Mac OS X Sever Questions, Scenarios, and Advice

[Ravernomina]

Hello everyone ! I am new to The Sever Community 100% Fresh newbie ! I used Macs/Linux All my life in my house, but from over the years we now have about 4 computers in general. Now All of the people in my house are computer stupid... and well im called every hour to look at something. Which i bet you can guess/Had experience with... is annoying as Hell. Now here is the Scenario... I Have a OS X Snow Leopard 64bit sever i have been playing with... i LOVE this Sever operating system.

Now What if i would install OS X Sever on my MacBook Pro, and use it not only as Home/Office Use computer. But also used to manage the other computers on the network of mine. Will this cause any problems? Like for example, Making me more open to Security Holes?, Lack of Software support, Lack of Driver Support, Voiding my warranty of My Macbook?

But What i want mostly answered is will it make any security flaws? Like people being able to breach/RootKit My system easier. And Will i be Able to Admin 2 Linux Boxes, (SSH into them, Screen sharing, Maintaining).

I would love to know this and use OS X Sever as my OS. But i need to know im not gonna mess up everything because i do not know enough about IT yet. Please help me O wise IT gurus!

Thanks!

 

[calderone]

There is no reason to use OS X Server as your primary operating system.

In addition, outside of the server software there is virtually no difference between OS X Client and OS X Server. They are often on the same update schedule for 10.x.x updates and receive the same updates including most security updates. Meaning, you will not be open to anymore security holes (generally speaking) than OS X Client.

From support and hardware perspective. There may be software that does not work properly on OS X Server, if so, it would likely not be documented since most of those running it are not using it as a daily OS. Same thing with driver/hardware support. There is likely no difference, but if there are incompatibles the chances of finding out before buying it is unlikely.

Your warranty with not be voided, but I can tell you that Apple doesn't consider OS X Server on a laptop to be a recommended setup. Just read the OS X Server requirements: http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/specs.html

With all that said, I have to wonder why you want to use OS X Server on a laptop as your primary OS.

OS X Server is not typically put on laptops because servers are meant to provide services, there are a number of reasons why a laptop is not ideal for this task.

If you aren't running services for other machines there is no reason and would be no difference in running OS X Server as your primary OS. Of course, you are welcome to do what you want, but managing machines can be done with OS X Client.

In summary, there is no reason to run OS X Server as your primary OS, whether you are running services or not.

 

[keantan]

aside from what has been said already (that SLS is unsuitable for this application). Maybe consider using VNC or if all your housemates use macs remote desktop? then you wouldn't have to move from your computer to help them.

 

[RedTomato]

Is this to be a dedicated, always-on laptop? If so fine.

If it's your personal laptop then if it's hosting anything vital eg dns or mail or other file services, and you close your laptop or take it out of the house, the network will crash.

If you're not using it to host any vital network services, then there's no point running OSX server. You'd be better off with using various network tools on standard OSX.

Apple Remote Desktop is useful for managing networked computers, but it's expensive. Teamviewer or LogMeIn are free for home use and I love using them for remote managment.

I dont know much about osx server, but if it's like windows server os, then it may well be optimised for background tasks and network-orientated tasks, meaning that out of the box, it will be slower for you as a personal OS.

 

[DoFoT9]

seems a bit too much of a hassle really, there are MANY things that the normal OSX can do with the need for the server verison.

what specifically were you considering running?

from what i can see, you would have heightened security...

tomato: FWIW - ive used OSX server via parallels for a number of months - everyday applications seem just as fast as they normally would.