You can create a home directory configuration where you designate the share name using the %w variable but you use the %u variable to designate the relative path to the home directory share. Users can then connect to their home share using dynamically shares created using their Windows user name without being aware of the actual name or path of the home directory.

Steps

Create a qtree to contain user’s home directories: volume qtree create -vserver vserver_name -qtree-path qtree_path
Verify that the qtree is using the correct security style: volume qtree show
If the qtree is not using the desired security style, change the security style using the volume qtree security command.
Add a home directory share: vserver cifs share create -vserver vserver -share-name %w -path %u -share-properties homedirectory ,...]

-vserver vserver specifies the CIFS-enabled storage virtual machine (SVM) on which to add the search path.

-share-name %w specifies the home directory share name. The share name is dynamically created as each user connects to their home directory and is of the form windows_user_name.

You can also use the %u variable for the -share-name option. This creates a relative share path that uses the mapped UNIX user name.

-path %u specifies the relative path to the home directory. The relative path is created dynamically as each user connects to their home directory and is of the form mapped_UNIX_user_name.

The value for this option can contain static elements as well. For example, eng/%u.

-share-properties homedirectory\[,...\] specifies the share properties for that share. You must specify the homedirectory value. You can specify additional share properties using a comma delimited list.
Verify that the share has the desired configuration using the vserver cifs share show command.
Add a home directory search path: vserver cifs home-directory search-path add -vserver vserver -path path

-vserver vserver specifies the CIFS-enabled SVM on which to add the search path.

-path path specifies the absolute directory path to the search path.
Verify that you successfully added the search path using the vserver cifs home-directory search-path show command.
If the UNIX user does not exist, create the UNIX user using the vserver services unix-user create command.

The UNIX user name to which you map the Windows user name must exist before mapping the user.
Create a name mapping for the Windows user to the UNIX user using the following command: vserver name-mapping create -vserver vserver_name -direction win-unix -priority integer -pattern windows_user_name -replacement unix_user_name

If name mappings already exist that map Windows users to UNIX users, you do not have to perform the mapping step.

The Windows user name is mapped to the corresponding UNIX user name. When the Windows user connects to their home directory share, they connect to a dynamically created home directory with a share name that corresponds to their Windows user name without being aware that the directory name corresponds to the UNIX user name.
For users with a home directory, create a corresponding directory in the qtree or volume designated to contain home directories.

For example, if you created a qtree with the path of /vol/vol1/users and the mapped UNIX user name of the user whose directory you want to create is “unixuser1”, you would create a directory with the following path: /vol/vol1/users/unixuser1.

If you created a volume named “home1” mounted at /home1, you would create a directory with the following path: /home1/unixuser1.
Verify that a user can successfully connect to the home share either by mapping a drive or connecting using the UNC path.

For example, if user mydomain\user1 maps to UNIX user unixuser1 and wants to connect to the directory created in Step 10 that is located on SVM vs1, user1 would connect using the UNC path \\vs1\user1.

Example

The commands in the following example create a home directory configuration with the following settings:

The share name is %w.
The relative home directory path is %u.
The search path that is used to contain the home directories, /home1, is a volume configured with UNIX security style.
The configuration is created on SVM vs1.

You can use this type of home directory configuration when users access their home directories from both Windows hosts or Windows and UNIX hosts and the file system administrator uses UNIX-based users and groups to control access to the file system.

cluster::> vserver cifs share create -vserver vs1 -share-name %w -path %u ‑share-properties oplocks,browsable,changenotify,homedirectory

cluster::> vserver cifs share show -vserver vs1 -share-name %u

                      Vserver: vs1
                        Share: %w
     CIFS Server NetBIOS Name: VS1
                         Path: %u
             Share Properties: oplocks
                               browsable
                               changenotify
                               homedirectory
           Symlink Properties: enable
      File Mode Creation Mask: -
 Directory Mode Creation Mask: -
                Share Comment: -
                    Share ACL: Everyone / Full Control
File Attribute Cache Lifetime: -
                  Volume Name: -
                Offline Files: manual
Vscan File-Operations Profile: standard

cluster::> vserver cifs home-directory search-path add -vserver vs1 ‑path /home1

cluster::> vserver cifs home-directory search-path show -vserver vs1
Vserver     Position Path
----------- -------- -----------------
vs1         1        /home1

cluster::> vserver name-mapping create -vserver vs1 -direction win-unix ‑position 5 -pattern user1 -replacement unixuser1

cluster::> vserver name-mapping show -pattern user1
Vserver        Direction Position
-------------- --------- --------
vs1            win-unix  5        Pattern: user1
                              Replacement: unixuser1

Related information

Creating a home directory configuration using the %w and %d variables

Additional home directory configurations

Displaying information about an SMB user’s home directory path