If you’ve been enjoying our Using Apple OS X Lion Server as a Home Server series, then make sure you pick up a copy of the accompanying eBook. You’ll find additional chapters and information on using OS X Lion Server to power your digital home that won’t be available here on the site, and with all of our walkthroughs available in one convenient document (ePub or PDF), it’s far easier to install and configure your server without having to click backward and forwards to the website.
- Introduction
- Choosing Your Hardware
- Features
- Installation
- The Server App
- Storage and Network Configuration
- Users and Groups Configuration
- Profile Manager and Macs [eBook Exclusive]
- Profile Manager and iOS Devices [eBook Exclusive]
- File and Folder Sharing
- Shared Address Book [eBook Exclusive]
- Shared Calendar [eBook Exclusive]
- iChat Server
- Time Machine Backup
- Windows PC Backup [eBook Exclusive]
- VPN Configuration [eBook Exclusive]
- Websites, Blogs and Wikis
In Part 4 of our Using Apple OS X Lion Server as a Home Server series, we installed the server software on to our nominated Apple Mac – in our case, a 21.5″ iMac with an Intel Core i7 processor and 8GB RAM (see our hardware guide for minimum specifications). Once installation has finished, you’re left with a Server control panel or app, which is available in your Applications folder. This is where you’ll configure and manage all of your server’s settings – well, almost.
You see, OS X Lion Server is a transitional product, with a number of significant differences to it’s predecessor, Snow Leopard Server. From the outside looking in, it’s clear that Apple are on a mission to simplify their server platform – not to make it less powerful, oh no – but to make it easier to install, configure and manage. Gone is the requirement to install OS X Server on a desktop machine – if you want it on a laptop, go right ahead. New is the ease of purchase with a direct purchase and install from the App Store. Most significantly, new too is the greatly reduced price – and new to Lion is the Server app we’ve just opened. But there’s a little problem.
Whether it’s by design, or whether the developers simply ran out of time before release (by guess is the latter), not all of the administrative features of OS X Lion Server are available in the new Server app. The app is designed to expose the major features of OS X Lion Server, with simple, intuitive, friendly controls – like Windows Home Server’s Dashboard/Console. But if you’re an experienced server guy or gal that’s looking for more advanced, granular control over your server, then you’ll need to download and install an additional suite of
software from Apple, called Server Admin Tools. This includes a variety of applets, including:
- Podcast Composer
- Server Admin
- Server Monitor
- System Image Utility
- Workgroup Manager
- Xgrid Admin
Odds are, as it’s not included in the OS X Lion Server download, Server Admin Tools is considered to be peripheral, and/or is on its way out, with the remaining features to be bundled into the Lion Server app at some point in the future. But there may be some useful bits in there for us to take a look at later in the series. We’ll discuss both the Server app and Server Admin Tools as we go, so if you don’t have the latter on board right now, grab and install the download.
With both apps on board, let’s get back to basics – and by that, I’m referring to Lion’s new Server app. If it’s not already open, run it from your Applications folder and let’s take a look at what it can do.
The app is presented in a single window, split into three panes. On the left hand side, you can see a list of elements which can be configured with the app. At high level, these elements are split into Accounts, Status, Services and Hardware. Click down the list to view the various settings and controls for each element, which will be presented in the right hand pane. To provide some further guidance on what’s required to configure the Server, Apple has included a “Next Steps” pane at the bottom of the window which provides shortcuts to important tasks, providing a little commentary as you go along. So, no flashy graphics, animations or transitions – this is a server, remember? The Server app provides a simple control panel experience for configuring the machine – and others on the network.
Accounts
Users
No prizes for guessing that the Accounts options focus on the creation and management of user accounts and user groups. There are few surprises here, and that’s fine. User accounts can be created both for the local server (the machine itself) and for accounts to be used on all Macs on the network. There’s a variety of information requested for a new user, including full name, account name, email address and, of course, a password. A checkbox allows you to very simply define a user as an administrator and feel free to drop in a photo so you can remember what the kids look like (all this time playing with home servers… could be handy).
This is where you’ll amend any incorrect or changed account information – for example, resetting a password, and should you need to delete an account, you can do so here.
Control+Click a user, then select Edit Access to Services, and you’ll have granular access to limit the services available to each user – you can restrict users access to any services listed in the Server app except Web and Wiki services (which have their own user settings).Other useful settings include the ability to configure the location of a user’s home folder .
