General Server Questions and Mobile Home Directories

[laubennd]

I’m currently running 2 G4 servers at home; one is mail/file and the second is web. Both are running 10.4.7 client at the present time. Connected to the net via Speakeasy/Covad DSL.

First question . . .I’m considering upgrading to Server and wondered if I’m giving up any security by combining web/file/mail onto the same physical server since buying 2 copies of Server is not in the budget. I don’t have anything exotic on the web pages . . .a php based blog I’m working up, photo pages, secure webmail access via SquirrelMail to the mail/file server, and some static pages.

The primary reason for upgrading is to get the mobile home directory feature for our laptops. Other than that . . .I haven’t had anything I couldn’t do without it.

Second question . . .mobile home directories. My wife and I use a Ti PB and an iBook as our primary work machines; connected via 100 MB ethernet most of the time. If I set up mobile home directories so that they are mirrored to the server for backup; will there be any noticable overhead on the laptops for the home dir syncing (I assume there will be a significant initial synchronization but am wondering about performance hit for the ongoing sync process).

Third question . . .We’re currently using individual accounts on the laptops and a shared account on the file server for access to a common file share. How hard is it to setup OD for shared authentication from the server; and if this is done what happens when the laptops are away from home? Do they use a cached login of the OD account or do I need to set up separate accounts for out of the house access?

Can anyone suggest any good articles/urls/references I can check out? Is it possible to get mobile home directories without buying Server?

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