[Casper] Timing logins and applicaion startup

[Clinton Blackmore]

Thank you, I've been needing a to-do list.  I've got a few questions  
to be sure I understand correctly.

On 12-Feb-09, at 9:04 AM, Eric Young wrote:

> Some office 2008 best practices I gleaned while getting it to run  
> here with our user population.
>
> Here's our setup: about 400 users. 10.5 client and server.  All OD  
> network users (laptops are mobile sync'd users). Xserve raid  
> storage.  WGM for server-side caching and we use WGM for our  
> application white list.

What server-side caching are you doing?  Did you do the cache-folder  
redirection on the clients (as in http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=MCXRedirector 
  )?
>
> the ToDo list:
>
> kill server side spotlight indexing for the users homes at the root  
> of the directory your user's home are located put the following file  
> (i just did a touch): .metadata_never_index  This came from Apple.   
> seems the feature is not working as expected under 10.5 server.   
> This will fix the looooong login times, and seriously reduced the  
> server processor load.

To disable spotlight indexing on the sharepoint, I connect to the  
server using Server Admin, find the sharepoint, and ensure the "Enable  
Spotlight searching" (and the magnifying glass icon) are turned off  
(not displayed).  I take it that helps but does not completely solve  
the problem.  The .metadata_never_index file needs to go at the root  
of the sharepoint (and each and every sharepoint that I don't want  
indexed), yes?  I suppose that .metadata_never_index at the root of  
the drive doesn't cut it.

> make sure a ".TemporaryItems" folder exists. and is 777.  This will  
> fix the save issues and errors from MS apps about temp items and the  
> renaming of files to .tmp files.  This is also from Apple care of  
> MS. It seems the save calls look for that directory first, they are  
> supposed to be able to look elsewhere for the temp directory but it  
> does not seem to work right for networked users.

I saw that Office created these folders, but not with the proper  
permissions.  It seemed to be working, although I remember that on  
occasion users have had problems re-saving a file, so I'd better fix  
that.

> For WGM application filtering.  Make sure to never use the  
> application lists for office.  always use the folders option and be  
> sure to add the items in the application support folder.  this will  
> stop the crashes from MS Office setup, MS update, and other random  
> launch crashes.

Does this only apply if you are whitelisting applications?

> If you get auto-recover issues for a particular user you will have  
> to define a location in that user's Word prefs.  Seems that some,  
> not all, installs of office go funny when trying to save to the  
> user's home for auto-recovery.  it sees the home as "removable  
> media" and refuses to save.  Setting a location seem to fix it... at  
> least the errors go away.. I am not convinced auto-recovery works  
> correctly once that bug occurs though.

I don't believe our issues (right now) are related to auto-recovery.   
Users will be told that the there is a problem with the Office  
database (and if you try to run the repair tool, it will tell you  
there is no database), or sometimes they will be told "normal.dotx is  
in use by 'another user'.  Would you like to make a copy of it?"

The other message we sometimes see is

"The home folder for user is not located in the usual place or cannot  
be accessed.

The home or Users folder may have been moved or deleted. If the home  
folder is located on the network, the server may be unavailable  
temporarily. If you continue to have problems, see your system  
administrator."

which indicates to me that the user authenticated but could not mount  
the file share (while users all around had no problem.)  There isn't  
any chance that they can mount their home folder but not access the  
normal.dotx file, is there?  [Where does that file live, anyways?]
>
> all in all the roll out of 2008 was a nightmare.. many weeks of work  
> went into the simple list above.. I am happy to share to hopefully  
> avoid that for others :-)

I appreciate that.  One of the teachers was extolling the virtues of  
Google Docs, and I would be quite happy not to deal with Office again!

Cheers,
Clinton Blackmore



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