Time Machine Backups Accessible to Network Accounts?

Question

So I've decided to scrap portable home directories in our office and switch to network accounts for all but one user (she uses both an iMac and a MacBook Air). Everyone has an iMac at their desk and I have two Mac Mini servers running Mountain Lion Server. Server A runs DNS, directory services (and holds all user accounts), filesharing, etc. Server B runs netinstall, filesharing, and Time Machine (connected to a G-RAID fw800). Server A backs up to the G-RAID through Server B. Server B also backs up to the G-RAID.
The first thing I discovered while testing the new configuration (no local users on the iMacs) is that network accounts do not support file history in iWork documents. You can revert to a previous version of a document using pages as long as it's open but once you close it, there's no more history. I figure, that's ok. They can use Time Machine to browse previous versions of their files. Not so...
I can enable time machine, select the network disk, and authenticate with the user's password. When it tries to perform a backup, it fails, saying it cannot find the disk. I'm skeptical that it would work even if it could connect, since it would only make a backup of the client computer's local account (right?).
I can add the network mount for the time machine backups to the users' docks since the open directory server backs up, but they have to navigate through a forest of confusing folders to find what they're looking for. This is pretty much the exact path:
network>server A>backup>backups.backupdb>server HD>2013-10-03-162217>server hd>users>rachel>documents>thatfileyouneed.pages
There's got to be a better way to do this.
I want Rachel to be able to sit down at her desk, log in, and work on her files (mainly pages and numbers files). I'd like for her to be able to revert back to a previous version of her file without having to navigate through a maze of folders. Her workstation, when logged out, has nothing of value stored on it.
TL;DR - Can network users logged into an account held on a server, that's backed up through another server, click on the time machine icon and browse their files? Is there a way to get file history working on a network account?
Oh, and the stupid trackpad>natural scrolling settings keep resetting every time I log the test machine into her account on the server. What's up with that?

Answer 1

Time Machine icon in the dock will not do anything unless Time Machine is enabled.
Check the box marked Show Time Machine in menu bar in the preference pane. You do not have to enable TM to do that. The menu item will be grayed, but you can still hold down the option key and select Browse Other... All valid local TM volumes will appear in the list that opens, including disk images that are hosted on a network volume but mounted locally.
when the drive where the backups are stored is selected, clicking the icon (even an option click) throws up an error message.
That's a separate issue. How did you set up this volume as a backup destination? How are you backing up local files on the clients now?