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I’m an editor at a specialized post production studio. I’d like to know what I should learn to really get started. We got a 24 port office hooked up to just as many Macs, a dual g5 xserve with 10.3 (unlimited) and a license for 10.4 (10 client.) I want to be an in-house system admin but didn’t come from Unix… I’ve never been good with code or command line stuff.
Do I need to know basic shell stuff?
Is it true for my office to have a proper “gateway” that I will need other open source apps or daemons? (example of my knowledge: just learned of daemons.) That’s what I see here and its annoying. Damn-it Apple.
I also need a better understanding of DNS, NAT, DHCP, OD… Well there’s so much I need learn that I could list all the main features of the app Server Admin.
I’ve read through the Apple server documentation and that’s not for me. Also, I need to know how things work in the server environment before I’m ready for many of the articles on this site that seem so advanced for me.
Would the Unix Power Tools book be good for me?
-Nick Spiropoulos
Cortina ProductionsNick,
It is going to take you a while to learn the basics. And you want to learn them before you start messing around with your server that is in production.
This is what I would recommend:
1) Work out with your employer if this is going to be part of your job responsibility or not. If it is, you are going to need training or at least time and materials to train yourself. These costs need to be taken into account.
2) Find a qualified third party to make sure that the your current 10.3 server is set up properly and running correctly. Yes this will cost money but you don’t have the skills yet to do it and if it the server is an important part of your business then the business needs to know that it is setup and running properly. Also you will need someone to give you ongoing help and to help when you are on holidays. So start building this relationship first.
3) Buy “Mac OS X Panther Server Administration” by Michael Bartosh & Ryan Fass. Even though it is for the Panther server (10.3), 90% of the book is totally relevent to Tiger (10.4). If if it is to deep get a simpler one. There are a few out there. Most of the books will also point to you to more generic information on DNS, NAT etc.
4) Set up a testing server off the network (you don’t want to mess with your business network, so do it at home or behind a NAT on your work network). Install it three times. Set up mail, web, afp etc – all the services you think you might like to use. When you run into something you don’t know, search the manuals, grab a book or google it. Then deploy it just for your self. Use it for few months yourself. In this time you will get an understanding of Mac Server environment and will start taking on the running of your businesses’ production server.
You will need to learn some basic shell stuff. But if you have a third-party that you can hand off the hard bits too, then you might not need to know much at all.
Not sure what you mean by “gateway”, but if you mean using the Mac Server as Firewall/Router to the internet then I recommend not to. Get a cheap firewall appliance. It will do just as good a job and will be easier to manage.
My experience of being a Mac Server admin is this: You can do most of the setup, config and running via the GUI. But that is the easy part. Knowing what to change and why is the hard bit and that will require a fair bit of knowledge and effort. More effort than learning about the command line. But with a good setup and someone you can fall back on if you are unsure or are having problems then managing a Mac Server is certainly not that hard if you are prepared to put in some learning.
Read https://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=20060718071317794
Good luck.Marcus
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