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Effective
Client Management > Using Mac OS X Server
Words by Stuart Wilkes
November 2004
Trying to
bring a level of non-intrusive order and management to Mac®-based
creative organizations has been a challenge for many years. Allowing
creatives to work with technology and not be fettered by it is
partly the reason why Macs have been the de-facto standard in
all creative disciplines for the best part of the last 20 years.
And, with Mac OS X
Server's extensive client management tools, Apple has attempted
to make designing your Mac network as intuitive as designing your
next logo.
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The secret
to truly effective client management, using Mac OS X Server, is
having a strategy and a plan. For example, with an elegant and simple
strategy, even the smaller Mac workgroups of five can make use of
such networking tips as a standard desktop build, allowing distribution
of every in-house application on every studio Mac.
This
setup allows for greater studio freedom, permitting users to seamlessly
move from one Mac to another taking their data and preferences along
with them, preventing downtime as well as blasting a common dike
to the creative flow. Another aspect of a great client management
strategy could require users to save data in designated share points,
ensuring critical backups of all potential masterpieces.
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The tools that are provided by Mac OS X Server are relatively
easy to set up and understand, as you would expect from Apple.
Workgroup Manager is realistically the 'nerve centre' of effective
client management; within it, the details of users and groups
are defined, as are the system preferences for the Macs 'under
management', plus, its here, that the disk share points are configured.
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Along side Workgroup
Manager sits what is considered to be the other ‘main
administration tool' in Mac OS X Server: Server Admin.
In layman's terms, Server Admin is a large collection
of ‘on, off, and configure switches.' Here all the
services offered by Mac OS X Server, including DHCP, DNS,
NAT, Mail, FTP, Print, Web, VPN, Windows®, and a host
of others can be configured.
Successful
implementations of Mac OS X Server and additional ‘back
office technology' will also bring resolution to another
technical and strategic issue that plagues many creative
departments: adoption of new software. Planned adoptions
and rollouts now become a reality by using a combination
of additional Apple tools: Package Manager, Apple Remote
Desktop, Network Install, and NetBoot.
Many Mac systems
administrators within smaller workgroups have grown out
of a desktop user role. In fact, in many cases, their
sys admin duties compete with design time on a daily basis.
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Apple does provide
extensive documentation on every last aspect of Mac OS X Server
(14 volumes running beyond 1500 pages to be exact) that can be
downloaded for free from Apple's website. This will greatly
assist any sys admin wannabe. But, if you are not up to the task,
or would rather be designing on the computer instead of the network,
you may want to set aside some time to investigate local managed
service providers. These orgs supply all the necessary hardware
and software your design shop needs, providing a fast, cost-effective
alternative to doing-it-yourself.
Additionally, given
Apple has successfully put so much functionality into Mac OS X
Server that the untrained could potentially cause major disruption
and potential downtime to a Mac installation regardless of how
intuitive the setup and maintenance is, managed service providers
may be something worth considering.
Whether you are an
independent do-it-yourselfer or "that is what I pay you for"
minded, Apple OX Server can be used to provide your design shop
with better efficiency, giving you the desired advantage.
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