Discussion on:

Inside Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server

?

I am currently trying to fit an OSX server into our corporate environment. I currently support about 20 Macs and was wondering how to persuade management that bringing an OS X based server into the mix will help us out. Any ideas of how to do this? and i already have a Time Machine Server (thanks to Ubuntu.)

I did have to convince the IT leader that a server could be in safe in the hands of a "user", even if a power user. Based on my helping him avoid having to touch Macs over the years, he supported the idea to his superiors, assuring them that it was mostly just a file server.

While that is true, I have made great use of it to also deploy software updates, use NetRestore to install images, and Apple Remote Desktop to install packages.While I could have connected to Novell's E-directory for authenticating, I chose to make it a stand-alone Open Directory server just for our use.

I attended an Apple Server Essentials course and watched lynda.com videos and was able to learn enough to manage the 20 or so Macs we have. I hope to gradually introduce its capabilities in Wiki and Podcast services over time.

My question pertains to timing. I am not the IT person in charge of our Mac servers, but I have a feeling the person who is does not know what they are doing or are dragging their feet to keep them out of other jobs at the university. Because this is affecting the students I am now trying to learn as much as possible about Mac servers. Our IT person has been working on the server for over a year and has only install Moodle, which I know should only take a few days but took the IT person 6 months.

We use the Mac servers to host our Moodle, course management system. It has taken the IT person 4 months to get iCal up and running. It is still not running. The IT person says it is a long process, but is it really? How long should it take?

Moodle has a function that will send email messages out to students/faculty when someone posts something on Moodle. Basically, when a student posts something on Moodle, it will link to the email address of all those on the blog that something has been posted. This link happens in the Mac server. Our IT guy is trying to get this running as well and has had over 4 months and still no luck. The IT person says that emails are getting stuck in the server. Again the IT person states that this is a complicated system, but I beg to differ.

Any suggestions on books to read for beginners, or comments on the issues I've posted on?

Thanks,
Jeff Mehring

...and check the CV of the guy pretending to be the OSX server expert.