Help with Basic OSX Server 10.3.9 Setup

[L0CKnL0aD7]

I have an old iBook and got ahold of OSX Server 10.3.9

I upgraded my osx 10.3.9 to OSX Server however I can't seem to get it setup correctly.
Only FTP and VPN seem to work correctly:
* I can use a user I added to access an FTP share.
* I can use a user I added to connect to the VPN.

However I can only access my server via the "Server Admin" package on my server. If I try to connect from an other Computer (my Laptop) with any account (including root) I get the message that I wasn't abel to connect to my server!?
Also if I enable Web Server I can access my site at http://localhost/ (aka: the server works) but I cant access this from an other computer!?

If I nmap my server from an other Computer I can see that port 80 is up! (but it's filtered!?).
And afp doesn't seem to work at all!

How can I fix this???



I don't have a domain name (I use dyndns), I just want to use my server for simple file storage (afp, ftp), web sharing (http), vpn,... for personal use.
Could anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong and how to get it working?

THX.

 

[Detrius]

A fair number of the features of OS X Server are heavily dependent on your server having a fully-qualified domain name, and if you're using dyndns, you don't have this. You can get around this by using a local-only IP address and setting it up a DNS server on the Mac.

Next, your issues sound like firewall issues, and it's possible to get ipfw to show you every packet that's blocked. I'd start there.

Lastly, it can be really difficult to fix things if you initially set the thing up without a FQDN, so the solution may be to reinstall and reconfigure from scratch.

 

[L0CKnL0aD7]

THX, I was already thinking about reinstalling...

So basically I just have to set the domain to sth like "server.example.com".
Even tho I don't own that domain if I use my server as my DNSServer,
I should be able to access everything as I'm supposed to right?

 

[chrfr]

It's important to remember that 10.3.9 no longer receives any security patches, so if you're putting this online as an external facing server, be careful that it doesn't get hacked.

 

[L0CKnL0aD7]

Security won't be an issue form me...

I reinstalled my server, however I just don't seem to be able to setup Minimal DNS on 10.3.
What I'd like my server to do:

Over the Internet:
* VPN
* HTTP

On My LAN network:
* NFS (for Local users)
* NetUsers (1 User on multiple Computers)

Setting up the NAT, DHCP, VPN, HTTP and AFP after the fresh install was a piece of cake.
However the Local DNS, NFS, LDAP and NetUsers don't want to work!

I don't have any experience with DNS/Open Directory and I don't seem to find a good tutorial for 10.3...

Open Directory (master) and NFS are running.
What do I have to do to get my Local NFS & Network Users working?

 

[Detrius]

I would avoid using .com in your domain name, as it's defined by the root servers. I tend to use ".homenet" at home, as this definitely isn't defined by the root servers.

Network Users requires Open Directory and Kerberos. Kerberos very heavily requires a FQDN, and it is insanely difficult to configure manually. Once you get your DNS server working such that servername.network resolves to your local IP address AND vice-versa, then you can try reconfiguring your Open Directory server as an Open Directory master. If you can't get it to say that everything is running under the Open Directory page in Server Admin, then you're up for another reinstall, but at least this time, you'll have figured out what you have to do to make DNS work right.

After a quick google search, I was unable to find Apple's Server Admin Guides for 10.3, which is important, as without these, it's difficult to figure out what you're supposed to do. Hopefully, this book will be sufficient:

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Mac-Panther-Server-Administration/dp/0596006357


10.3 Server is fragile and easy to break. After every 10.3.x update, my Open Directory server was broken, and I had to reconfigure it from scratch. Also, 10.3 was the first version of OS X Server to run Open Directory. It's come a long way since then, but 10.3 isn't what I would call robust.

 

[chrfr]

Security won't be an issue form me...

I reinstalled my server, however I just don't seem to be able to setup Minimal DNS on 10.3.
What I'd like my server to do:

Over the Internet:
* VPN
* HTTP

Security absolutely is an issue.

 

[chrismacguy]

10.3 Server is fragile and easy to break. After every 10.3.x update, my Open Directory server was broken, and I had to reconfigure it from scratch. Also, 10.3 was the first version of OS X Server to run Open Directory. It's come a long way since then, but 10.3 isn't what I would call robust.

Ive just remembered this issue - ugh, 10.3s Open Directory was brilliant... unless you did anything remotely close to even update bits of the server (I think I managed to make it fall over with a Java update once, or some menial tiny update) - and to the OP, anything that goes remotely close to the internet has security as an issue (Hence why I have a hardware Firewall at home, and virus protection on every PC I use - just to ensure nothing is going to do anything it shouldnt - as well as performing hardening (there are some checklists somewhere) on my OS X Servers).