hey all, i just found out that Lion Server is only a $50 upgrade in the App Store so i thought i could buy it and do something with it. what are some things i could do with it?
thanks
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Mac OS X Server: What can it be used for?
- Thread starter MacNoobGuy
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http://www.apple.com/macosx/server/features/
OR, since you won't be needing any of these services, donate $50.00 to Doctors Without Borders.
OR, since you won't be needing any of these services, donate $50.00 to Doctors Without Borders.
It can be used to dabble around and learn new things, I would not trust it with anything important. It is very buggy and will just stop working at the drop of an update. If you like living in fear of updates than use Lion Server in production, not for the faint of heart.
Mountain Lion is looking like it will be better, but Lion Server left a very bad taste in my mouth. I've never had to reload a Windows Server from scratch just to fix a DNS issue, which I had to do a few times with Lion.
Mountain Lion is looking like it will be better, but Lion Server left a very bad taste in my mouth. I've never had to reload a Windows Server from scratch just to fix a DNS issue, which I had to do a few times with Lion.
wow, it's that bad?
i just checked netcraft and even apple doesn't use it?!? they run linux:
http://searchdns.netcraft.com/?host=apple.com&x=0&y=0
i just checked netcraft and even apple doesn't use it?!? they run linux:
http://searchdns.netcraft.com/?host=apple.com&x=0&y=0
OK, as someone who runs it (at home):
- you can run email on it
- you can run a wiki on it
- you can share files off it
- you can run podcasts off it
- you can run web pages off it
- you can run time machine backups to it
- you can use it for VPN services
- you can use it for centralised authentication
- you can use it as a log host for your network devices
- you can use it for network boot/install of OS X on your machine machine
The last point is handy. I have the lion install.esd image set up to network boot off my mini. If i need to reinstall i just ensure time machine is current, boot from network and reinstall from my mini...
If you don't need/want to do any of that it is pretty pointless. But if you do, it is pretty cheap.
I currently have a mid 07 spec mini running lion server as a time machine backup destination for my GF's MBA 11", VPN server so i can connect back to my home network and desktop sharing so i can leave it running torrents using transmission/transmission web server.
Is it ideal for a 60,000+ employee enterprise? Of course not. But for home / small business use it could be handy.
- you can run email on it
- you can run a wiki on it
- you can share files off it
- you can run podcasts off it
- you can run web pages off it
- you can run time machine backups to it
- you can use it for VPN services
- you can use it for centralised authentication
- you can use it as a log host for your network devices
- you can use it for network boot/install of OS X on your machine machine
The last point is handy. I have the lion install.esd image set up to network boot off my mini. If i need to reinstall i just ensure time machine is current, boot from network and reinstall from my mini...
If you don't need/want to do any of that it is pretty pointless. But if you do, it is pretty cheap.
I currently have a mid 07 spec mini running lion server as a time machine backup destination for my GF's MBA 11", VPN server so i can connect back to my home network and desktop sharing so i can leave it running torrents using transmission/transmission web server.
Is it ideal for a 60,000+ employee enterprise? Of course not. But for home / small business use it could be handy.
I had that setup too until I realized I never reinstall and it was just wasting resources.
I doubt I'd use it for a 50 employee business either, especially the way Apple has treated their server product. They haven't done much with it in 10 years.
You can use it if you want to spend money on something that is second rate compared to Linux servers.
I use it as a better DHCP server than my consumer home routers are.
I think saying if you don't know you don't need it is kind of harsh unless the intent is to discourage the poster. If that's the goal it could be successful.
Very few can walk up to a computer with an instant ability to be a sys admin on it.
I think saying if you don't know you don't need it is kind of harsh unless the intent is to discourage the poster. If that's the goal it could be successful.
Very few can walk up to a computer with an instant ability to be a sys admin on it.
Depends.
If you are familiar with OS X, and not linux, then a mini + lion server is pretty cheap. Yes you could build cheaper with a linux box but time to learn linux is not free.
And I say that as someone who is a former ISP system admin on Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris.
I have very bad experience with this server - lack of support and simply not linking to the real world
- you can run email on it -> linux has the same function and microsoft much better
- you can run a wiki on it -> there are many free wiki server with a better interface
- you can share files off it -> all mac os can do it, you don't need a server
- you can run podcasts off it -> again many free server and better than this
- you can run web pages off it -> the apache server is nothing improve from the standard, just a standard server, same as xampp
- you can run time machine backups to it -> yes, but you also run on a network driver, more efficient
- you can use it for VPN services -> it is not hard to find a router do it more securer and faster, because when the DNS server down, you cannot do anything about it
- you can use it for centralised authentication -> only for mac, if you have windows or other type machine, just forget it.
- you can use it as a log host for your network devices -> speechless, what server can't do?
- you can use it for network boot/install of OS X on your machine machine -> but the new os require you connect to itune store
Also, it can run as a dns, dhcp server... however, if you did something wrong at the initial step, you can never fix this issue after you install the OS, or maybe you need to spend a lot of time to fix it.
Remote multiple session server... it is very slow and not user friendly.
I am sorry, but we move to MS server. Good luck with anyone is using it
I have very bad experience with this server - lack of support and simply not linking to the real world
- you can run email on it -> linux has the same function and microsoft much better -> Linux is harder to setup and Microsoft Exchange costs ££££
- you can run a wiki on it -> there are many free wiki server with a better interface -> Mountain Lion Wiki Server is good enough for 3 of the companies I manage Mac Servers for.
- you can share files off it -> all mac os can do it, you don't need a server -> Tell that to the company who tried that and had to keep resetting the standard Mac OS sharing to make it work, install of Server app has completely solved their problem
- you can run podcasts off it -> again many free server and better than this -> agreed, and never used Pod Server, but it is built in as standard
- you can run web pages off it -> the apache server is nothing improve from the standard, just a standard server, same as xampp -> why use something else if you have this already
- you can run time machine backups to it -> yes, but you also run on a network driver, more efficient -> but you cannot manage and check these backups centrally like you can on server app
- you can use it for VPN services -> it is not hard to find a router do it more securer and faster, because when the DNS server down, you cannot do anything about it -> never had DNS fail on a Mac server and using the new config scripts it's easy for end user to setup VPN
- you can use it for centralised authentication -> only for mac, if you have windows or other type machine, just forget it. -> I would agree that if you use Windows clients then Mac OS X Server may not be the right choice
- you can use it as a log host for your network devices -> speechless, what server can't do?
- you can use it for network boot/install of OS X on your machine machine -> but the new os require you connect to itune store -> no it doesn't once you have extracted the ESD file which is easy to do
Also, it can run as a dns, dhcp server... however, if you did something wrong at the initial step, you can never fix this issue after you install the OS, or maybe you need to spend a lot of time to fix it. -> follow the guidelines and get DNS working to start with and it's fine
Remote multiple session server... it is very slow and not user friendly.
I am sorry, but we move to MS server. Good luck with anyone is using it
Good luck with the Microsoft server, but used in a proper work environment, you would be mad to use any server without a competent, qualified, network engineer.
Fwiw, no server software is "easy" or "simple to administer."
OS X Server has its problems. So does Windows Server. Arguably OS X Server has more problems, but that's a different discussion for a different thread.
OS X Server is perhaps useful in a home environment it would be great to manage a family's Time Machine backups and implement strong parental controls on the kids' Macs and iOS devices. It's not necessarily going to be easy to implement and problem free, however. Unless you have a ton of spare time it's probably not worth it.
OS X Server has its problems. So does Windows Server. Arguably OS X Server has more problems, but that's a different discussion for a different thread.
OS X Server is perhaps useful in a home environment it would be great to manage a family's Time Machine backups and implement strong parental controls on the kids' Macs and iOS devices. It's not necessarily going to be easy to implement and problem free, however. Unless you have a ton of spare time it's probably not worth it.
the only point to using osx server is if you don't want to actually admin a server. even still, you are going to end up doing that with osx server.
Really, the only purpose it serves is as a mac directory service. if you find configuring a mail server too difficult, you will eventually have problems with running a local mail server anyway - no matter how easy the GUI is.
Really, the only purpose it serves is as a mac directory service. if you find configuring a mail server too difficult, you will eventually have problems with running a local mail server anyway - no matter how easy the GUI is.
OS X Server
I have acted as my own 'admin' for the last 10+ years, and while no way competent for employment, can 'dig & fill' my own holes!
While it's great to have free stuff, the 'no need to adminster' approach is preferable for home use. I used both Windows 2000 Server & 2003, these were both great in many respects but over-complicated for my purpose. I then tried building my own NAS, after flirting with several different distros of Linux. I finally settled on purchasing a NAS from a reputable vendor, as this offered the best integrity and redundancy for my data.
Still yearning for something to tinker with and expand my horizons I offer (this year-old thread) the following 2 additional considerations for choosing OS X Server:
1) Running your own 'iCloud' - I use a Mac Mini for Address Book Server & iCal Server. (I don't want to trust a third party, for security or availability.)
2) A legitimate VM for legacy Mac apps that require Rosetta: 10.6 Server is still available for only $19.99!
Good luck to both the OP & new searchers; best advice is not to trust any (single) server with irreplaceable data.
I have acted as my own 'admin' for the last 10+ years, and while no way competent for employment, can 'dig & fill' my own holes!
While it's great to have free stuff, the 'no need to adminster' approach is preferable for home use. I used both Windows 2000 Server & 2003, these were both great in many respects but over-complicated for my purpose. I then tried building my own NAS, after flirting with several different distros of Linux. I finally settled on purchasing a NAS from a reputable vendor, as this offered the best integrity and redundancy for my data.
Still yearning for something to tinker with and expand my horizons I offer (this year-old thread) the following 2 additional considerations for choosing OS X Server:
1) Running your own 'iCloud' - I use a Mac Mini for Address Book Server & iCal Server. (I don't want to trust a third party, for security or availability.)
2) A legitimate VM for legacy Mac apps that require Rosetta: 10.6 Server is still available for only $19.99!
Good luck to both the OP & new searchers; best advice is not to trust any (single) server with irreplaceable data.