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Mac OS X "Tiger" Server Previewed

Remaining unmentioned in Steve Jobs' keynote speech at WWDC today are the many updates to the Server cousin of Mac OS X. As with the Panther Server release, Tiger Server will focus on open source, Windows, and ease of use. A preview DVD was, as with Tiger client, given out to WWDC attendees. Tiger will include some new content server options, including blojsom, a Java-powered "blog" server, which was inspired by Rael Dornfest's bloxsom.

It also adds a Jabber server that provides the option of serving iChat. SSL/TLS and Kerberos can be added for security. A single Tiger iChat client can have chats running on multiple servers, so a user can be on the main iChat server, while having private chats on a company server. Because it is Jabber, non-iChat (and non-AIM) clients can participate too.

Tiger Server also works to make network setup even easier with Internet Gateway Setup Assistant. In Panther Server, setting up a network with DNS, DHCP, NAT, firewall, and port mapping was easier than most other platforms, but still required a good deal of manual configuration, and separate configuration of each service. The Setup Assistant will provide single-button setup of it all.

A Software Update Server can cache and control Apple software updates. So once you're satisfied that the new OS update won't delete home folders, you can OK it for your users to download; and they won't take up your Internet bandwidth, because the server cached it.

Mobile Home Directories allows a mobile user to sync his home directory with a central server, backing it up and allowing an admin to manage it.

A new Windows migration tool will allow Windows admins to migrate from Windows-based servers. Tiger Server can act as a Primary Domain Controller for a Windows network, and the tool will migrate user and group account from an existing Windows PDC into Open Directory 2 and Samba 3.

Tiger Server will retain the pricing structure of the previous versions: $500 for the 10-client edition and $1000 for the unlimited client edition (the number of clients referring only to simultaneous file sharing clients).

35 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. Not the same. by Apiakun · · Score: 3, Informative

    Did you catch the first few words of the blurb? "Remaining unmentioned".

    As much as I'd love to jump on the "dupe" bandwagon, the previous slashdot article did not mention these Tiger 'server' updates (comments notwithstanding.)

    Thanks for the update.

  2. Re:Namig Convention by HuguesT · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are still quite a few left

    Cat
    Ocelot
    Bobcat
    Lynx
    Puma
    Cougar
    Leopard
    Lion

    That ought to do for a few more years.

  3. Important part of any Windows migration by LittleLebowskiUrbanA · · Score: 2, Informative

    Can I migrate Exchange onto OSX Server? oh please god, please Mr Jobs

    There's a company that claims to be able to migrate Exchange to Linux or an OS X server in few easy clicks. However they don't seem to want my business since they won't respond on their own forums and emails to every address of theirs I could find remain unanswered after a month.

  4. Active Directory by toupsie · · Score: 4, Informative
    Tiger Server can act as a Primary Domain Controller for a Windows network, and the tool will migrate user and group account from an existing Windows PDC into Open Directory 2 and Samba 3.

    Does the author mean a NT4 style PDC or an Active Directory Domain Controller? My guess is NT4 PDC. However, if it is a Windows 2003 Native Mode compatible Domain Controller/Global Catalog, WOW! If it is NT4 PDC, yawn. Not too many folks are running those in the Enterprise, however, I do see the benefit of creating a migration path from Windows to Mac for old, small NT4 networks.

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
    1. Re:Active Directory by iantri · · Score: 2, Informative
      Probably means as an Active Directory domain controller.

      Samba 3 IS capable of doing it, but it is a massive pain in the ass and is rather complicated.

      If anyone can make it quick and easy, it's Apple...

    2. Re:Active Directory by 0racle · · Score: 3, Informative

      Last time I saw it, v3.0.0, Samba was capable of being an AD member server, not a Domain controller, and I don't see on their site that that has changed.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    3. Re:Active Directory by tyhockett · · Score: 4, Informative

      It is indeed an Active Directory domain controller. This is a feature of Panther Server, actually. Panther Server can act as a Primary Domain Controller for AD, or an AD member server. It cannot act as a secondary replication partner.

    4. Re:Active Directory by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 4, Informative


      I'm not sure of the distinction--I'm a Mac guy, not allowed to admin Windows Servers--but you might find answers in the pages and docs on Windows services in Apple's pages on Panther Server, or on a discussion of setting up the Windows Services in X Server 10.2-3.

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  5. Re:Jabber by stilwebm · · Score: 5, Informative

    What market is currently being targetted by the OS X Servers?

    Someone else mentioned life sciences. They also seek the K-12 Academic markets where it's hard to employ a full time network admin to set up Active Directory, Exchange Server, etc. The same applies for small businesses, those who are likely to prefer the idea of one server does all (or most) of the services they need, especially email and file sharing. Another big market (almost the cliche Apple niche) is the creative market, from media agencies to smaller publishers to design/creative departments at larger companies. Often these organizations don't employ a full time admin, leaving that to outside companies and a designated person within the group. In the case of a creative department within a larger company, they often have a disconnect between the rest of the company (being on Macs while the rest of the company is on PC, for example) along with different needs.

    leading me to conclude it is a niche market

    As Apple adds more features to OS X server, they hope to please their existing niches while making it apparent to others that they can easily configure a complex server without having to rely on Microsoft. They get the stability and security associated with open source plus the ease of use from Apple.

  6. Market: Academics, education by tbo · · Score: 5, Informative

    We use an XServe G5 as a single sign-on and file server for a "lab" of about 14 FreeBSD and Windows XP machines. The computers are used as workstations (and occasionally for light numerical work) by theorists working on quantum information and quantum computation.

    Macs seem to be quite popular among the quantum computing community. Ray Laflamme's group (U. of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute) uses them (although maybe they don't have an Xserve), and about 40% of the laptops at a recent quantum information conference I was at were PowerBooks.

  7. Re:Namig Convention by crossconnects · · Score: 2, Informative

    trademarks only apply to the industry to which it applies. Automotive trademarks don't apply to computers.

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    no big sig
  8. Re:Namig Convention by Kardnal · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are still quite a few left:

    ...
    Lynx
    Puma
    Cougar
    ....

    Ummmm, they've already used that one. It was 10.1

    --
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    "Never Attribute to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity..."
  9. Re:Where`s the `keynote` (quicktime format!)? by danalien · · Score: 1, Informative
    and they did! *that was fast!* =)

    I guess their new 'RSS'-thing really works well, and decide to do something about my *flame* :-) ... /* doubt it, but one can wish that would be true =) ... no, I think they where going to do the 'freebe', just not in real time ... */ follow the white rabbit, alice =)

    --
    I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
  10. Re:Server... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Then just use the standard version of OS X. OS X includes file sharing through AFP, SMB, and NFS. It includes Apache, FTP, and Postfix. You can download and compile the rest of the programs. All that $500 (or $380, to be more accurate) buys you is the tools to set up and administer these services quickly.

  11. Re: windows server pricing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Only if you pick the most expensive version for trolling purposes.

    If you sign up as a MS "partner", you can get all of their server software for $400 total:
    http://members.microsoft.com/partner/sales marketin g/partnermarket/actionpack/actionpackus.aspx

    Apple's Developer program gives you both OS X and OS X Server for $500, which isn't a terrible deal.

  12. Re:ACLs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Since a lot of code is based on FreeBSD 5.x, check out rwatson's page on POSIX.1e.

    ACLs in FreeBSD (and by extension "Tiger") are based on the last public draft of the POSIX.1e document (it was never ratified). The procedure will be the same as is done in Solaris and Linux(?).

    chmod and chown do not affect ACLs; to do that you have to use setfacl . When you use ls you do not see the extra ACLs, but a '+' character after the traditional permissions. The '+' tells you that ACLs are present; to view them you have to use getfacl utility.

  13. It's here! by acomj · · Score: 2, Informative

    Its the WWDC 2004 keynote...
    I'm watching it now..

    Try here or
    if that doesn't work.. The link is on This page

  14. Re:Areas I hope are improved by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 2, Informative


    I've seen the same thing with CCC and FireWire drives, where eventually the process times out and you have to force-quit CCC and start over.

    The issue is with the FW drive--the firmware on some works better thatn the firmware on others. For some reason.

    Thread for details

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  15. Re:Areas I hope are improved by Durandal64 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple has added Darwin-level support for resource forks in Tiger, and have recompiled their Unix tools (including cp, mv, et cetera) to properly handle resource forks. So rsync will work properly with resource forks now.

  16. Re: server pricing by crem_d_genes · · Score: 2, Informative

    (If you're a student, work for the government in any capacity, or even serve in the military, you should already qualify for at least a small discount already - since Apple always offers that.)

    Servers are the one area where it seems that there is no break for educators, et al. I suppose the potential for someone using it for business applications is too hard to verify.

  17. Re:ACLs by Guy+Harris · · Score: 4, Informative
    ...the VFS layer, which I'm pretty sure MacOS X has the equiv. of.

    Yes, it's called the VFS layer (just as it is on other BSDs - and as it was in SunOS 2.0, which had a VFS layer before Linux existed; the BSD VFS layer is a bit like the one in various SunOS releases, although it's not the same).

  18. Re:Namig Convention by Shinglor · · Score: 2, Informative

    Maybe for OS 11 (OS X1?)...

    Er, that would be OS XI, it's a Roman numeral.

  19. strange moderation- Links to quicktime by acomj · · Score: 4, Informative

    I link the keynote which is interesting.. Get modded to "flamebait"????. Maybe someone couldn't get a good connection?

    Anyway here are the working links again..

    Quicktime WWDC
    or a more direct link

    Anyway I finish watching. Interesting stuff. The system wide search is interesting. Like the google search service for your hard drive.

    The the real time image/video effects. I do a lot of photoshop and the effects are really fast and leverage the video card GPU. The libraries will autodetect the card and use the card if applicable. 100+ effect libraries with the os to build into application.

    They're working hard on the OS and it shows.

  20. Re:Apple copying shareware again? by Alazoral · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think you ARE flamebait. Konfabulator isn't the first widget thingy by far, and Apple's implementation looks much, much more efficient than Konfab's resource hogging. Just because it sits in the corner, Spotlight is a VERY DIFFERENT beast to launchbar. Its a system wide indexer that lets you instantly search METADATA and FULL CONTENT in both files and database listings, like Address Book and Mail as well as filenames, and it can store smart folders for quick access to saved searches like iTunes does. Launchbar is an APPLICATION launcher. From what I saw, Spotlight didn't care about applications at all, its for files and database entries. And Oh My God! RSS Aggregation Client! NetNewsWire, please meet OmniWeb, Livejournal, Slashdot, and a billion other aggregation programs. RSS was designed to do just that. Using a standard to do what its intended isn't what I'd call copying. How about you don't post with your gut reaction? It stinks.

  21. Re: server pricing by JohnsonWax · · Score: 3, Informative

    Mac OS X Server pricing for .edu is half price. I bought a 3 year maintenance contract for my unlimited client server a day before 10.3 Server shipped for $499. That covered 10.3, will cover 10.4, and may or may not cover 10.5 - but I'm thinking not unless they ship by Sept. 2006.

    The 10 client license is $249. There *may* be an even cheaper offer for ADC members.

  22. Re:ACLs by stefanb · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have mod points, but I'd rather reply to this: why did this get moderated "Insightful"? At best, it's flamebait, but I'd rather think troll.

    wtf this does to ls, chown and chgrp is anyone's guess.

    Where have you been the last, um, 10 or 15 years? Can't be bothered to just Google even for a second before going off like this?

    I don't pretend to know much about ACLs or their history, but they have been part of many commercial UNIXes for quite some time (first time I came around them was on OSF/1), and they have been implemented semi-recently in Linux and the *BSDs. Samba has had ACL support since the late 2.x days, IIRC. And I have a hunch that Windows NT got it's model from adopting DCE.

    So, let's think, what's Apple going to do? Considering that they track FreeBSD 5 closely, and FreeBSD 5 has ACLs?

  23. Re:Groupware, groupware, groupware! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Informative
    I'm not really sure what you're missing. Mail.app is a mail client. It needs an SMTP server and a POP/IMAP server, all of which OS X Server provide. Windows / *NIX clients can use any mail client to interoperate (such as Mozilla Thunderbird).

    iCal uses WebDAV for publishing calendars, in iCalendar format (defined in a couple of RFCs). OS X Server provides the Apache WebDAV module, allowing this. Windows / *NIX clients can use any standards compliant calendar app (such as Mozilla Calendar).

    Address book uses vCards (again, defined by RFC) and integrates with an LDAP server, such as the one provided by OS X Server. Windows / *NIX clients can use any address book app that understands LDAP.

    So what, exactly, do you feel they are missing. I'm not sure what benefit you get from having them all in the same application (the APIs for address book, for example, are exposed so any app, including Mail.app, can access and control it).

    Disclaimer: I have never used Exchange, and I would honestly like to know what you feel is missing on the Mac (and *NIX) side.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  24. Re:Microsoft had a project Tiger once... by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...it was in the '93-'94 timeframe. It was supposed to be a video server; i.e., multiply specified video streams could be served up to various clients.

    Hmmm. I haven't heard of anything about it since then.


    It is a little program that you might now know as Windows Media Server, and has been a part of the NT platform for several years. It is also built into Windows 2000 and 2003 servers.

    We use Windows 2003 as media distribution devices, and have used Windows Servers for this for years now.

    Heck even the theater and video streams in my house all come from a Windows Server.

    Just like several theaters are doing all over the country that have converted to digitial distribution. (Think of the irony that the next time you see a high quality digital flick at your local theater is running a Windows Media Server.)

  25. Re:Finally 64-bit by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 3, Informative

    But compare it to microsoft who is still trying to get 64 bit to work right.

    Yeah, it has taken Microsoft FOREVER, especially considering NT 4.0 was a 64bit OS on Alpha back in 1996 - let alone that Windows XP 64bit for Itanium was out in 2001.

    Man, Microsoft is really behind the curve here...

    It is great Apple is making great roads into the 64bit progression; however, ignorance of Microsoft's advances don't mean that Apple is the leader in this area.

    Let alone the various other 64bit OSes that have been around for a while.

    Do people really not know this stuff here? I thought this is where intellectual geeks talked about new and exciting concepts. Not praising companies and bashing others for doing the same things.

    Oh wait, silly me... (This is the year 2004, and slashdot has turned into geeks and AOL users, that are either new to this stuff or just fan boys/girls of a singular concept or platform without knowing much of the rest of the world)

  26. Re:Mobile Users same as 10.3 Server by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Yes. 10.4 will auto sync the local and remote home folders.

  27. Re:Finally 64-bit by demon · · Score: 5, Informative

    especially considering NT 4.0 was a 64bit OS on Alpha back in 1996

    Wrong - Windows NT for Alpha/AXP was NOT 64-bit. It used the Alpha's 32-bit mode. This was a well-known issue at the time. (I was working for government environmental monitoring facility at the time, and we had some company come in and demo NT on an AlphaServer for us, so I learned a thing or two about it.)

    Also, Microsoft may have internal builds of 64-bit Windows, but no shipping products for IA64 or x86_64 so far. That's right, not one. So yes, MS is very much behind the curve. Linux was 64-bit on Alpha some time ago, for example.

    --

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  28. Re:Very excited by Core Video by SlamMan · · Score: 2, Informative

    They have Xgrid rendering in Shake already. Runs under under Qmaster, which came first.

    And it makes a certain amount of sense not to have it in Final Cut. The data transfers seem like it would far outweigh the benefits of the extra processor power without some serious interconnect.

    That said, I can't wait for Apple's to actually do it.

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    Mod point free since 2001
  29. Re:Naming Convention by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Lifted off the web a long time ago. Sorry, I forgot the source, so I can't credit it to anyone. And it's not comprehensive [Puma and Panther were missing, although there is Cougar (Puma concolor) ].

    Already used/taken
    * Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) OS X 10.0
    * Puma OS X 10.1
    * Jaguar (Panthera onca) OS X 10.2
    * Panther OS X 10.3
    * Tiger (Panthera tigris) OS X 10.4

    Wild Cat Species (alphabetical)
    * African golden cat (Profelis aurata)
    * Andean mountain cat (Oreailurus jacobita)
    * Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii)
    * Black-footed cat (Felis nigripes)
    * Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
    * Bornean bay cat (Catopuma badia)
    * Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis)
    * Caracal (Caracal caracal)
    * Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti)
    * Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)
    * Cougar (Puma concolor)
    * Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx)
    * Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
    * Flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps)
    * Geoffroys cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi)
    * Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)
    * Jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouarundi)
    * Jungle cat (Felis chaus)
    * Kodkod (Oncifelis guigna)
    * Leopard (Panthera pardus)
    * Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)
    * Lion (Panthera leo)
    * Marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata)
    * Margay (Leopardus wiedii)
    * Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
    * Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus)
    * Pampas cat (Oncifelis colocolo)
    * Pallas cat (Otocolobus manul)
    * Rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus)
    * Sand cat (Felis margarita)
    * Serval (Leptailurus serval)
    * Snow leopard (Uncia uncia)
    * Wildcat (Felis silvestris)

  30. Re:Very excited by Core Video by shawnce · · Score: 2, Informative

    FYI, If you are ADC member (with a seed key) you can download the latest Tiger related documentation. This documentation bundle is later then the Tiger developer preview DVD handed out at WWDC.

    CoreImage & CoreVideo are rather nice and parallel CoreAudio in many ways from what I have seen so far. Apple is on a strong push to bring in the compute capabilities of modern GPUs for things other then 3D and games, focusing on it as another system compute resource basically. Apple is of course eating its own dog food as well... let you think about how they may be doing that (since I am under WWDC NDA).

  31. Missing Mention by achbed · · Score: 2, Informative

    I can't believe that nobody has commented on the one other feature that other server-level systems have, that 10.3 and below lack: Ethernet link aggregation (aka FastEtherChannel, aka 802.3ad). It'll be great to have 4Gb of bandwith from the SAN and be able to pump out more than 1Gb to the same subnet.

    What's with everyone's fascination over blogs, anyway? *ducks*