On Feb 7, 2007, at 9:19 PM, Christopher Bort wrote:
If you're only running 'internet' services (mail, web, ftp), then
you are
absolutely correct. OS X Server is not worth the premium price. It
_is_
worth it, however, if you are in an environment where you need the
other
services included with Server (file services, 'collaboration'
services,
etc.) and you need them to be integrated through Open Directory.
You are correct. In my case, I was only referring to using it for the
mail services. I have 3 OS X servers that I run. One is for file
services to Mac and PC. This one also acts as a VPN server and does
light duty web hosting for a few internal pages. This one is well
worth the money for OS X Server and I love it (although I have to
admit, Windows 2000 Server with Services For Mac was a little easier
to keep using, although it was a little trickier to get up and
running the first time... OS X Server is very particular with
permissions, so there is some tweaking that needs to be done when
using folders that are for publicly shared files... Win2k was easier
as it didn't really pay much attention to file permissions and by
default assumed if you had access to a folder, then you should have
access to everything inside the folder... less secure, but easier for
the common person to deal with).
I have a 2nd that acts as my primary web server, and does occasional
duty as a Quicktime Streaming Server. I also find this one to be
worth the money, as the Server Admin does make 99% of the web
services easier. I migrated to this server from NetBSD running Apache
where I used to have to do everything by hand, and I find OS X
Server's Server Admin much much easier for managing the web services.
My last one is acting only as a mail server (web services are also on
so I can use webmail), and it is the only one where I feel if I had
paid for OS X Server just for these mail services, I'd have been very
unhappy. Server Admin really falls short of being good for anything
more than basic mail setup, and is actually of no use to getting
things like ClamAV and SpamAssassin working properly despite the fact
that there are settings for them available in the Mail component of
Server Admin. In my case, I had the license available as it had
previously been in use for a stand alone Quicktime Streaming
Server... so I'm not out any money for having turned it into a mail
server, so I'm happy with the setup as it does work quite well and is
pretty solid once it is up and running. But seeing how little I use
the actual "Server" features for this machine, I'd have been just as
well off going with one of the setups that converts regular OS X into
a mail server (possibly better off as many of them use MySQL and a
web interface for user management, whereas right now I'm doing much
of that via an SSH connection and vi to directly edit the config files).
Certainly if someone plans to do more than just mail with their
server, then OS X Server is worth checking out. I'd only say skip it
if they were planning on just doing mail services. And this only
applies to versions up to 10.4. I've not tried 10.5 Server yet as it
hasn't been released, so it's mail services interface may turn out to
be much better. (that last comment is more for historical purposes...
I hate to think a year or more from now someone finds this thread in
an archive and skips looking at some future version of OS X Server
thinking my comments still applied)
-chris
<www.mythtech.net>
#############################################################
This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
the mailing list <[email protected]>.
To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
