Is it possible to cache a network home directory for laptops?
 

I am trying to figure out how I can use laptops with a central ldap server and nfs server to store the home directories. For desktops currently I have no problem because they are not taken away but for laptop users I do not know what the options are.

The problem is if these people work away from the office, how do they logon when the ldap server isn't there and how will they be able to access files which are stored in their home directory. Are there ways to automatically cache this information in case the logon server is not available?

Thanks,

Amagi

Well today they could use VPN and wireless networking, but it wouldn't work anyway. At some point somebody takes the laptop and walks out of range thus getting the data not synchronized if you want that. One way would be to create a script that'd synchronize the data when the user logs in or out, and tell people to log out before they leave the network that's holding the servers and log in when they get back..or just create a nice clickable icon on the desktop that syncs the directories.

If you happen to find out how to know when the user is about to leave (when the synchronization would need to happen), tell me too :) another solution, of course, is that every time a file gets edited or created it gets synced with the server, but that sounds like consuming a lot of time and resources..

The problem is more that when a user logs on he will get is home directory from an NFS share. If the user logs of, the NFS share still exists as long as the person is within the network. However, if he goes home, he will not have a logon server and will not be able to connect to the NFS share.

As much as I hate to mention this, but windows has this feature build in as roaming profiles. When a laptop user logs in it will copy the profile from the domain server to the local laptop and keep it synchronized. Maybe I need to investigate a bit more on how to sync files in Linux.

Does anyone have goed recomendations for a syncing tool?

Thanks again