Joining iMacs to domain without OSX server

[mdench]

Afternoon,

 

Please feel free to move or merge with another thread if there is a similar one had a quick look but couldnt find anything.

 

Ive been tasked with joining a test iMac to our domain - windows 7, svr2008r2. But the powers currently at be do not want to buy a mac mini server. So you can easily join a iMac to a domain without the OSX server and magic triangle? And is there anything to look out for when doing it?

 

Cheers

[ste1988]

Go to system preferences > Accounts > Login options

 

Then network account server, click to add, then click on activity director, and then click on the pencil icon, this will allow you to add your AD Server details, and admin account user

[Rozzer]

I have a item on my blog on how to do it Joining computer to domain | How To Mac

 

Ross

[mdench]

Cheers ill take a look later

[JR-PCS]

Following Rozzers blog will show you how to do bind to AD, its really simple. What you need to consider is do you need to manage the Mac OS in any way i.e restrict applications, setup dock shortcuts etc etc. If you want to manage the mac os in some way a mac server is the easiest (though not the only way) to achieve this.

[mac_shinobi]

I have a item on my blog on how to do it Joining computer to domain | How To Mac

 

Ross

 

I know it is not related but don't suppose you have anything on the setup of an OS X server ( setting it up as an OD master ) and also how to manage a suite of macs using MCX Files / work group manager etc ?

[mdench]

If you want to manage the mac os in some way a mac server is the easiest (though not the only way) to achieve this.

 

 

What other ways are there of managing them?

[JR-PCS]

What other ways are there of managing them?

 

Not sure if there are better articles that can help but a quick google for guides on how to apply MCX preferences locally pointed me to these links.

 

MacTech | The journal of Apple technology.

 

and

 

Local MCX and Lion « Managing OS X

 

If you don't want to set up MCX preferences on each Mac locally you can set them using various third party AD plugins such as Centrify and ADmitMac. But they both cost money.

 

The best way is via a mac server though, it is what every schools is doing these days as you can get a mac mini server for £650.

[mdench]

i want a mac server fighting the network manager to get one as we have 40ish macs joining us at the begining of the summer

[glennda]

i want a mac server fighting the network manager to get one as we have 40ish macs joining us at the begining of the summer

 

they havn't ordered 40 macs have they? there was a good reason they were not on the domain....

[localzuk]

i want a mac server fighting the network manager to get one as we have 40ish macs joining us at the begining of the summer

 

Put it this way - I put one in my last school. Then I forgot about it. That's how much maintenance I had to do on it. It will be nearly zero hassle for you if you get one, but will save a massive amount of effort managing machines.

 

We've just ordered one to bring our random collection of Mac's in line here. Mac mini server comes to about £700 IIRC. Bargain.

[glennda]

Put it this way - I put one in my last school. Then I forgot about it. That's how much maintenance I had to do on it. It will be nearly zero hassle for you if you get one, but will save a massive amount of effort managing machines.

 

We've just ordered one to bring our random collection of Mac's in line here. Mac mini server comes to about £700 IIRC. Bargain.

 

If hes trying to convice the person i think he is, hes the kind of person that wouldn't spend £20 on a windows license a year to use as a file server and would setup samba in a terrible way to save 20 quid...

[mdench]

If hes trying to convice the person i think he is, hes the kind of person that wouldn't spend £20 on a windows license a year to use as a file server and would setup samba in a terrible way to save 20 quid...

 

 

.....pretty much

[Rozzer]

I maybe wrong here but if people have a VMware virtual environment I think you can run a mac server virtually now. You don't really need a high spec machine for policy enforcement.

 

Ross

[Rozzer]

I know it is not related but don't suppose you have anything on the setup of an OS X server ( setting it up as an OD master ) and also how to manage a suite of macs using MCX Files / work group manager etc ?

 

I do have a couple of videos but more for 10.5 / 10.6. Videos | How To Mac

 

Hope they help.

 

Ross

[localzuk]

I maybe wrong here but if people have a VMware virtual environment I think you can run a mac server virtually now. You don't really need a high spec machine for policy enforcement.

 

Ross

 

You can indeed put it in VMWare, however you have to run VMWare on top of Apple hardware for it to be legal...

[Rozzer]

You can indeed put it in VMWare, however you have to run VMWare on top of Apple hardware for it to be legal...

 

Thats a shame Lets be honest Apple won't be changing that any time soon!

[ste1988]

I didnt know vmware supported mac, we looked a parrallels server for mac, but was put off by the price.

[Rozzer]

I didnt know vmware supported mac, we looked a parrallels server for mac, but was put off by the price.

 

You can get a bare metal vm solution for mac servers with Parallels and Vmware.

[localzuk]

I didnt know vmware supported mac, we looked a parrallels server for mac, but was put off by the price.

 

There's a slight catch with virtualising OS X server - ESXi only works on the XServer 3.1... Or at least did at the announcement when ESXi 5 came out. The issue being that Apple EOL'd that...

[Rozzer]

There's a slight catch with virtualising OS X server - ESXi only works on the XServer 3.1... Or at least did at the announcement when ESXi 5 came out. The issue being that Apple EOL'd that...

 

Does it not work with the Mac Pro model? Such a shame they discontinued the xServe. I have one of the last models in my server room and not looking forward to replacing it!

[themightymrp]

Yes you can virtualize Mac Server now, just not Mac clients. Never tried it but have read about it

[localzuk]

Does it not work with the Mac Pro model? Such a shame they discontinued the xServe. I have one of the last models in my server room and not looking forward to replacing it!

 

According to VMWare's hardware compatibility site, no. Only the XServe 3.1 is supported still.

[mdench]

With thanks to @Rozzer I have managed to bind the iMac to our domain so that you can now login with an AD username but it will not pick their home paths properly.

 

Our home paths are set up \\servername\staffdata\"username"

 

But if someone logs in it will only pick up their documents that are within a folder called documents within their home folder e.g.

 

\\servername\staffdata\"username"\documents

 

Is there any way to change where documents in finder directs to?

[Rozzer]

When you are logged in just a test go to Go at the top menu within finder and click go to home. You should see the whole user area.