Setup multiuser login on Mac

[BLBS]

For my small business I have bought a Mac mini. Soon an extra employee will start to work here and he will use that Mac mini.

I can create 2 accounts on the Mac Mini, my own admin account and another user account for him, but with the future in mind I would like to do it more futureproof.

My goal is to have for example 5 macs (in the future), and all 5 employees can login into any of those macs and have their personal settings / files. The 5 employee login credentials should be saved on some server so i can manage them at one place instead of on every Mac

I installed Synology LDAP package and I can connect to it on my Mac. When I try to login with one of the created accounts in the LDAP server, the Mac starts to show the loader to open the desktop but keeps doing that (for over an hour).

When I enter "wrong" credentials it shows that the credentials are incorrect, which means the Mac is successfully connected to the LDAP server.

What did I do wrong, or is this the right way to set this up?

It would be nice if the files where stored on the Synology and every account on the mac can just use my (admin account) installed programs

Or is there a way i can configurate a whole mac environment somewhere without installing apps on every single Mac?

I'm sorry if my question is unclear but I am not sure how to ask this properly

 

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forum.

There are ways to do it over LDAP package or Synology Directory Server package.

For LDAP configuration: How to join Mac/Linux client computers to the Synology LDAP directory service - Synology Bilgi Merkezi

And for Directory Server, here is the example of how to defined it: DSM 7 - Directory Server - add macOS 11 (Big Sur) Mac to Synology Active Directory

 

[BLBS]

I followed both links but none of them seem to work.

De LDAP method lets me log in via the added credentials but the mac freezes when logging in (the spinner keeps rotating)
I also tried the Directory Server but there i get an error that the authentication server cannot be found.
Also my mac cannot connect to the SMB shared folders as soon as i install the Directory Server

 

[Rusty]

Ok that opens a whole other bunch of questions why that is. When configuring these packages DNS network issues are 1st on the list to troubleshoot.

Think before moving forward or getting any assistance on the matter, you will need to give a bit more details on your network setup, devices, overall configuration, etc.

Also, any Mac logs (console one for example) would help out in potentially determining your mac freezing, as well as the authentication errors when using Directory server.

 

[BLBS]

With installing LDAP server everything else (SMB for example) works fine.
Our setup:

Synology DS920+ (3 months old)
Draytek Vigor 2929 (1 month old)
Mac Mini M1 (2 days old)

On the new Mac Mini, i went to System preferences, Users & groups, Login options and added the ip address of my Synology. After clicking "Next" i see the green dot in front of my LDAP server (on the mac).

I can even go to my Contacts app and search for the users added in the Synology LDAP server and find them.
When i logout on my Mac and login again with the new credentials (from the LDAP server), the mac freezes.

I can open the console but i guess not when logged out?
Or can i ssh into that mac from my macbook and get a console log at that time?

 

[Rusty]

Or can i ssh into that mac from my macbook and get a console

you could get via root user. Try it, not sure.

 

[BLBS]

I can ssh into that mac but what command do i type to see what is happening when logging in on the Mac

 

[Rusty]

You can use the mac Console app (not via ssh), to view the log file location. Then via ssh target that file and tail it.

 

[BLBS]

Which log file do i need? I see a system.log (which i can find the location of), but is this the right one?
I think this is not the same as the console streaming log

 

[Rusty]

You will have to have a look via the console where are any indications of the error you are getting and then find the location for that file before accessing it via command line.

 

[BLBS]

I think that is the hard part. How can i know where the error is going to be, it is on the login of the Mac

 

[BLBS]

Am i the only one having trouble logging in via LDAP? Or isn't this the right option for my needs?
I assume a lot of companies who use macs have a server with all the accounts so people can swap macs?