Unable to login on Mac Pro Server (ML)

Question

Hi,
perhaps a small introduction to my problem;
We use a Mac Pro (with ML Server) as our main server and have about 5 users configured on it. They all use iMacs execpt for one user, who uses a MacBook Pro. The (brand new) server was configured about 3 months ago using the Server App. The services that were configured include DNS, iCal, File Services, Open Directory, and that's about it. On the server itself a local user (with Admin rights) was configured, all the other users were local network users.
Now, the MacBook Pro user had to be configured as a mobile user (in order to login to his MBP with his network credentials but outside the local network). We tried to do this from his MBP, and that's where we a first error (Seemed the user could not mount the ('null') home directory). So, we played around in the Server App with the File Services. We managed to get the mobile user account to work, however, it now seemed that all the users had their home directories on their local hard drive (not on the Mac Pro server anymore). Then, we tried to undo our changes... And that's when the server became irresponsive. We tried to reboot the Mac Pro server, and now, we can not even log in to the Mac Pro server anymore. It seems that "some error occured" which does not allow us to login to the system. This error pops up with ALL the users, including the local user with Admin rights...
How does one continue now... ? Is there a possibility to get back the user data (if not, not a big deal, since the system was merely setup anyway) ?
Best regards,
Salva

Answer 1

First.. there is no reason data stored on the server would be lost just because users accounts arent working.
Network logins are depdendent on Open Directory and OD is very dependent on both the client and the server's DNS resolution.
You can login locally in the server with the admin account, correct?
If so, open Terminal and paste this:
     dscl . -list /Users
If it responds with a list of users, then we know at least your open directory service is online.
You need to check your logs.
use Console to review
/var/log/system.log
/var/log/opendirectory.log
What is the result of:
sudo changeip -checkhostname
Hope you don't mind if I ask.. but do you really need network homes?
Its adds much more overhead.  I see new administrators set it up because its 'in the manual', when they really don't need it.