Stepping Into Mac OS X Leopard Server [09 Nov 2007|10:35am] [ mood | accomplished ] This past weekend, I got to try out some of the new features that come in Mac OS X Leopard Server. First lets back up a bit to Tiger Server. OS X Tiger Server is the first piece of server software I've used from Apple. I come from the world of Linux where most of the configuration is done by hand, you have to edit your own application configuration files. There's no pretty GUI or buttons to click on. Tiger Server saved a lot of time because all I had to do was type a few things in, click 'Go' and I could have a very resourceful server. In just a matter of minutes, I could be running a web server, file server, DNS server, VPN server and more! Apple really made Tiger Server easy to setup and manage. Thy provided some really great tools too. With Leopard Server they've made it even EASIER to setup and manage. I think Apple has really extended the potential of Leopard server, they making is so Leopard Server has a place in the home as well as large companies. They continue to provide some really awesome tools to manage it and it includes loads of new and cool features. When I setup Leopard Server, I did a fresh install (no upgrade) so I am not sure if some of the things I am talking about will apply to people who choose to upgrade from Leopard Server. Upon boot up after you install Leopard server you can choose what type of server you want. There are three options, Standard, Workgroup or Advanced. Each of the three types just had a bit different configuration in which services it uses and sets up for you. While I think this is great for people who like things done for them, I prefer to configure each service by hand (I guess that's the Linux-side of me coming out). People who really just want the easiest way to manage their server should probably choose either the Standard or Workgroup configurations. This will also allow you to use some of the new and nifty tools that Apple has included with Leopard Server. Unfortunately when you use the Advanced server type you loose the ability to use some of those tools (you can still use Server Admin, Workgroup Manager and command line utilities though). I am torn between letting Apple do all of the hard stuff so I can use the new tools (using the Workgroup server type) or just using the Advanced server type and handling everything myself. I'm still deciding but I have to say I think it's great Apple is making their server software usable by most anyone with some experience in computer and networking. So after choosing the type of server you want, Apple will go about and work its magic, setting up the services and configuring them for you. For my tests I choose the Workgroup type, so I got the iCal service, web server, iChat service, Mail service, Time Machine backup service, the Open Directory service and a few others. I have a feeling most people will choose the Workgroup type, because it includes a lot of services while still being able to easily manage it. One of the new management applications that comes with Leopard Server is called Server Preferences. It looks very similar to System Preferences, but it allows you to easily manage the services on your server. Over the last 2-3 years I've gotten very used to using Server Admin and Workgroup Manager to manage all my services and users, so if I choose to use the Workgroup server type on my live server, I'll have to get use to doing everything through the Server Preferences application. It's definitely a great tool for people who are new too OS X Server. A few of the things that I am really looking forward to actually using is the wiki server, the iCal server and possibly the Time Machine service. I run a couple wikis (think of Wikipedia.org but on a much smaller scale) so I would love to move them into this service. I have a few shared calendars that need to actually be editable by more then just one person, so the iCal server will surely help with that problem. The last thing, Time Machine backup service sounds really interesting but at this point I don't know enough about how it works to rely on that as my only backup service. It sounds really great that client machines can backup to the server rather then a local disk. It saves me from having to buy multiple external drives for each client, instead I can just point them to the server and use that as my backup location. I guess I'll just have to do some testing! In the few days I spent playing with Leopard server, I have to say that I am really impressed with how easy Apple has made it for someone to setup and manage a fully featured server. They include some great tools and some really new and much welcomed features. Here's a few PDF files that I found quite useful when setting up Leopard Server, check them out cause they're very useful. Getting Started with OS X Leopard Server Installation Setup & Worksheet post comment

Call of Duty 4 [09 Nov 2007|11:24pm] [ music | // Acceptance - "Permanent" // ] Yesterday I had a consulting appointment which went quite well. It was my first appointment in about a year. I am kinda sad that I took my current job, but with all the mish-mash going on with the new South Burlington store and all it felt like it was the only option for me so that I didn't get lost in all the chaos. I would much have rathered to have stayed as a consultant, but between the new store and Berkey leaving it just didn't seem like the best idea at the time. Anyways, the job was simple, a basic white glove with data transfer. It was going quite well until we have to install the AOL software and get that working. Something that was supposed to take me 1-2 hours took about 3 to 3.5 which was terrible. Oh well, more $$$ for me. After that I went to the S. Burlington store and just hung out, but then I talked to makkintosshu and I went to his house. I had 2 hours to kill before I had class. I wasn't going to drive back home and then back up to class. So we played my brand spankin' new copy of Call of Duty 4. Him, Keith and I had been in the beta and we had an absolute blast. We played some of the new maps which I enjoyed. Class was eh, nothing special. I found out that my professor and I have had quite the experience and fun times with OSCommerce. Horrid software, but it seems to get the job done... After class, I came home and played some COD4, got myself to level 5. Today, I had to work my normal job. I mostly continued working on making sure all the product code was validated. Something I am being completely underpaid to do which is sorta shitty. I managed to get out around 3:30 with a new server in hand. I am going to sell my Xserve G4 and replace it with a Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz Mac mini. I think that's more then enough power for the stuff that server does. That and it's even more powerful then the Xserve. I did get another little external drive to mirror the OS on...I will use my other 2 FW400 drives to make another mirror for the FTP dump, and Uma will stay as it is, except I'll make it use USB2 and not FW800 (which kinda sucks, but it works...). So I did setup the Mac mini so hopefully all I should have to do is plug it in and change some IPs, make sure DNS is updated, import mail, SQL databases and rsync over home directories. It'll be running on Mac OS X Leopard Server 10.5. It's really a wonderful piece of software, Beautifully crafted and VERY easy to use. I had wanted to do a standard setup but I can't because I can't do much customization and what I need to do (multiple short names, firewall, etc...) isn't available in either the Standard or Workgroup configurations. So that's all ready to be set live! I played a shit ton of Call of Duty tonight with Keith and Greg. I do hope Morgan picks up the game cause it's a really lot of fun!! I am now a level 18 or 19, can't quite remember. There's this one really cool perk that makes your grenades fall out when you die and blow up, usually killing the other person. I'll be bringing my xBox 360 with me this weekend, and I'll play through single player mode in COD4, and I'll bring my CSI game and maybe a couple others. Alright, I need sleep. Peace. post comment

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