Think about what Mac OS X Server can do—offer various services such as file sharing, storing user data, and running a Web server—and then think about what you want it to do. Table 1.1 lists the possible services that Mac OS X Server offers, to help you choose the ones you wish to implement.

Keep in mind that all these available services tax your RAM, CPU, and hard disk(s). If you have a newer computer, you could run several of these services on one machine; but with older computers, you’re more limited. Your budget may only allow for a single Mac OS X Server, or you may have been asked to install Mac OS X Server on a much older Macintosh with just the bare system requirements. In later chapters, we discuss which services tax server hardware the most and which are likely to work fine on older Macintosh computers.

As you saw in Table 1.1, a variety of services can be run on Mac OS X Server. Some of the more popular implementations of Mac OS X Server are as a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory server and Kerberos Key Distribution Center; as an Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), a Server Message Block (SMB), a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) file server; or possibly as a print and iChat server. Other, older, more entrenched servers handle the duties of Domain Name Server (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Web, and email services. It’s also likely that a separate server or other network device, such as a dedicated device designed just to protect your network, is providing security services, such as a firewall, network address translation, and/or a proxy service. Other servers probably provide secure remote logins and run as application servers. This doesn’t mean you’re limited in your deployment of Mac OS X Server. Should you wish to use your server in this fashion, an excellent tool called the Gateway Setup Assistant walks you through those options.

Before you go hog wild, decide carefully what you want to run on your server. Overloading a new server with several services at once makes troubleshooting difficult. Don’t misunderstand: Mac OS X Server on a multiprocessor G5 Xserve with 2 GB of RAM can handle just about anything thrown at it. But turning on services without proper planning can lead to a nonsecure server and possible conflicts later.

Throughout this book you’ll find discussions about which services demand more of the server than others. Should this server be elevated in the hierarchy of computers in your organization, you might want to utilize a second network card so that you can connect your server to another network, something that is standard on the G5 Xserve and was optional on the G4 Xserve. If you choose to have Mac OS X Server become your Domain Name Server, take great pains to understand the ramifications involved: Incorrectly implementing the DNS can cause many services not to function properly, as you’ll see in Chapters 3 (“Open Directory”) and 6 (“Network Services Options”). Often an existing DNS is present; making the Mac OS X Server a secondary DNS is an excellent idea in case the first one fails. Allowing your Mac OS X Server to be the path between your local area network inside and the brutally nonsecure and hostile world of the outside Internet requires some education about firewall rules, discussed in Chapter 10 (“Security”).

For some, this will be the first time you’ve installed a server of any kind. Others may be adding Mac OS X Server to a network with existing servers that run a variety of software. Let’s look at some popular scenarios that exist today.

The system requirements for Mac OS X Server 10.4 aren’t much different from those of Mac OS X Client 10.4. The reason is that Mac OS X Server is Mac OS X Client, with four extra packages:

You can download and install the QuickTime Streaming Server from Apple’s Web site on your Mac OS X Client Macintosh. Called the Darwin Streaming Server, it’s identical to QuickTime Streaming Server without the trademark name QuickTime.

You can also install the Server Administration Software package on your client machine. It contains the Mac OS X Server Administration Tools discussed in Chapter 2, “Server Tools.” The Server Administration Software package also installs the Server Setup package, which contains the executables used when managing any Mac OS X Server(s) remotely.

That leaves one package. ServerEssentials.pkg is all that separates Mac OS X Client and Mac OS X Server. Inside that package, what makes Mac OS X Server tick?

As you can see, the only things absolutely necessary to make a Mac OS X Client a Mac OS X Server are the executables, the configuration files (almost all stored in the hidden /private/etc and /private/var directories), and the Startup items. The other items are needed to utilize some of the services that run on Mac OS X Server, but there is little difference between the two.

The hardware requirements for Mac OS X Server are listed in Table 1.2. Keep in mind that although Apple has a set of hardware requirements, this table includes a column of real-world requirements.

Apple doesn’t support Mac OS X Server on PowerBooks or iBooks, although it works on those machines. If you just want to install Mac OS X Server and test the services with one or two client machines attached to a small network, running the server software on a portable Macintosh works fine. However, don’t assume that AppleCare will help you with any of your software problems if you’re running on a laptop.

You’ve planned the services to run on your Mac OS X Server and chosen the hardware on which the server will reside. It’s now time to decide whether you wish to partition the disk.

Partitioning your disk allows you to easily reformat one partition while keeping software or data on the other. However, partitioning may waste valuable disk space and be less secure, depending on the way the partitions are formatted. You might want to partition a disk to separate the data from the operating system. Or, you might want three partitions: one containing the operating system, one containing the data, and one to back up the data or the operating system. There is no right or wrong way to proceed when you’re dealing with partitions. However, with respect to Mac OS X Server, you undoubtedly know the value of backing up your data to another physical location; so, having a local partition for backup probably won’t be useful. Having a second local backup disk that you can boot from in case of hardware failure is a more likely scenario.

You have the option of partitioning the disk whether you’re installing Mac OS X Server on a Mac with a single disk or multiple disks, such as a RAID array. For example, you may have an Xserve RAID or an Xserve that supports hardware RAID (the G5 Xserve has an option to support hardware RAID via an optional internal hardware RAID card).

When you’re setting up Mac OS X Server for the very first time (not doing any sort of upgrade), you boot from the server DVD. Once you’ve booted off the Mac OS X Server DVD, you have access to the disk(s) via Disk Utility on the DVD and remotely via ssh. If partitioning is something you want to do, you’ll probably run Disk Utility and partition the disk(s) in this manner.

Disks and partitions can be formatted in a variety of ways depending on how you wish to use them (Table 1.5). Mac OS X Server prefers to format a disk as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).

Formatting as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) is your best bet, because adding case sensitivity may cause problems with Classic and SMB mounts. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) adds built-in protection for the directory; the journaling process keeps track of which blocks on the disk were written to last. In the case of an unexpected shutdown or hard crash, the system only checks the integrity of the blocks listed in the journal instead of having to run a diagnosis of the entire disk.

If you aren’t partitioning the disk, you have the option of wiping, or zeroing, the disk using a variety of methods. Doing so erases the disk so that any data previously on the disk becomes essentially unrecoverable (although companies such as Drive Savers can attempt the recovery of data, albeit for a price). Zeroing a large disk increases the amount of time before an installation can take place, because you’ll have to write an amount of data equal to the size of the disk. The options when zeroing a disk are as follows:

Another important choice to make is how you name your disk(s). In days of old, Macintosh users named their disks whatever they wished. Because multiplatform functionality is paramount with Mac OS X Server, you may want to exclude spaces and other characters in the disk name. Although naming your disk “Tiger Server 10.4” is fine, you may find that “tigerserver” or “xserver” works better in the long run. Minimizing the length of the name also offers an advantage in certain areas, as you’ll see later.

Once the disk has been partitioned (if necessary) and properly formatted, you can turn to the installation of software.

The Mac OS X Server software ships on one DVD. The install can be performed a few ways: You can install the software using the Installer GUI while sitting at the machine or remotely, or you can install it remotely via the command line. Unless the machine has been supplied with a public IP address, automatic discovery of servers is done via Bonjour (Apple’s term for its implementation of ZeroConf), as you’ll see later. Since most installs are on cleanly formatted disks, let’s begin there.

After you boot the machine off the DVD, you’re presented with Server Assistant’s initial setup screen. However, much more is going on behind the scenes.

First, if there is a DHCP server on the network, your Macintosh has probably picked up an address from it. If the server is doling out public IP addresses, the installation and configuration can start from halfway around the world. If the address is private, installation and configuration can take place from your network. If a DHCP server is absent, the Macintosh assigns itself an IP address in the 169.254.x.x range; this self-assigned address is a function of Bonjour. If this is the case, remote installation can take place from any Macintosh on the local subnet.

Second, the ssh daemon is running, meaning you can access the machine remotely via the command line. This only works via the built-in Ethernet (and serial on Xserve) interface on the Macintosh that is to become the server. If you wish to install the server software while sitting in front of the Macintosh that’s booted from the DVD, you’re all set to install and configure your server—you won’t need the information required next (except the server software serial number for configuration), although you should be aware of the remote install procedures.

Before you run away from your soon-to-be-server to do the remote installation, you need three things:

Prior to booting the server from the DVD, you should install the Server Administration Tools on the client machine from which the remote installation will take place; remote installation and administration can’t take place without this package being installed.

Let’s examine three installation methods: local, remote GUI, and remote command line.

Log files are a critical piece of the computer administration architecture. Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server keep log files in various locations:

You can view these log files locally with the Console application located in /Applications/Utilities/. Currently, the Console application doesn’t allow remote viewing of log files; if you wish to view the log files on your server from a remote location, you must ssh into the server and read the files via the command line using a command like tail or cat after the installation.

Log files are especially useful during the installation process. When you’re installing locally, you have the option of viewing errors during installation or viewing everything taking place during the installation, from the mounting of disks to the cleaning up of temporary files (which takes place after all packages have been installed). To view the install log remotely, run the tail –f command on the system log after the installation. Doing so may show any errors that might have cropped up during the process.