Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server is a remarkable bit of software , but it ’s really at its best when it ’s matched with clients also running Snow Leopard . Having said that Mac OS X host is a valuable addition to any survive server in any environment , and its tangible strength is to be found in creative and education market . Podcast Producer 2 has real power and is a compelling reason for any podcast growing environment to invest in Mac waiter computer hardware and software . Video yield environments will be well mindful of the benefits of Xgrid . And any environment will profit from the ancillary services such as iCal , Address Book sharing and specially the Web services .
With all the fuss over Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard , it ’s well-fixed to overlook Apple ’s more industrial computer software powerhouseMac OS ten 10.6 Snow Leopard Server .
For those of you who are n’t as familiar with OS X Server as you are with the desktop translation ( or customer adaptation , as it ’s denote to by Server ) race a Mac server is n’t the horrifically complex experience you ’d envisage . OS X Server part the sameAquainterface placed upon theDarwin 10 kernal ; much of the fundamental features , app , and utilities are the same .
It is possible to run Mac OS X Server on a work motorcar , but the general idea is that you install it on a dedicated Mac on your connection and use it for single file communion and to administrate other Macs on a meshing . A freestanding disc containing Server Admin tools can be installed on a work machine and used to remotely manage the waiter .
In typicalApplefashion initiation is much , much easier than either a Linux orWindows Server 2008option , and most of the process is automated . That ’s not to say it ’s idiot - substantiation and you will need to invest elbow grease in getting to know the nuances of OS X Server , but it ’s a heck of a raft easier than other option .
There is a beginner - well-disposed dick predict Server Preferences , which resembles the System Preferences pane and enables you to cope users and groups , enable or disable services , adjust a limited set of pick , and view basic system information .
Beyond that are a set of advanced admin tools : Server Admin , Xgrid Admin and Workgroup Manager . The gravid affair about Server Preferences is that it gives you a beginner - friendly area to get started , and get your server up and running , while you then learn the in - depth expertise that the more ripe management prick offer .
The other impressive aspect of Mac OS X 10.6 Server is its scalability . Like OS X Apple sells just the one variation and it runs just as happily on a Mac miniskirt as it does on a top - of - the - line Xserve ; and both the Mac Pro and iMac are utterly valid pick . Of course , the machine you use count on your needs but many family users opt to grow a Mac mini into a home host , just as many modest businesses utilize an supernumerary Mac Pro ; Xserves are rack mounted and tend to be a more industrial option .
What you can do with it
Mac OS X Server enables several standard waiter function : email financial support , vane hosting , file sharing , and so on . It add to that integrating for collaborative work in Apple apps ( notable iCal and Address Book ) . Then , on top of that , it adds a few special features that you wo n’t find in other waiter options – these tend to be of a originative bent .
There ’s the noble-minded Wiki Server , for object lesson , and the brilliant Podcast Producer . There ’s also an iPhone Configuration Utility that makes it soft to deploy Apple ’s peregrine telephone set in a business environment .
Mac OS X Server can be deployed as a main business organization host , or it ’s possible to attach a Mac running OS X Server to an survive meshing to provide the additional features find in Apple ’s software .
What’s new pussycat?
Like the node version , it benefits from a terminated 64 - minute code rescript and the kernal boot into 64 - number mode . The immediate benefits are probably more noticeable on the Server edition of Mac OS X , sure enough to in high spirits - end users . Prior to Snow Leopard the maximal number of processes was limited to 2,500 .
The unexampled 64 - bit kernal mechanically scale the number of appendage , vnodes ( open file cabinet handle ) and ribbon based upon the amount of memory in the system . Apple ’s support sitestates : “ for each 8 GB of installed memory , 2500 processes and 150,000 vnodes are uncommitted . The maximum number of duds is set to five time ( 5x ) the bit of maximal processes . ”
But a distinct difference between the node and server editions of Snow Leopard is that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server eschews Snow Leopard ’s “ break from introduce unexampled features ” and admit a mess of substantial upgrades to the current waiter applications .
iCal Server was introduce in the previous rendering of Mac OS X , and it enable users of iCal to work collaboratively on calendar using theCalDAVprotocol . Joining iCal Server 2 is the all - new Address Book Server . This replaces the LDAP ( Lightweight Directory Access Protocal ) withCardDAV , which joins CalDAV as a raw proposed standard that uses WebDAV to share calendar information . It use HTTP as a transport to share vCards via the WebDAV protocal .
On a more practical level it enables client Macs to collaborate on Address Book info with the same level of ease provided by iCal in former incarnation of Server . Setup is unco straight ( use Add Account and select CardDAV in Address Book and you ’re aside ) .
CardDAV is a pretty neat technology that overcomes many of the problems with LDAP , but it ’s deserving take note that this is very much an early engineering science . CardDAV is currently anIETF ( Internet Engineering Task Force ) draftand although Oracle and Apple are proposing the draft ( with Google and IBM participation ) it ’s far from an diligence standard yet . It ’s telling that there is n’t even a Wikipedia entry for CardDAV at the metre of writing .
Both CalDAV – and especially CardDAV – will be difficult going if you ’ve get Windows guest in your web . There ’s a multi customer assailable germ calendar client called Mulberry that support CalDAV , andZideonehave a wad - in that can provide CalDAV , CardDAV and GroupDAV support to Outlook . But you ’ll struggle to provide decent support to Windows clients on a mesh and we ’d be wary of deploying Mac OS X 10.6 Server to a mixed customer OS environment .
Another aspect of CardDAV worth mentioning is that support requires Address Book 5 from Snow Leopard – here in the Macworld office we have a numeral of PowerPC - base G5 Macs that wo n’t be capable to run Snow Leopard , and therefore wo n’t be able-bodied to run Address Book 5 or support CardDAV . Backwards compatibility is something that may cause job for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard admins .
One slight niggle is that it ’s easy to share individual Calendars and Address Book contacts through delegation ( enable other users on a internet to get at your calendar ) , but it ’s not so bare to do up radical calendar where everybody has the same tier of access code .
You’ve got mail
Mail Server 2 is functionally similar to its premature incarnation , although Apple claim a new underlying engine is doubly as tight as before . Like other services in OS X Server it offers push notice . away from that there is now built in holiday messaging supporting that automatically give up response ( “ I am off from my desk … ” and so on ) between fit dates .
The post host is surprisingly easy to set up and features passably comprehensive spam , computer virus and junk mail filtering using a sliding ordered series and point arrangement from 40 to 0 , with 40 being liberal and 0 being a junk e-mail filtering nazi . Mac OS X Server uses theSpamAssassinservice
you could also tot a black book waiter such asSpamHaus . We do n’t actually expend Mac OS X Server for our Mail organization , instead our office system is set up withCommunigate Pro . We refer this because we have n’t tested Snow Leopard Mail Server in an industrial background , but certainly from our review test it seems a great solution that ’s far easier to set up up and maintain than other system .
Podcast capture and producer
One of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server ’s unparalleled features is an software call Podcast Producer 2 , which really consists of two applications : one called Podcast Composer run on the host in conjunction with an diligence called Podcast Capture , which runs on client .
The general idea is that you capture a podcast on the client Mac , most typically using a MacBook with a built - in iSight , and this is sent to the host for compression and distribution . The whole program is design to make the production and distribution of podcasts as childlike and trouble - free as possible .
There are four different types of podcast transcription available : Video , Screen , Audio , and Dual . The Dual seizure mode is pretty special , it records both the iSight effigy of yourself and the showing of your Mac .
Podcast Composer is set up on the server side and handles the work bounced to it by clients run Podcast Capture . Setup is a seven footstep process that enables you to determine file formats , add pre- and post - roll video plus a water line , publish the filing cabinet , and notify users via services ( such as iTunes ) .
It ’s passably ironical that one of the most consumer friendly features of Mac OS X Server is one of the trickier region to coif up . Podcast Producer functionality is n’t enable by nonremittal , and ca n’t be sic up using the Server Preferences , rather you need to go to the more ripe Server Admin expanse and enable Podcast Producer in the Services domain under preferences .
Once that hurdle is cleared guest machine can execute the Podcast Capture software to create podcasts that are the pack together and distributed via the server .
That said , we cogitate the table service is worth the effort to get work if creating and distributing podcasts is part of your life . The ease with which Podcast Producer 2 makes the creation and statistical distribution of podcasts is astonishing , at least once you ’re past the apparatus stage .
Web services
Another Seth of service that are available through OS X server are entanglement serving , as you ’d think these are access through a entanglement web internet browser . connection services include Wikis , Blogs and My Page ( a custom page that traverse update and blogs ) . newfangled to OS X 10.6 is the ability utilise an online Calendar and Mail via Web apps ( in a like manner to MobileMe users ) .
Wiki Server 2 is possibly the most interesting of the web apps . This is an app that enable little teams to collaborate on Web pages that contain data , corroboration , and the pages can contain attachment and even have medium imbed into them . One of the cardinal fresh feature is the power to do a virtual Quick Look of files attached to the Web pages .
The Web apps are surprisingly powerful and enable you to form collaboratively on vane pages ( sleep together as wikis ) and these now have World Wide Web - based Quick Look technology .
This is a singular piece of engineering , and as with many affair Apple does it really blows away the kind of technical school that Google is deploy to a all-embracing market via Google Docs . textbook entry is fluid and straightaway , and there are formatting and hunt options . you’re able to even Spotlight explore the Web services through a search field . As with the MobileMe apps we can see Apple deploying Web service to a wide market via the monumental host farm its regard as to be building . And OS X server ’s Web services ( and MobileMe ’s Web apps ) are a good style to see what that future might appear like .
Another new feature in host is that the Web interface is adapted for the iPhone enable iPhone drug user to well browse Wikis and blogs . It is also possible to use this in conjuntion with Apple ’s iPhone Configuration Utility 2.1 to remotely configure iPhone setup option . These can then be netmail or placed on a wiki for user to install .
Value for money?
In damage of pricing , Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard waiter has never been cheaper . officially £ 310 for a 10 - client version and £ 629 for an unlimited translation , Apple has now taken the bold conclusion to have just one version that ’s £ 399 for unlimited client .
The monetary value reduction is evidently effective for businesses , although the removal of a 10 - client version is fairly awkward for home users and small businesses that now regain themselves paying the same deal as a massive bay window .
£ 399 is still a fairly real spend if you ’re a abode user see to put OS X server on an old Mac ; mouth of which we ’d like to see OS X 10.5 Server get the same updated functionality . It seems a shame that you ca n’t put the latest interlingual rendition of Mac OS X server on an old G5 .
But to put the pricing in context , Windows Server 2008comes with a pricing complex body part that ’s too complex to get into here . There are about six different versions deal into multiple dissimilar channels and you purchase bundles of node packs separately . Let ’s say it starts at around £ 800 and you take it from there , often quite a farseeing path up from there .
Having say that , you ’ll find the real benefit from OS X 10.6 if all your node are Macs running Snow Leopard ; that ’s not our experience of most work environment where onetime machines are put to use rather than thrown in the omission . And while we encounter CardDAV and CalDAV splendid technologies , the lack of native supporting in Windows would make us conservative of deploying Mac OS X 10.6 Server in a mixed Windows and Mac environment .
There ’s far more to Mac OS cristal Server than we ’ve finagle to wrap up in this review . It ’s in all likelihood the most comprehensive plan Apple acquire , and is adequate to of an awing array of tasks . We ’ve barely covered Xgrid functionality for distributed computer science , Web hosting , and the power to remotely install and get by Macs ( from deploy Software Updates to Parental Controls ) . Mostly because these are n’t features we personally use Mac OS X Server for , but answer to say there is an awesome feature localise for a £ 400 programme .
