i have a problem here i am trying to setup a linux network such that i have 4-5 linux pcs and they should be able to login each other i.e if my user1 has some settings in computerc1 and other files he should be able to access from any computer from c2-c5 and that should happen for all users if any user tries to access files from other pc than his he should get that option with all his own settings..
how can we do that i am new with linux but would like to know what all things(softwares/hardwares if any) would be required and some procedure to do that..

moreover i dont want to use remote desktop any other procedure than that would be fine as well, if remote desktop can do he same, i still need to know the exact commands and materials required..
need help with any of these topics would be fine

options are:

*make 1 computer very powerful (server) and set up xdmcp to connect the others to it. This would mean all work is done on 1 pc with the others acting as dumb terminals

*set up an ldap server to share login information. the files will need to be on a file server probably on the ldap server.
then use a script to each users home directory over when logging in and back again on logout.

*have a computer per user and remote login to your computer each time.


The top option will be the easiest to run but the second will be the best performance.

Another alternative to the 'central server' option: ltsp.org

i'l try thanks but..

exactly i wanna do something like option1 only but how will i manage to do it i am a bit slow on linux not much idea as started using it since 4-5 days only can u help me with the exact process and commands or procedure to do it pls

even if option2 sounds like thats good too can be done let me know the exact process

i have already done opt 3 didnt like it much though
pls mention any links ad softwares that may be reqd

firstly what distribution are you using?

and secondly what login manager (gdm,kdm xdm or something else).

Having the home directory mounted on an nfs server would be the easiest way of doing what you want to do. Then all you need is to have the nfs home share mounted when the computer boots up. You might want to read the Linux Filesystem Hierachy Standard. It contains a discription on which directories can be mounted statically (read-only) and shared. This would allow you to install packages or perform security updates on one machine (the one with write access) and have the changes reflected on all of the machines. The LFHS file is on the www.tldp.org website.

The determinate on what approach to use may depend on the types of applications run and whether having apps running on the the server and displaying locally eats up more band width then the fileserver approach. Also an application server would need more horsepower to run several users apps, and need to display screen info as well. The advantage is that the client machines don't need to be powerful and a low power diskless system would suffice.

One thing that can eat a lot of network bandwidth is a non postscript printer. From what I've read, thin clients are popular in Libraries. The network activity suffers when someone prints to a windows printer because the GDI graphics traffic the network instead of a post script file being sent to the print server.

not much idea what are u talking about what distribution or login manager would be suitable

didnt get what u trying to say

The home partition mounted in /etc/fstab on each partition could be an nfs share. Then a person's home directory would be located on a central server. A person could log into any of the computers and be using the same directory on the share. You would need an entry in /etc/password for each user on all of the computers.

ok so basically i have to put all 5 comps on share and then share directories on a central server can u suggest some server and protocols needed and some more detailed help as i am still a newbie to networking too

Your descriptions sounds a bit strange "put all 5 comps on share". I'm just suggesting using an nfs share and mounting it on the /home directory of each computer. From the users standpoint, there is a /home directory that contains their home directory.

On the server you would configure nfs with the /etc/exports file. Here is a part of mine from my desktop:
Here is the corresponding /etc/fstab entries on my laptop:
Instead you would have something like this on the server:
And one the users' clients you would have an entry in /etc/fstab like this:
There are other mount & export options you may want. See the manpages for mount, nfs, mount.nfs.

You would then merge the user entries in /etc/password and /etc/shadow, making sure that each user has a unique UID. Then copy the new passwd and shadow file to each computer. The net effect is as if each computer had a number of users.
(note: the second share, I added as an example of a shared directory everyone can access to save or load files. It would have root ownership and "ugo=rwxt" permissions)
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Another thing to consider is to have each host run an nfs server and export the users own home directory. Then the /etc/fstab file would have entries like:
johnscomputer:/home/johnb /home/johnb nfs defaults,_netdev 0 0
jillscomputer:/home/jills /home/jills nfs defaults,_netdev 0 0

Again, you would need to have entries for each user in /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and this time /etc/fstab as well.
This way you don't need a central fileserver (NAS).

The first method has an advantage of being able to backup everyone's home directories from one location.

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One thing I haven't given enough though to is preventing users from modifying /etc/passwd (if they have root access or a live distro) so that they an access someone elses files. But the same thing would be true of someone in a windows network with network admin rights logging in. They could open any directory. NFS v4 has more security options using gssd. I don't have experience with it however. I run nfs v3.
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You can get fancy and run an NIS server for authentication. The /etc/exports file can contain netgroups instead of hostnames or ip addresses.

The nfs option would be easier to implement and give you more performance.

you would have to install a version of linux on each computer.
then set up the nfs share as described above
then replace the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files of each computer with the servers. This will need to be done as root.

adding
/srv/nfs/home 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0(fsid=0,root_squash,sync,no_subtree_check)
/srv/nfs/common 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0(root_squash,sync,no_subtree_check)
to /etc/exports file on the server

and

servername:/srv/nfs/home /home nfs defaults,_netdev 0 0
servername:/srv/nfs/common /home/common nfs defaults,_netdev 0 0

to the /etc/fstab on all the other computers.

i have linux on each computer but in my network the dns and other things in main LAN is windows Os hope that doesnt creat problems and i can do it simply by entering the commands u have given me in terminals

so in short i need to run the command with IP address in all 5 computers to get it done isnt it??