What is a Roaming Profile?
When you log in on a GSLIS workstation, your initial screen (also known as your computer “desktop”) contains such things as your start button, start menu, and application icons. All these characteristics, and your application settings, are stored in what is called a “user profile” on one of the GSLIS network servers. If you log in on a different lab computer, this profile is loaded onto that machine to give you the same desktop you had on the first machine. The term “roaming profile” refers to the fact that your profile loads the same information onto whatever lab machine you use, which in effect allows you to choose a different workstation while retaining access to all of the same applications and without losing any preferences you may have set.
A roaming profile is a profile stored on a network share (as opposed to on the local machine) which can thus be accessed from any computer. A user who has a roaming profile can log on to any computer for which that profile is valid and access that profile. Roaming user profiles provide the user with a consistent working environment from machine to machine (appearance, settings, preferences, data files, and the like). Once the user logs off and his profile has been uploaded back to the server, the local copy of his roaming profile is deleted.
This is a profile that is not stored on your local PC. Rather it is stored on another computer (usually on your ECN Unix home directory) and loaded each time you login. What is the advantage you might ask? One advantage is that you are no longer tied to one PC. If your PC stops and you need to get work done you can log onto any ECN domain PC and your profile follows you and is loaded onto that PC. When you log off your Roaming Profile is written back to the remote computer so it is ready to reload the next time you log in. Your Roaming Profile is backed up every night, so if you were to lose changes it might be possible to reload your old profile from a backup tape. If you are having problems with your profile it is easier for your site specialist to trouble shoot. Let’s take a look at some for the boundaries for a Roaming Profile. First, in order to have one you need to be on a PC that is connected to the Engineering Computer Network. This PC must be deployed as an ECN domain PC. You
