Mac OS X Server 10.2.4 Update Available

Hungus writes "The Mac OS X Server 10.2.4 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: AFP, SMB and NFS file services, DHCP, NetBoot, Open Directory, QuickTime Streaming Server, Sendmail and Workgroup Manager. It prevents Xserve drives from being unmounted while locked, provides digest authentication for WebDAV, management of Energy Saver settings, and supports NetBoot images greater than 2 GB in size. The update also provides the latest Security Updates. It's available via Software Update or for separate download."

what's that smell?

[djupedal]

Server Update. If you're not running OS X Server, this puppy will sit on your drive like the corpse of a dead muskrat under the front porch, rotting in the hot summer sun.

Solid upgrade

[CptTripps]

This improved a lot of the issues I was having with WebDAV. Nice to see Apple making the changes that we were looking for in an upgrade. DHCP server is MUCH more reliable now! But still no tabbed....wait...wrong app.

Re:Solid upgrade

[dewhite]

I have a question for someone using OSXS - is apple as reboot-happy with thier 'server' updates as they are for the OS X client? Sometimes (as in the case of major updates) a reboot is necessary and proper. But, when I was using OS X 10.0.X (I'm currently experimenting with Gentoo PPC Linux) I was annoyed that each week brought a new reboot-nonoptional update. I don't mind apple keeping us up-to-date and secure, I think it's great. I'm pretty certain, however, that some of those reboots are of the 'good habit' variety, rather than being absolutly necessary. I didn't mean to rant, I really did mean to ask -- how prevalent are the reboots with OSXS?

Re:Solid upgrade

[Anonymous Coward]

generally, you'll need to reboot for any update that touches the kernel or a key process (like sendmail, even if you aren't running it). It kinda sucks, but presumably Apple will eventually figure out the magic of stopping and restarting services...

Re:Solid upgrade

[pldms]

One possible explanation for this 'reboot happy' behaviour is a situation I found with debian. I'd keep upgrading, then one day I rebooted (after a power outage) and found weird problems all over the place which took ages to track down (library problem IIRC). I had no idea which upgrade has caused the issue, information which would have saved some time.

Seems like a pretty blunt way solve that potential problem, of course...

(btw, this isn't a criticism of debian - I suspect I was using 'unstable'. There's an implicit warning in the name :-)

Re:Solid upgrade

[drsmithy]

This is actually a very good point (and often understated). It really is a good idea to reboot your servers on a regular basis to make sure that they actually *do* restart cleanly and you haven't made a typo somewhere in a config file or init script that stalls the entire boot process halfway through.

Re:Solid upgrade

[markzdk2002]

Pudge you are just now writing about this update that has been out for some time! Lame...you are behind the times. (just my opion) we all have one right.

Re:Solid upgrade

[ahknight]

dude, the SERVER update just came out... get with it...

Re:Solid upgrade

[markzdk2002]

well then I don't know how I downloaded it last friday. Maybe I should provide more details. When get behind my g4 later this evening I will post my update log, or find the article which originally pointed me to it. either way.

Re:Solid upgrade

[markzdk2002]

If you go to apple's web site this update was posted on 2/13/2003 that is almost a week before it was posted by pudge. enough said. do your research before you attack me..please.

Re:Solid upgrade

[ahknight]

Dude, READ what I'm WRITING. The SERVER update came out yesterday. Not the DESKTOP update, which has been out for two weeks. Look here:

KB 70172 [apple.com]

netboot

[Stinson]

and supports NetBoot images greater than 2 GB in size it makes you kind of wonder tho, who has netboot images that ARE greater than 2 GB? Could this just be another useless 'feature' or upgrade that doesnt do too much? (kinda like maximum current connections on BSD, close to a million really serves no purpose). And anyways, wouldn't anyone who would have that 2g image have to be on like one of the new fiber college backbones that can actually handle that, or are people generally content waiting a few hours to boot...

Re:netboot

[addaon]

Gigabit, standard on most macs: 16 seconds. Even with overhead, 60 seconds max. Still, I agree that it's kinda useless today, and hopefully for a good long time.

Re:netboot

[Anonymous Coward]

universities and other institutions with multimedia classes can easily have netboot images over 2GB.

Re:netboot

[imac.usr]

For our standard desktop image at work, with things like Office, FileMaker, and so on, the most recent version topped out at well over 2 GB. Note that we won't be netbooting it regularly, but it would be nice to be able to do so on occasion for troubleshooting purposes, and to use NetInstall to just install the whole thing at once.

Personally, I'm more excited by this part of the update details [apple.com]:

Support for IP over FireWire. This enhancement enables Mac OS X Server to utilize high speed, low latency interconnects for clustering and IP failover solutions over FireWire. You no longer need to use ports on your gigabit Ethernet switch in order to use IP failover.

This could be a great solution for building a cluster of server machines while still allowing each one independent access to the network.

Re:a little late no?

[Dahan]

ummm this cam out on like the 13th

This is for MacOS X Server. Not the regular OS X.

no

[djupedal]

Server Update ~ It's new, trust us.

Uh oh.

[skinfitz]

I just installed it remotely via command line software update.

It hasnt come back up.

Crap. Looks like I'm going to work early.

Re:Uh oh.

[SlamMan]

Exact same thing. Sort of. For me, it took an extra reboot to be able to ssh in for some reason.

mod_rendezvous_apple source code?

[mithras the prophet]

I'm hoping that with the release of 10.2.4 Server, apple will post the source to their mod_rendezvous_apple Apache module on the Darwin Server page [apple.com].
Nothing there yet, but keep an eye on it... it'd be nice to be able to tweak that module as we see fit.
(Especially since Eric Seidel's mod_rendezvous code is still not on Sourceforge [sourceforge.net])

I look forward to trying the latest WebDAV support

[$$$$$exyGal]

Content management has always been a hobby of mine. And Apple's have been a hobby of mine. You see where this is going ;-) ? I wonder how many people will actually use this ?