Server Setup

leopard-serverSo what is a server?
If you don’t know. Then a more important question is; Do i need a server? The answer, is very dependent on your needs.

Ask yourself this. And then, if you need a server for it:
- Do you want a proper way to save your files on a network? A server is nice, but not required. A NAS is probably more what you want!

- Do you want a Firewall with advanced NAT capabilities? Probably. But is an advanced router not more suited? A server can be overkill!

- Do you want an Calender server for everyone in your house? If Google Calendar doesn’t do the trick, then yes! OS X Server is for you!

- Always wanted your own website? Get in contact with a hosting company, your home internet is not gonna cope!

- I want to login to my home network and use it’s files and use remote desktop. A server can be very useful for that. But doesn’t your router just support VPN?

Among other things my server stores lots of my files, handles my IP leases and DNS services, it let’s people in and out of my network using VPN and takes care of my agenda. So, do you need a server too? What would your server do for you? Once you have figured that out… Then these pages are for you.

Seriously, what is a server?
A server is not “a computer doing difficult things” the word server is often used to appoint one computer doing a task a regular computer doesn’t do. Say, serving a website.

In reality though, a server is really a piece of software and those come in all sizes, shapes and flavors. Any computer can be a server in the most broad sense of the word. I myself have a simple Mac Mini and it runs 9 services. All those together make my Mac Mini a server.
Huh? Basically that means: One computer running 9 server applications.
2 for filesharing (AFP/SMB). One for assigning addresses to computers (DHCP) and one for translating those addresses into names (DNS). A database server (MySQL) and a webserver (Apache/HTTPd). Also there is the Directory server (LDAP) and Calendar server (iCal) and lastly one for remote login to my network at home (VPN).
All this is done by one computer (server) running services (server applications).

A server is typically always on and connected to a network. Many networks depend on servers. Many networks have multiple servers. Each with their own set of services and purposes. Often multiple servers work together on data redundancy or just to spread the many services to lighten the load.

A router, such as the one you probably have at home, could be seen as a simple server since the software inside governs much of your network. Namely DHCP/DNS and perhaps VPN capabilities. Some even offer a SMB or Printer service.

If you understood (or got the meaning of) all of the above, you’re on the right track!

Start here:
This page, and it’s sub-pages, is all about servers. Mac OS X Leopard server in particular. I will try to explain how to set one up and how to run one. The server we’re going to configure is a somewhat simple setup. Perfectly suited for home use.

Installing Mac OS X Server is fairly simple. Just follow the steps, read what the setup tells you and think logically. Not much can go wrong there. But configuring and getting it to do what you want is more tricky.

A quick install guide can be found here. Just follow the images and fill in the appropriate fields.

In the following pages i will assume your server is set up as an “advanced server” as indicated in my quick installation guide. This allows for the greatest flexibility and the most options possible.

Build your server:

Written on April 30, 2009 by Arnan. Last updated on July 1, 2009. .