[KLUG Members] Apple OSX Server

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/
> Has anyone on the list used this? The feature set looks fairly complete.
> Even filesystem ACL's...cool.

I've used a few of these remotely, as OpenGroupware supports OS/X.  But
you'll discover that even a low end x86 box like an IBM x305 will
*TOAST* these things on performance.  Apple can say anything they like,
performance is dreadful (relatively speaking, <50 users will probably
never notice either way).

> I started a new gig at the first of the year and one of my projects is to
> plan for a new server. I also see the need for other network services, and
> Tiger Server seems to fit the bill for nearly everything. Yes, I know I
> could do all of this with a stock Linux box, and I might still, but this was
> intriguing enough to ask about. Plus, we already have 3 nodes on the network
> that are Mac with more coming this fall. (Currently about 15 windows
> clients.) This fall, the number of clients will more than double, not
> including wireless visitors.

They do LDAP, Kerberos, etc... everything you'd want.  They seem like
pretty good network citizens.  But I haven't had to set them up,  just
look around and "use" them.

> The thing I like about the Mac Tiger Server is that anyone with a little bit
> of intuition should be able to figure out basic administration if I were
> ever hit by a truck (although I'm not looking for trucks to jump in front
> of). On the flipside, it gives me the power of Linux under the hood. Plus
> the price for unlimited clients is outstanding compared to other commercial
> offerings.

But I'm told they are a real pain if you need to take the configuration
anywhere the tools don't take into account.  The tools will muck up your
manual config (as to be expected).

Personally I'd consider one as my file/IMAP/SMTP server
(straight-forward config, not really performance intensive) but for my
other services squid/dns/ldap, etc... I'd stick with SuSe.

> Does anyone here have experience with Mac OSX Tiger Server? Warnings?
> Exhortations? Better ideas?
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