Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration

Chapter 4. System Administration

In a way, this entire book revolves around system administration. The details, processes, and infrastructures that make up Mac OS X Server are documented—hopefully to a depth that can’t be found elsewhere—specifically to enable their secure and robust management. System administration, however, is a topic of a much greater depth, and moves well beyond a mechanical understanding of how various pieces fit together, into a set of philosophies and best practices that pervade and are consistent among most aspects of the system. This chapter concerns those philosophies and trends, throwing in a few mechanical tidbits for good measure. In keeping with the spirit of this book thus far, we will examine those components specifically in the light of Mac OS X Server, especially where that differs from the practices and philosophies around other operating systems.

Tip

Note also that these are my opinions and are, in many cases, assertions of the worst kind, with very little data presented behind them. Take them as you will, and where time and budget allow, data will be presented.

Philosophies

Most academic disciplines develop heuristics, or ways of thinking about certain types of problems. System administration (and IT in general), although it has not been widely examined in an academic context, is no different, having developed some common approaches in its young history. While these approaches are not necessarily specific to Mac OS X, and while I hope they are ...