Mac OS X Server and The Apple Tools

Over the last few months I have been becoming more familiar with Apple OS X Leopard Server and Remote Desktop. These are simply amazing tools for managing a network. Presently, managing two different networks, both with OS X Leopard Server. One network is only Macs and the other is a hybrid of Macs and PCs. Coming from the Windows world that I left 6 years ago this is very different. However, this is how a network should work. The Macs on the networks are easy to manage and simple to control, correct and change.

With Remote desktop you can easily install applications, remotely control the workstations or get asset reports. Want to install NetNewsWire on all the computers at one client’s office? Easy as pie, no muss, no fuss. Didn’t have to run an install or script anything. I simply told remote desktop to copy the application to all of the selected machines application folder. Done. No scripts or wait for the users to log on and log off, it did it while they worked and they didn’t even know it was happening. You can copy files directly to a directory on the remote computer or you can run a package installer to install the application. As useful as the screen sharing feature in iChat/Leopard is, sometimes, the performance across the internet is not fantastic, especially if it’s a slower internet connection. Remote Desktop is substaintially faster in this respect. This is mostly because remote desktop does not initiate a video conference like iChat does. Now don’t get me wrong, screen sharing has it’s place, but so does Remote Desktop. They really are separate tools for separate issues.

Server manager is another one that is simply amazing. From one application the administrator has the ability to setup and configure services, read log files, restart the server, install software updates, etc. The great thing about Sever Manager is that it can quickly see all the servers being managed in one interface. With the two clients managing them both from one interface is much easier and takes less time. It’s also very helpful when one machine is doing something unexpected, its possible to check the settings on the other and see if there is a difference that might help lead to a possible solutions. The performance is also much faster than remote controlling the server’s display. There are services in here that you would have to pay SERIOUS money for on the Windows side. They are included in OS X Leopard server. Very much a point and shoot situation.

Workgroup manager allows you to edit your users and computers in OS X. If you are used to Windows, this is a much more powerful tool. On of the things that you have access too in Workgroup Manager is all the users System Preferences. An example of how this can be used is by configuring one client, who has about 15 Macs on the local network, as a software update server. This is setup in Server Manager as a service and allows the server to download all the updates, and then when the clients request the updates, they request them from the local server, instead of directly from Apple. The advantage here is that you don’t have 15 computers all asking for software updates at the same time. This can be a bandwidth challenge when the updates are on the large side. With Software Update install on the server, just configure the users in Workgroup Manager to use that server as the update server. This works very well and you have a lot of control over the updates. Workgroup manager is also where you reset the password and such. Another thing that workgroup manager has is a Windows tab.

This makes it easy to connect up your Windows boxes on your network and have them have a login script or user profile directory on the server. This works very well and we are using it for several computers that we haven’t converted yet.

There are so many options in these tools that sometimes it’s easy to get lost or forget where something is. However, another major benefit to using OS X as your server platform is that you can download very detailed instructions and manuals directly from Apple on how to configure these products. Unlike some manuals, one of the great things about these manuals is that they aren’t littered with marketing buzz to tell you how great their products are. For example the Open Directory Admin Manual for 10.5 (PDF link) is 280 Pages. The Leopard Security configuration document is 240 pages and Server Administration is 231 pages. So we aren’t talking about fluff here. The other great things about these documents is that you can download them for free. There is even one for Command Line Administration. So literally, when you pay the 1000 bucks for Leopard Unlimited, you get way more than you pay for.

The only downside is that with these kinds of tools available and so easy to use and manage, it’s making it hard to deal with Windows servers now, because they are just so clunky. The server tools are no different than everything else on a Mac, just easy and clean to use.