How do I construct the home directory for users in ProVide?
A user’s home directory in ProVide is the set of resources and folders you add on that user’s Home Directory page in the admin interface. You can add one or several resources, including local paths, network (UNC) shares, and NAS locations, and ProVide combines them into a single structure the user sees when they log in.
Where to set it up #
- Log in to the web-based admin interface with an account that has admin privileges.
- Click the User tab at the top left, then open Users and select the user.
- Choose Home Directory from the left-hand menu.
- Add the resource or resources you want this user to have access to.
The root is set automatically as the top-level folder containing everything you add on the Home Directory page, and any further resources sit hierarchically beneath it. So constructing a home directory is really just deciding which resources to add and in what order.
Building home directories for many users at once
If you’re setting up a lot of accounts, define the home directory on a group instead of per user, and use the %USERNAME% token as part of the resource path. Each user then gets their own personal folder automatically, and users in the group can’t see each other’s files. You can still add shared resources alongside the personal folder, so a user can have both a private space and access to team folders.
Using Active Directory
If you integrate with Active Directory, you can use the %HOMEDIR% token as the resource path. ProVide then pulls each user’s home directory straight from Active Directory, so an entire AD group can log in with their own home directories and almost no per-user configuration.
