Xserve setup trouble

Question

I'm trying to set up an Xserve at a high school in my town. Someone from a local college came to help, but he had never set up an Xserve before and we got stuck. We have already gone through the set up process (creating the account, attaching it to the internet and downloading the updates). Now we need to create accounts for all the students. I'm not exactly sure how to do this. The guy from the college tried doing it via the user options in system preferences, but it didn't work and didn't seem right. We then opened up the workgroup manager (thinking that it would allow us to do it). We weren't able to edit anything - then I noticed the lock symbol in the corner. However when we tried to unlock it, the admin password didn't work. What password should we be using? Are we even using the right application to set up networked accounts? I tried looking at the documentation, but it just confused me. We were left at a bad place - I'm not sure what part of the documentation we are at. Any advice?
Thanks!

Answer 1

I set up a Xserve, with workgroup access, last year. When I went to create user accounts, I discovered that I had to set the Open Directory usage to Open Directory Master, even though Apple's documentation made it sound as if this was unnecessary. Once you have your Xserve set to be an Open Directory Master, you will need to configure WorkGroup Manager in order to set up access for your users.
There are at least three essential Mac OS X Server Guides that you will want to have handy. They are
File Services Admin Guide
Open Directory Admin
User Management
I would actually recommend downloading all the server guides you can find on http://www.apple.com/server/documentation/. Try doing a search for any you don't find on that page. I also used the Getting Started booklet that came with the Xserve to help me activate Open Directory, but be aware that it only gives very basic help.
I had to read through several of the guides in order to figure out what to do. I would walk you through the steps, but it would take wa-a-a-y too long and you may not want the same setup I am using.
A couple of tips that are not obvious from the documentation:
1. You server must be connected to the network in order to set it up as an Open Directory Master.
2. WorkGroup Manager opens with the default Admin directory. You will need to switch directories in order to set up a workgroup for user access. To switch directories, click on the small globe icon just below the tool bar. You should be given some choices in a drop-down menu. You probably want the local directory, which should be /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1.
Once you are in the correct directory, you should be able to unlock it using your administrator password.
Xserves ship with a default admin password, but if you have changed that, the change should apply to WorkGroup Manager as well. That having been said, I had my Xserve hiccup and lose my admin password. When I reset it, I could not get WorkGroup Manager to recognize any password at all. I ended up having to completely reinstall OS X Server and then had to set the whole thing back up again. Fortunately, I had documented my setup as I went along - something I strongly recommend you do
I hope this helps. The real key is to read, read, read. Good luck.
-Phoenix