OSX server and iMac

[dagza]

OK, so we got an OSX (10.3) sexy g5 srever and lots of oldish imacs (g3?) and lots of ideas about software.

 

I have nicked the server and an imac and have them next to me here. Hmmmm. Why did it take so long?

 

Anyhoo, I am gong to leave the server stuff (dns, dhcp, directory access and the like) to a very helpful person and concentrate upon the stuff I may need day to dfay - mainly controlling things like software installation / images from the server to the imac IYSWIM

 

apple.com/uk accepted, I would be very grateful to receive any URLs or ISBNs which would help me in my summer hols project.

[kingswood]

Hi.

 

Here's a link to a great book on OS X Server. Helped me loads.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321242521/qid=1122153580/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/026-7227597-5479625

 

Hope the link comes out OK. The book is called "Mac OS X Server: Visual Quickstart Guide" by White, Lineberry, and Regan.

 

Good luck!

 

Paul

[GrumbleDook]

http://macenterprise.org/ has a mountain of information ... sometimes it is a pain to get through it all though.

 

If you haven't already done it I would also try and subscribe to Mac-Supporters at JISCMAIL.AC.UK ... it is aimed at HE/FE but full of info and a good source for advice too.

 

There are also a number of Mac heavy schools around (Mill Hill in Ripley, Wildern School in Hants, Frank Wise School in Oxfordshire ...)

 

I tend to build an image and then load it via an external drive (we only have a few machines compared to the above schools) but used to heavily use MacAdministrator from Hi-Resolution to look after 150+ Macs ... but OSX Server seems to do most of what this covers anyway (a Ranger sort of add on to Macs ... but originating when there *wasn't* anything of it's kind around)

[dagza]

Thanks for the feedback. It's been a busier summer than I hoped for but the book is now on order :-)

 

What do people use to deploy individual packages? Is macadministrator the way to go even though there is overlap with osx server?

 

We are using panther as the server and tiger on the clients if that helps.

[GrumbleDook]

From chatting with some friends they *highly* recommend that if you are going to use Tiger clients then you should cough up for Tiger server asap.

 

I have used MacAdmin for years ... and for it rocked for years. It fell by the way when OSX came out (mainly because Apple didn't make things as open as they said they would) but the later version have become just as solid, and the support team at Hi-Resolution (in particulr Gair Heaton) are wonderful.

 

As for deploying apps ... we have so few machines here that a manual install is reasonable (and we don't have OSX Server yet) but you could always always use Apple Remote Desktop to update any images loaded onto machines (presuming you use netboot / netrestore).

[dagza]

This is where I am now and open to suggestions!!!!!

 

MS Office will only work on one machine in the class as I used the same serial code for all of the machines (even thought we have others - it was at the top!). Do ii have to reinstall / re-enter the codes or is there a fix?

 

Neooffice runs for admin but not for network users (ldap authenticated).

 

When a student logs on there profile is copied to their network space so it follows them around regardless of the mac. Great. The problem is it's about 100 meg!!!!!

 

The book hasn't arrived yet so advice would be welcome. Sorry to be high maintenance.

 

Darren

[GrumbleDook]

Where did you get your copies of Office from?

 

You should have got the Volume Licence media if you got it under Select or Schools Agreement and it does not require a CD Key.

 

I have never tried putting the volume licence version on over the top, but a drag & drop of the Office folder should work. If not then I'll try and remember where the .plist entry is for it, and you should just delete that.

 

As for profiles ... I am a bit unsure about what to do with our ones.

 

Part of me wants to fix iPhoto and iTunes so they point at a sinlge library (in shared probably) so that we can use stock photos and music. It also means we don;t have to keep massive profiles on the server.

 

I would also recommend you train the students in file structures designed for media projects.

 

The BFI have a good handout for this on their site somewhere (Something else to dig out tomorrow) but you should make sure that as soon as students create an iMovie project that they save it on the local drive in Macintosh HD:Users:Shared otherwise the "movies" folder will try and copy whatever they do to the server .... and you quickly get a 7GB project sooming across your network.

 

I might do this automatically by login hook, but I also need to get a decent book on it. IIRC if you install NeoOffice as a network user who has admin rights on the Mac then it should work for other users, but I think this was from chatting with another school (Mill Hill in Derbyshire) or you can find the relevant .plists that hold the information and stick them in somewhere in /system/library/user template/english.lproj/library/application support/ ... the NeoOffice lot are usuallt very quick to come back with any answers to problems though if all else fails.

 

Do you have a local Apple Solutions Expert that you are getting your kit from? Or are you going direct to Apple?

 

Personally, I think most of what you want can be done through OSX Server ... and you don't need MacAdmin.

 

See if you can get a full demonstration from your supplier of ARD, showing you all of the aspects of remote management and software installation. Also I am sure I have seen some guys from Unversity of Tees, School of Computing on a few Mac lists ... are they fairly local to you? They may be another source of assistance (if nothing else you can see how they have things set up, how long tasks take etc)

 

On the imaging / deployment side ... what have you got in place at the moment? Are you usinf netboot, etc? How many different images are you holding? Are you just binding to the AD or are you authenticating against the OSX Server which talks to the AD?

 

Sorry if this doesn't give you an immediate answer ...

[kingswood]

Great advice Tony.

 

You don't fancy doing the Apple side of things at the conference do you ;-)

 

Paul

[GrumbleDook]

hmmm ... you'll have to wait and see ... Unfortunately Mr Jobs said he was a bit busy, but sends his apologies ... Mr Ives might be able to make it though.

 

I need to get back on to sorting some of this ... I am about to download the latest build of MacAdmin to have a look at ... and might be putting an order for Tiger Server in this week ... I'll give reviews next week.

[kingswood]

Yep- I'm testing Tiger server this weekend too. The media team here have decided to implement a Mac-based network- which means I have to make it work :-(

 

Should be fun though..

 

Paul

 

PS- Ives woould be OK :-)

[dagza]

Hello.

 

Thanks for the help, Tony. Found out that if you delete officePID and the microsoft folder in the user profile it prompte you for the serial again. I wen round and just entered a different serial for each this thime and that seems to have fixed it.

 

The word font profile issue was solved by moving the fonts from the microsoft folder into system/library/fonts.

 

ARD looks interesting and just what I think I need. I will look into getting a demo.

 

On the imaging / deployment side ... what have you got in place at the moment? Are you usinf netboot, etc?

 

Np. Apparantly there is a problem with this if using panther server with tiger clients (?). How did your playing with tiger server go?

 

Are you just binding to the AD or are you authenticating against the OSX Server which talks to the AD?

 

Binding at the moment.

[kingswood]

I know this was primarily addressed at Tony- and he's got a lot more experience with Macs than I, but I installed Tiger server at the weekend and intend to configure it this coming week sometime. The install was very easy (as you would expect from Apple). Let's hope the rest of it is :-)

 

Hope it works for you!

 

Paul

[kingswood]

Update:

 

I've been playing with Tiger Server on an iBook as a test, and there's a lot of good there. DNS and DHCP are very easy to implement and running OD is also very easy. Seems like things have improved. Now to get it to work with my test 2003 Server...

 

Paul

[Roberto]

Depending on what kinds of admin tasks / package deployments you need to do, and how comfortable you are with the UNIX cli, the easiest way to quickly drop a package onto a machine over the network may be to connect via SSH and install it from the command line.