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Mac OS X Server

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Mac OS X Server is the server-oriented version of Apple's desktop operating system, Mac OS X. Mac OS X, in both desktop and server versions, is a Unix-like operating system based on technology that Apple acquired from NeXT Computer.

The server version of Mac OS X includes applications that are intended to allow administrators to more easily manage features, such as internet-based services like email or site hosting, or manage networks of Macs and Windows PCs and provide services such as file and print sharing. Prior to Mac OS X, Apple's AppleShare software provided server applications such as file and printer sharing and user management.

Mac OS X Server leverages both open source technologies for provision of powerful standards-based services, and proprietary Apple applications for administration and for some additional services. Many services have aspects of both origins, such as Open Directory, which provides access to several powerful open source (and external proprietary) technologies from one simple, graphical interface.

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[edit] Versions

The first version of Mac OS X Server, Mac OS X Server 1.0 (mislabeled as 1.1), was based on Rhapsody 5.3, a hybrid of OPENSTEP from NeXT Computer and Mac OS 8.5.1. The GUI looked more like OPENSTEP, with an runtime layer for running legacy Mac OS-based applications called Blue Box. WebObjects and NetBoot was included with the server package.

On May 21 2001, Apple released a version of their server operating system based on Mac OS X v10.0. This was followed by server releases based on the following

[edit] Mac OS X Server 10.3 Panther

The 10.3 Mac OS X Server release includes updated Open Directory user and file management, which with this release is based on LDAP, beginning the deprecation of the NeXT-originated NetInfo architecture. The new Workgroup Manager interface improved configuration significantly. Many common network services are provided such as NTP, SNMP, web server (Apache), mail server (Postfix and Cyrus), LDAP (OpenLDAP), AFP, and print server. The inclusion of Samba version 3 allows tight integration with Windows clients and servers. MySQL v4.0.16 and PHP v4.3.7 are also included.

[edit] Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger

The 10.4 release adds even more tools, applications, and services, some of which are derived from open source. Most notable additions are 64-bit application support, Access Control Lists, Xgrid, link aggregation, e-mail spam filtering (SpamAssassin), virus detection (ClamAV), Gateway Setup Assistant, and servers for Software Update, iChat Server using Jabber, and weblogs (Blojsom).

Version 10.4 also has new client capabilities, as user identities can be fully independent of the client machine. The server can provide various levels of user management scenarios, including having client machines boot directly from an operating system stored on the server (NetBoot), booting independently but storing all user information on the server (network home directory), and/or storing the users' files locally on the users' portable computers while periodically synchronizing all user information to a mirror identity on the server (portable home directory). The end result of these technologies is that users can access some or all of their complete computer identity from any location and/or from any computer on the internet. In typical Apple style, these services are all configured with a small number of graphical-interface configurators.

Apple announced immediate availability of the Mac Pro at the Worldwide Developers Conference on August 10 2006 consequently announcing the first release of a Universal binary version of Mac OS X Server, supporting both PowerPC and Intel processors.

In versions 10.4 Tiger and later, Apple included the serialnumberd daemon to Mac OS X Server to validate license information over UDP port 626. This has caused some controversy among server administrators as serialnumberd overrides an explicit administrator firewall security setting to keep its copy protection functional.

[edit] Server tools

Mac OS X Server comes with a variety of configuration tools that can be installed on non-server Macs as well:

Several tools are only usable on the local server itself:


[edit] External links

This article was started using a Wikipedia OS X Server article
Retrieved from "http://en.audiolexic.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Server"
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