How can I setup a CentOS login domain on our local network?

Question

I'm looking to create some sort of local domain for my office [ON THE LOCAL NETWORK] - all our machines run CentOS7 and I would like to startup a machine, see my name, then log-in, add something to my desktop, do some work, log off. Then use another computer and see the same name, I login, find all my documents, desktop etc. there. A bit like a work login that works for all computers on side. If anyone knows how to make this happen, your answer would be much appreciated, especially if it can communicate with Windows and work that way too, but that isn't needed.

Example on machine 1:

enter username: myusername enter password: mypassword

"Logging in NAME" - logs in, I can use the computer to work on/save files.

Then on machine 2 later on:

enter username: myusername enter password: mypassword

"Logging in NAME" - (recognising my account the same as the other machines on site), then can access the files I saved to my desktop on my desktop now and carry on with work....

Just some kind of local network domain that many schools, offices etc. use - even some sort of management hosting application that works over a local network.

Thanks, Oliver

[Screenshots for @jsbillings have been removed by @ORICKETTS]

Answer 1

For account management, you can use FreeIPA, which will create a centralized identity management platform. It uses LDAP for managing the user account information and access, and kerberos to authenticate users. It is similar to Active Directory in that you have a central location for managing users, and single-signon enabled for the entire realm. There's even some configuration you can define in LDAP that CentOS systems can use, such as sudo access.

Once you have identity mangement set up, you can set up a shared home directory network storage service. The easiest is to use NFS. With NFSv4 and Kerberos from the FreeIPA service, you can secure NFS.