© 2006 Lawrence Charters
Washington Apple Pi Journal, Vol. 28, no. 6, November-December 2006, pp. 14.
Steve Jobs has long touted the fact that, unlike Windows XP and Windows Server, Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server are based on the same code. This is true and, at the same time, very, very untrue. While the basic technologies are the same, the settings, preferences, security model, utilities, and almost everything useful are “different.” If you know Mac OS X, you still have far to travel to know Mac OS X Server.
Which doesn’t mean it is easy to digest. Mac OS X Server comes with an incredible suite of technologies. Assuming you had enough memory, drive space, and processor horsepower, a single Mac OS X Server could run an entire ISP (Internet service provider), supplying subscribers with Domain Name Services, Web hosting, E-mail hosting, password management, QuickTime video streaming, iChat services, MySQL (SQL-based database), FTP, Windows, and Mac file services, and a (literal) host of other goodies. Apple’s own .mac service is essentially Mac OS X Server with some custom WebObject applications fronting the services.
The coverage is neither comprehensive nor in-depth, which is merciful. Reagan assumes you want to know where and how to get sta rted, and need a handy reference; this volume serves that purpose nicely. When not writing books, Reagan runs his own company, which is devoted to training Mac IT professionals. He is the author of the textbook used in Apple’s own Mac OS X Server Essentials course, titled, not too shockingly, Mac OS X Server Essentials.
Though it may not be comprehensive, the book does clarify something long-rumored but nowhere documented. The regular, vanilla Mac OS X does not have a root user enabled, and it is highly recommended that the account never be enabled. Mac OS X Server, on the other hand, has the root user enabled as part of the installation process. But there, on page 33, is a highlighted set of paragraphs on the subject of root, explaining what it is — and also explaining that, once the installation is complete, the root user can be disabled. There are two specialized circumstances in which this isn’t true, but the vast majority of users should disable root-even on Mac OS X Server. Regan, of course, even shows how.
Regan says, several times, that a great many of the topics he covers really deserve entire books of their own. This is true; in fact, Apple provides a vast library of documentation, in the form of Acrobat files, on its Web site: http://www.apple.com/server/documentation/ with many of these documents running to hundreds of pages. Collectively, there are several thousand pages of documents, but this is a proverbial poverty of wealth: your average network manager or system administrator has no idea where to begin.
The answer is: begin with this book. As a ready reference, as a refresher, or as simply an index to Apple’s massive collection of PDF documentation (the PDFs are not indexed or cross-referenced, but this book has a superb index that, combined with some deductive reasoning, should help you find what you need), it is simply the best single-volume source available. Highly recommended.
Schoun Regan, Visual QuickPro Guide: Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger. Peachpit, 2006. xiv, 506 pp. $34.99. ISBN 0-32 1-36244-6