Why IT Won't Like Mac OS X Lion Server 341
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's John Rizzo sees Mac OS X Lion Server as a downgrade that may prompt a move to Windows Server. 'Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server adds innovative features and a new low price tag, but cuts in services and the elimination of advanced GUI administration tools may force some enterprise departments to think twice about the role of Mac servers on their networks,' Rizzo writes. 'Looking more deeply inside Lion Server, it's impossible to avoid the conclusion that Lion Server is not built for those of us in IT. The $50 price tag — down from $500 — is the first clue that Lion Server trying to be a server for the consumer. But the ironic part for IT administrators is that Lion Server actually requires a greater degree of technical knowledge than its predecessors.'"
Re:Server Admin Tools (Score:5, Informative)
The server admin tool you're talking about is cut down compared to the tools in v10.6. Some key screens are now completely gone and so configuring some aspects will not work.
My favourite feature of the new server.app is how the ssl certs keep resetting to bad configurations.
Advanced GUI tools still available (Score:2, Informative)
All of the advanced GUI tools (Server Admin, Workgroup Manager, etc.) have been updated for 10.7 and available as a separate download from Apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1419 [apple.com]
The whole premise of this article is bunk.
Re:As a Mac admin, I agree. (Score:2, Informative)
Go here to download Server Admin, and gain back all of the old functionality:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1419 [apple.com]
Re:As a Mac admin, I agree. (Score:5, Informative)
I think it's likely to be relegated to calendar server duty, and I'm going to move mail, web, and FTP to some variety of Linux.
You don't have to keep the Mac around for serving calendars. Apple open sourced the server [calendarserver.org] and you can run it on your favourite *NIX flavour.
Re:There are more options than this, no? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There are more options than this, no? (Score:4, Informative)
Who knows? They don't say.
No, seriously, I've gone looking for this information and wasn't able to find it. The best answer appears to be they will support the current version and the previous version, and that's it.
If someone has better information than that, I'd love to have it, but it makes suggesting a Mac OS X-based solution a bit difficult when I can't give a solid number on how long the platform will receive security updates.
Re:As a Mac admin, I agree. (Score:5, Informative)
From TFA:
"Once you locate and download the Server Admin tool, experienced Mac OS X Server administrators will notice it's a much thinner tool than it used to be. Roughly half the services that used to be there are missing. Most user-based services, such as file sharing, calendaring, and Web services, have been moved to the simple Server application. Others, such as QuickTime Streaming Server, have been completely removed."
Re:It's not for Enterprise IT (Score:4, Informative)
"For workgroup and SMB sized applications it's pretty nice, but a bit of a quandary when you hit the big leagues."
when you hit that point you use a real Unix, and it runs really nice on their sexy hardware!
Re:There are more options than this, no? (Score:5, Informative)
I mean, When Apple releases a new hardware model, they release a slightly different spin of the OSX installer that includes drivers, firmware, etc. for the new hardware platform. If the hardware platform drivers for your platform were released in conjunction with, say, 10.6, Apple will not bother to release a platform support package for running 10.5 on that hardware.
That's the difference: With Windows, MS does bundle a variety of drivers-that-are-commonly-used with their install media, in order to improve the odds of things Just Working; but the OEM you purchased the computer from, or potentially the OEM they purchased the chips from, are the actual providers of the drivers, and will have them available for whatever platforms they support. Apple doesn't do that. Their install media come equipped with all drivers for supported models as of the OS release. If you wish to run an OS that was released before a given piece of hardware, the drivers won't be included in that OS. If you are lucky, you might be able to bodge drivers taken from a later OSX release into working on an earlier one. If not, too bad.
Re:There are more options than this, no? (Score:3, Informative)
I hear that RedHat is just now retiring RHEL 4 which came out in 2005. And RHEL 3 ended last year.
I would say that 6 years is a pretty good support time.
Apparently you do not normally deal with enterprise Linux distros.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Other services removed (Score:4, Informative)
"Once you locate and download the Server Admin tool, experienced Mac OS X Server administrators will notice it's a much thinner tool than it used to be. Roughly half the services that used to be there are missing. Most user-based services, such as file sharing, calendaring, and Web services, have been moved to the simple Server application. Others, such as QuickTime Streaming Server, have been completely removed."
I wish you had quoted a bit more, because it leads the reader to conclude that if the one service removed that TFA mentions is quick time streaming server, then big f'ing deal. Here's a little more from TFA:
One of the more significant feature rollbacks comes in reduced support for Windows clients. For years, Mac OS X Server's LDAP-based Open Directory had the ability to function as a primary domain controller (PDC) to support Windows clients. The PDC provided Windows clients with single sign-on authentication, and for those who work on both platforms, it gave users access to the same accounts and server-based home folders from their Windows PCs as well as their Macs. In Lion Server, Windows clients still have access to file sharing, but are now second-class clients.
Another service that Apple deleted is the print server of previous Mac OS X Server builds. Lion Server contains only the same ability to share printers found in every copy of Mac OS X client for the past five years: the open source Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), which gives Macs the ability to host shared print queues and simple pools of printers but lacks the enterprise features that previous print servers had. For example, Lion Server's CUPS cannot prioritize printers in the pool or set quotas for individual users or printers. And you can't publish printers to Open Directory.
The print server would seem to be one of the more important removals in functionality.
Re:If Final Cut Pro is any indication... (Score:4, Informative)
In the FAQ, which details specifics about importing, editing, media management, export and purchase, Apple's tried to make one thing clear: some of the missing features will return with future software updates.
Indeed, Apple may be as inclined due to this backlash to reverse itself with OSX Lion as it was with Final Cut Pro. It's entirely reasonable to project that missing server features may make their return to the Sever Admin panel or as stand-alone add-ons.
If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's that promises of "Jam tomorrow!" are next to useless.
You or I have precisely zero idea of Apple's internal roadmap and even less idea of what issues are driving the decisions that form that roadmap, and future functionality can be changed at the drop of a hat. The same is true for more-or-less any IT vendor. Until such time as the product is released, it doesn't exist.