Hi Neil, Firstly, I am not an expert on Lion Server - I have never used it although I have read about it and in the short term will probably install it on one of our Lion machines to check it out further.
Two things though: 1. Lion Server when released was not really ready for prime time. Some of the problems may have been fixed but it's definitely a very different beast from Snow Leopard Server. In particular, it takes the Apple simplified route to configuration (e.g. TimeMachine). 2. Mac OS X Server in the past has not been very amenable to changing the IP address. It used to require wizardry, then Apple made a command to help, now I am not sure in Lion Server. Generally speaking I think a server is not meant to be used in situations when the IP address will be changing regularly, for example, as you travel in your RV. Finally, again from my knowledge of Snow Leopard Server, there was no "Internet Sharing" in server. It was not possible (at least not easy) to share an Ethernet connection over Airport etc. Of course, extra hardware can help with these problems. For example, if you had a modem/router that worked with USB 3G, and put the server on a static private IP address. Hope that helps and I recommend you browse through Apple's OX X Server Discussion Boards before making any major decision. Cheers, Ashley. On 17/02/2012, at 4:49 AM, Neil Laubenthal wrote: > Before I start mucking about with Lion Server instead of Lion on my home file > server . . .I wonder if somebody can answer a couple of questions. > > We're getting ready to move into an RV full time and will have internet > access only when parked in a campground somewhere. I'm looking at Lion Server > to solve one issue I have with my current file server running Lion (noted > below). Don't need Open Directory or mobile homedirectories . . .although if > I can easily convert our laptops over to these that would be acceptable. > Don't need mail or web or any of the other services that Server provides > either. > > My biggest issue is with permissions on shared files. We have a shared folder > on a Lion server which gets mounted by both our laptops and almost all data > files live there except those that have to live in ~/ on our laptops like > DropBox data, Mail data, etc. Rather than just enable Guest access to the > file server (that grates on my IT security brain even though the server is > inside my router/firewall and we have WPA2 encryption on the wireless to the > laptops. . . .I have a user/password on the server that is used on both > laptops to mount the shared folder for storing files. Despite this . . .on > occasion a folder gets created or a file gets created that only the > originally creating laptop can edit but not the other one. Not much of an > issue normally; a trip via Screen Sharing to the server and resetting the > permissions on the shared folder followed by an unmount/remount of the shared > folder on the laptops fixes it . . .but it's a pain. Will Server solve this > issue for me or is this something I either need to just live with or turn on > Guest access to the file server? > > How picky is Lion Server about internet connectivity or does it depend on > what features are being used? While we're in the RV we'll have full time > internet access via either wifi to the campground or via 3G air card to our > router . . .but when moving between campgrounds connectivity will be > unavailable. Since we'll only be using file sharing and possibly OD/portable > home directories I wouldn't think that it will really care if connectivity is > gone but one never knows for sure. The Lion Server will actually probably be > off when we move anyway but it's possible it might be on but with no > connectivity . . .although if the server is running the local LAN will be as > well so it will have network connectivity but not internet connectivity. > > I've also considered whether to upgrade to OD and shared home directories . . > .if I set this up do I need to create new user accounts for my wife and I on > the Lion Server and then convert our existing user account names on our > laptops over to mobile home directories? I can obviously create the same user > names we have on the laptops in OD . . .but will Lion on the laptops be smart > enough to convert the existing laptop homes into portable homes that sync to > the Lion Server as well? > > How efficiently does portable home syncing work? We very rarely log out of > our laptops . . .they just get put to sleep until later . . .does syncing > work efficiently in the background or does it only sync at login/logout? If > the latter it seems like the login/out process would take a long time to > check all the files in the home directory. If it's real time background > syncing . . .how much of a drag on local wireless LAN performance is it as > far as impacting normal browsing, video streaming, etc? > > If you start at home with your synced portable home, put the laptop to sleep > and carry it to the cafe . . .is there a performance hit on the laptop since > the master Lion Server home isn't available while you're there . . .or does > it just happily chug along and resync when you get back home and it wakes up > and notices that the master home is available again? > > If one has portable homes setup and the laptops are set to exclude > applications and system files from Time Machine . . .does the use of portable > homes essentially make Time Machine redundant (except for the ability to > recover older versions of things? If portables provide essentially a real > time or near real time sync then it seems like Time Machine is somewhat > duplicative. > > I can't really say that I actually need any of this . . .just looking to find > out if I can make the home IT system a bit more efficient on the road . . > .and of course play with more cool stuff. > > Thanks for any advice/comments/suggestions. I figure somebody has already > tried all of this out for a typical home server . . .and I can take advantage > of the fact that they've already taken the arrows of the learning curve. > > OTOH, perhaps most have found that Lion Server isn't quite ready for prime > time . . .I've seen several gripes on the net to that effect as well. > > > ----------------------------------------------- > There are only three kinds of stress; your basic nuclear stress, cooking > stress, and A$$hole stress. The key to their relationship is Jello. > > neil > > > > _______________________________________________ > MacOSX-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk -- Ashley Aitken Perth, Western Australia Skype/iChat: MrHatken (GMT + 8hrs!) _______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list [email protected] http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
