maintain the appropriate files and scripts on the authentication server assigned to a user or to groups of users.

To Set Up an Authentication Server

1. Log in as root on a server running the pcnfsd daemon.

   To check that the pcnfsd daemon is running, type:

   # ps -ef | grep pcnfsd 
   root 1206 1 80 Feb 05? 0:30 /opt/SUNWpcnfs/sbin/rpc.pcnfsd  
   root 24452 24450  5 14:49:15 pts/2 0:00 grep pcnfsd  
   # 

2. Create the directory /opt/MSPolicy.

   # mkdir /opt/MSPolicy
   

3. Make sure the /opt/MSPolicy directory is world readable and writable by root. For example:

   # cd /
   # chmod 755 /opt/MSPolicy
   # ls -l /opt
   drwxr-xr-x   2 root     other        512 May 21 16:38 MSPolicy

4. Export the /opt file system. For example:

   # share -F nfs /opt/MSPolicy