Dreyer Arek - Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Server Essentials 10.9: Using and Supporting OS X Server on Mavericks

Apple Pro Training Series

Arek Dreyer and Ben Greisler

Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Server Essentials 10.9
Arek Dreyer and Ben Greisler
Copyright 2014 by Peachpit Press

Peachpit Press
www.peachpit.com

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Apple Series Editor: Lisa McClain
Production Coordinator: Kim Elmore, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Technical Editor: Adam Karneboge
Apple Reviewer: John Signa
Apple Project Manager: John Signa
Copy Editor: Scout Festa
Proofreader: Scout Festa
Compositor: Cody Gates, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Indexer: Jack Lewis
Cover Illustration: Paul Mavrides
Cover Production: Cody Gates, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact .

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the authors nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

IMPORTANT: Some of the exercises contained in this guide can be temporarily disruptive, and some exercises, if performed incorrectly, could result in data loss or damage to system files. As such, its recommended that you perform these exercises on a Mac computer that is not critical to your daily productivity.

Trademarks

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ISBN 13: 978-0-321-96354-3
ISBN 10: 0-321-96354-7
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound in the United States of America

Thanks to my lovely wife, Heather Jagman, for her cheerful support.

Arek Dreyer

My love and appreciation to my wife, Ronit, and my children, Galee and Noam,
for being there for me throughout this project.

Ben Greisler

With the memory of Steve Jobs still fresh in our minds, thank you to Tim Cook, Jonathan Ive and everyone at Apple for continually innovating, surprising, and delighting customers.

Thank you to all the people who continue to help their users get the most out of OS X and iOS. Keep learning, and dont expect the pace of change to let up any time soon.

Thanks to the amazingly capable Lisa McClain for gently making sure these materials made it into your hands, and to Scout Festa and Kim Elmore for working their editorial and production magic.

Thank you, also, to the following people. Without your help, this book would be much less than what it is:

Craig Cohen

David Colville

Maria Coniglio

Gordon Davisson

John DeTroye

Kevin Dunn

Josh Durham

Charles Edge

Eugene Evon

Todd Fernandez

Sam Ficke

Patrick Gallagher

Rodrigo Gmez

Ben Harper

Eric Hemmeter

Nick Johnson

Adam Karneboge

Andrina Kelly

Andre LaBranche

Judy Lawrence

Pam Lefkowitz

Ben Levy

Tip Lovingood

Jussi-Pekka Mantere

Jason Miller

Nader Nafissi

Anita Newkirk

Tim OBoyle

Timo Perfitt

John Poyner

Mike Reed

Joel Rennich

Schoun Regan

Fred Reynolds

Alby Rose

John Signa

David Starr

Tyson Vu

Cindy Waller

Jeff Walling

Simon Wheatley

Kevin White

Josh Wisenbaker

Eric Zelenka

This guide serves as a tour of the breadth of functionality of OS X Server and the best methods for effectively supporting users of OS X Server systems. In addition, this guide is the curriculum for the Apple official training course Mavericks 201: OS X Server Essentials 10.9, a three-day, hands-on course that provides an intense and in-depth exploration of how to configure and troubleshoot OS X Server for Mavericks. This course is facilitated by an Apple Certified Trainer and is organized into multiple lessons, each containing instructor presentations followed by related student exercises. In other words, this guide is for both self-paced learners working independently and those participating in an instructor-led course.

The primary goal of this guide is to prepare technical coordinators and entry-level system administrators for the tasks demanded of them by OS X Server; you will learn how to install and configure OS X Server to provide network-based services, such as configuration profile distribution and management, file sharing, authentication, and collaboration services. To help you become truly proficient, this guide covers the theory behind the tools you will use. For example, not only will you learn how to use the Server appthe tool for managing services and accountsbut you will also learn about the ideas behind profile management, how to think about access to and control of resources, and how to set up and distribute profiles to support your environment.

You will learn to develop processes to help you understand and work with the complexity of your system as it grows. Even a single OS X Server computer can grow into a very complicated system, and creating documentation and charts can help you develop processes so that additions and modifications can integrate harmoniously with your existing system.

This guide assumes that you have some knowledge of OS X, because OS X Server is an app that you install on top of OS X (Mavericks). Therefore, you should be comfortable with basic navigation, troubleshooting, and networking in OS X. When working through this guide, a basic understanding and knowledge of OS X is preferred, including knowledge of how to troubleshoot the operating system. Refer to Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Support Essentials 10.9 from Peachpit Press if you need to develop a solid working knowledge of OS X.