Need advice about OSX Server badly

[argais00]

Hi, Fernando here, I’m brazilian so please excuse me for any spelling errors, hopefully there wont be many.

A company asked me to develop a project to make the IT area less complicated, for both the users and the administrators. I come from a windows background, so I never had my hands on a Mac Server, only clients.

I’m having nightmares trying to make what I need to work on linux. After the countless hours reading pdfs in the osx server website I figured it would be better to look for people with actual experience on it and ask, since someone probably already did most or everything that I’m trying to do.

Here are the problems.

Users have at least 4 different logins and passwords (windows login, email, hp unix system (main software we use here is based on mumps evolution the caché database and it runs under hp/ux), and remote access throught the firewall).

Remote (vpn) access is complicated and hard to make it work.

Remote administration of computers is done using vnc.

These are some of the big list of problems this company has. So here are my questions.

1- Can I have one login for all my services (by reading the pdfs i know that windows login and email are ok, but can hp/ux authenticate with osx server)?

2- From what I saw on the website looks like its really easy to configure the spam/antivirus filter on the email server, is it really that easy?

3- If i have a mac as my firewall, how easy is to give external users access to the interal webservers, and telnet for the unix boxes (vpn)?

4- Is there any solution like microsoft’s sms for osxserver, or any other good solution at all? (something like apple’s remote desktop but for pc clients)

For the first phase of this project I want to start slow with one server and 50-100 users having their home folders on the server, I would like to know what kind of hardware i should get (if i need a xserver, or if a powermac can do it, or even an imac) and any tips on a backup hardware/software solution would be fine too.

I really have a lot more questions but this is a lot already

Thanks in advance for any tips and answers.

Fernando Battistella.

[Waragainstsleep]

I’m no expert, but I think I can contribute to a couple of your questions.

1: Can’t really help here, but I’d be surprised if it weren’t possible to authenticate HP/UX. Not sure how easy it would be.

2:Never used the built-in mail server, but Kerio Mail Server is a good one. It does most of what M$ Exchange does for about a tenth of the price. The spam and AV filters on that are dead simple.

3: In theory, getting Tiger Server to run a VPN is quite easy. Not had a proper go at it yet. Its on my to-do list.

4: For this one, you should look into something called Terminal Services. I don’t know too much about it, but my Boss uses it on a PowerBook to hop from one windows server to the next.

I don’t suppose I’ve been too much help, but hopefully I’ve been some.

[Waragainstsleep]

Forgot to mention hardware: You will need an unlimited copy of tiger server, so I expect you’ll find that for the cost of the software + iMac (or certainly a PowerMac), you could have got an Xserve with the software included.
A G5 Quad would give best performance of course, but this would cost accordingly….

[argais00]

Here in Brazil the Xserve G5 2.3DP would cost about the same as the Quad G5, so it would only a matter of what hardware is the best for the task. Given that its quad processed i guess the Quad G5 would have more horsepower, but is this hardware adequated to be a server ?

[maccanada]

The PowerMac isn’t really designed to be used as a server (despite its recent support of ECC memory and dual Gigabit Ethernet). It doesn’t have hot-swap drives that are rated for continuous use, and there’s no hardware monitoring like the Xserve. There’s also the form-factor – the Xserve sits happily in a rack…the PowerMac has to stay upright.

Based upon your uptime requirements and space/form-factor considerations though, it may be just fine. You will need to factor in the cost of OS X Server as mentioned above, as it’s included when you get an Xserve, but an additional purchase with other machines.

~Ian

[rcrcr]

2. Yes, it is really easy. It can be done from the GUI admin tools.

3. Enabling VPN is also really easy. Works in a few clicks from the GUI admin tools.

rcrcr

[argais00]

Thanks for the answers guys, now if i could get some info on question 1 and 4

I’ve finally found an Apple reseller on my city (hard to find one around here, not to mention theres absolutely no training for Apple solutions here in Brazil) and they’re getting a tecnician to contact me, so hopefully my questions will be answered, and it looks like they will lend me a XServe to play with for a week or two.

Thanks for the help so far.

Fernando Battistella.

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