Mac OS X Server provides services and highly customizable configurations for many diverse groups and needs. Among these special interests are:

• Departments and workgroups
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• Small and medium business
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• Higher-education facilities
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• K-12 labs and classrooms
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• Computational clustering
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• Data center

Since this project is based on the Mac OS X Server and its ability to meet the needs of a K-12 institution, this page will explore the available services and applications most useful for the educational system.

K-12 Labs and Classrooms
Students need access to their own files, ability to turn in assignments electronically or in print, and access to applications that facilitate learning. They must also be prevented from using non-instructional applications such as instant messenger and personal email and blogs.

Teachers need file services support so they can make lesson plans and teaching materials available to students online. Teachers also need a way to retrieve and update student records and other administrative information that’s centralized on a remote server.

The Mac OS X Server client management service provides a way to control student Macintosh computer work environments. The print service allows teachers to manage student usage of classroom printers.

Planning
Before setting up a server and services for a school department, building, or coporation, administrators and faculty need to plan and decide what the desired tools and services are and how they are to be implemented. The graphic below gives a visual representation of the steps in this process. This page will go through a brief overview of each step and the services offered.

© 2006 Apple

Installing Server Software
You can install server software:

• From the server installation disc
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• From an installation image that you set up and store on disk, referred to as automated installation

If the target server has a keyboard and display attached, and if it has an optical drive, you can start installing Mac OS X Server locally by booting the server from an installation disc.

If the target server has no keyboard or display, or if it’s not the computer you’re using, you can use an administrator computer to install server software from the server installation disc.

If the target server has an optical drive that can read your installation disc, start up the server using a server installation disc. Then you can use Server Assistant from the administrator computer to initiate installation.

If the target server does not have a keyboard, display, and optical drive that can read your installation disc, you can use the optical drive on an administrator computer connected to the target server using a FireWire cable. Start the server in target disk mode, which makes the target server appear as a FireWire hard disk on the administrator computer.

System Requirements for Installing Mac OS X Server
The Macintosh desktop computer or server onto which you install Mac OS X Server version 10.4.7 or later must have:

• An Intel or PowerPC G4 or G5 processor
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• Built-in FireWire
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• At least 512 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM)
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• At least 10 gigabytes (GB) of disk space available

Initial Server Setup
There are several ways to set up a server:

• You can set up one or more servers interactively.
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• You can automate the setup of servers by using setup data you’ve saved in a file or in a directory the servers are configured to access.

When you place a setup file on a volume (CD, DVD, iPod, USB solid-state drive, disk partition) mounted locally on a server you’ve installed but not set up, the server detects the file and automatically uses it to set itself up. Each target server recognizes its own file, because it’s been named using one of its identifiers and resides in a known location. You could also use a single file, which you’d name “generic.plist”, to set up multiple servers if the setup data does not need to be unique and the servers’ network identities are provided using DHCP. Although storing setup data in a directory is the most automated way to set up multiple servers, this approach requires that you set up an infrastructure first so that target servers can locate the setup data stored in the directory. Run Software Update after completing initial server setup.

When server setup is complete, click Restart Now. Now you can log in as the server administrator user created during setup to configure services.

Automating Server Software Installation with a Disk Image
To install server software using a disk image:

1. On a version 10.4 Mac OS X Server, open System Image Utility.
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3. Create a Network Install image from the server installation DVD (or CDs, if available) or from a “model” version 10.4 server you’ve already set up.
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5. Use Server Admin to start NetBoot service and enable the disk image.
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7. Configure each target computer to start up using the Network Install image.
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9. Initiate installation remotely by opening Server Assistant on an administrator computer or using a VNC viewer on a networked computer.
   
   With Server Assistant, choose “Install software on a remote server.” When you get to the Destination pane, identify the computers that started up using the Network Install image.
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11. Proceed as you would to install server software on any remote computer. The system imaging and software update administration guide describes how to create and deploy disk images.

Setting Up Services

Share Points:
A share point is a folder, hard disk (or hard disk partition), or CD that you make accessible over the network. This is particularly useful if you want to create a filesharing destination where teachers, students, and administators have access to common documents and files. These folders can be password protected or open authentication. You may want to set up different share points for different classes, age groups, departments, committees, and so on.

Open Directory:
The Open Directory administration guide provides instructions for all aspects of Open Directory domain and authentication setup, including:

1. Setting up client computer access to shared directory data
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3. Replicating LDAP directories and authentication information of Open Directory masters
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5. Integrating with Active Directory and other non-Apple directories
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7. Configuring single sign-on
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9. Using Kerberos and other authentication techniques

Set up a user account:

1. Open Workgroup Manager.
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3. Click the small globe near the top of the application window to select the directory you want to add users to.
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5. Click the New User button.
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7. Specify user settings in the panes that appear.
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9. You can set up user accounts by using Workgroup Manager to import settings from a file.

The user management guide tells you how to define user settings, set up group accounts and computer lists, define managed preferences, and import accounts.

Setting up file services:

1. Open Server Admin.
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3. In the list beneath the server of interest, click each file service you want to turn on, then click the Start Service button in the toolbar.
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   1. To share with Macintosh computers, turn on Apple file service (AFP service).
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   3. To share with Windows computers, turn on Windows service.
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   5. To provide File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access, turn on FTP service.
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   7. To share with UNIX computers, turn on NFS service.
   
   
5. Open Workgroup Manager and click Sharing to set up a share point. Select a volume or folder you want to share from the All list.
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7. Click General, then select “Share this item and its contents.”
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9. Click the other tabs to specify attributes for the share point.
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11. The file services administration guide provides instructions for managing share points and for configuring file sharing using all the protocols.

Setting up print service:
When you turn on print service, server users can share network PostScript printers or Postscript and non-Postscript printers connected directly to the server.

A queue is set up automatically for any USB printer connected to the server. No printer queues are set up automatically for network printers, but they’re easy to add.

To set up a shared printer queue:

1. Open Server Admin.
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3. In the list beneath the server of interest, click the button for print service.
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5. Click the Settings button at the bottom of the application window, then click Queues.
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7. Click the Add (+) button.
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9. Choose a connection protocol, identify a printer, then click OK.
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11. If it isn’t running, click the Start Service button in the toolbar.

Users of Mac OS X computers can now add the printer using Printer Setup Utility.

Setting up web service:
You can use the Apache HTTP Server that comes with Mac OS X Server to host server and individual user websites.

If you turned on web service in Server Assistant, your server is ready to serve HTML pages from the general server and individual user sites folders.

• To view the main server site, open a web browser on any computer with access to the server and type the server’s IP address or domain name.
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• To view a user site, add a slash (/), a tilde (~), and the user’s short name after the server address. For example, type http://192.268.2.1/~someuser

To turn on web service if it’s not running:

1. If you already have the HTML files for your main site, copy them into the Documents folder in the /Library/WebServer/ directory. If the files that make up your site are organized in folders, copy the entire folder structure to the Documents folder.
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   • For a user site, the files go into the Sites folder in the user’s home directory.
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   • Make sure the files and folders you want web service to present are readable by user www. If you plan to enable WebDAV, make sure the appropriate files and folders are writable by user www.
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   • If you don’t have your own HTML files yet, you can still turn on web service to see how it works using the default start pages provided with Mac OS X Server.
   
   
3. Open Server Admin.
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5. In the list beneath the server of interest, click the button for web service.
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7. If it isn’t running, click the Start Service button in the toolbar.

Workgroup manager:
You use Workgroup Manager to administer accounts: user accounts, group accounts, and computer lists.

You also use it to set preferences for Mac OS X users, manage sharing, set up managed network views, and access the Inspector, an advanced feature that lets you do raw editing of Open Directory entries.

Apple Remote Desktop:
Apple Remote Desktop (ARD), which you can optionally purchase, is an easy-to-use network-computer management application.

With ARD you can:

• control and observe computer screens.
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• configure computers and install software.
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• conduct one-on-one or one-to-many user interactions to provide help or tutoring.
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• perform basic network troubleshooting.
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• generate reports that audit computer hardware characteristics and installed software.

Information contained on this page can be found on the official Apple Mac OS X Server website