Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration

Chapter 2. Installing and Configuring Mac OS X Server

After the planning process is complete and your server hardware is onsite, you can proceed with installation. The exact methodology used will vary tremendously from organization to organization and from site to site.

Jaguar Server marked a fairly substantial departure from previous Apple software installation processes. From a fairly mechanical or procedural standpoint, this difference was not very obvious—sitting down in front of the server console, inserting a CD, and pressing some buttons still yielded a complete install. However, much of Jaguar Server was designed in order to support the Xserve, a design goal of which was complete remote operation—including installation. These remote installation options bring a whole new set of possibilities to deployment planning. In a nutshell, the server install—whether booting from CD or via NetBoot into a network install—sets up a TCP/IP stack, starts an ssh daemon, and advertises itself using a multicast response similar to Rendezvous. Mac OS X’s Unix heritage allows for a wide range of features, which Apple had essentially finally chosen to leverage. Panther Server builds on that basic architecture, specifically extending its post-install configuration options in order to better suit large-scale deployments. We’ll examine that evolution in some depth in this chapter, including even a number of strategies outside of traditional installation.

Mac OS X Server Installation Architecture ...