Cons: Mostly a cosmetic upgrade, Trouble with windows based devices on the network.
The Bottom Line: If you'd told me that managing a NETWORK SERVER could be simple, I would have claimed you were wrong. But, Apple proves it can be done in Leopard Server.
bigtruckseries's Full Review: Apple (MB004ZA) Upgrade Version for Mac (1 Server/...
TECHNICAL
Leopard Server requires you have Apple’s Leopard (10.5) Operating System on your Macintosh computer. This new server is fully compatible with the Intel Core 2 Duo CPU’s and is designed specifically to take advantage of 64 bit server architecture.
Leopard Server includes 3 installation profiles:
Standard, Workgroup, and Advanced.
The Standard server configuration is a good firsttime server setup for small environments such as a home, classroom lab or small business.
The Workgroup server configuration is similar to "Standard", but allows the server to connect to existing directory services such as Open Directory and Active Directory.
The Advanced server configuration - obviously for experienced users - allows for full access into the base configurations: dns addressing, mac addressing, etc
Due to Apple’s tying of its software specifically to its machines designed to run it, Apple’s Leopard Server (as well as tiger) run extremely stably and rarely crash. So long as you are using up to date computers (especially with the Intel chips) you will get blazing fast operations and very few disappointments with the configurations.
The Graphical User Interface is sleek, smooth and intuitive. Its so easy to use, a person whose never used a server before might become a pro at it within 2 weeks.
If you are upgrading from Tiger to Leopard – be sure to set aside plenty of time to do the upgrade as the installation will take a G5 Mac more than an hour and a half to install which will put the server offline.
A network server is not actually a requirement as the machine you run on can act as host while all other machines connecting to it act as clients. You can set up small servers (3-10 computers) or you can connect upwards of 100. New to L.Server is computer workgroup settings which allow you to create “groups” out of clumps of computers.
You might take 100 computers and set them up as 4 distinct groups (25 computers per floor of the building). This way you can easily set all the options for each individual group. This comes especially in handy if you have different grades on different floors of a school.
Leopard Server includes a new built in Firewall as well as the ability to watch the behavior of digitally signed applications (if the host activates these features).
Workgroup Server and Remote Desktop combined
Under Tiger Server, a typical Mac Lab would need to run Workgroup Manager in order to create clients, set passwords, set home storage folders and decide what options each user would be able to access: dock items, internet options, printing options, etc.
The lab would also need to run Remote Desktop simultaneously. Remote Desktop is necessary to monitor individual computers. With RD the host is able to do typical server functions such as controlling machines remotely; logging users out; sending packages and files to each client and broadcasting their screen to others using “share screen” (which is very handy if you want to do presentations without a projector).
RD was also necessary if you wished to install a single software on the server and share it with the entire lab.
Apple’s interfaces, I’ll admit, are stylish and easy to use – this is my first time managing a server and without consulting help files, I am able to maintain it fairly well.
What Apple has done with Leopard Server is combine Workgroup Manager and Remote Desktop so that this new Workgroup Manager easily has full control over all the functions of the prior 2 programs – with many new additions.
Leopard Server introduces: Podcast Producer, Wiki Server, iCal Server and Spotlight Server which I will summarize later on. Leopard also includes updates for iChat, and Quicktime Server among other apps.
ELEGANCE
Leopard Server owes a lot of its newfound elegance to the new Leopard OS X. For example, now, when browsing through files, the updated software features support for multitouch interfacing similar to the iPhone. Rather than having to point and click through file after file, you can simply slide your finger across a touchpad to flip through files (just like the iPhone/iPod Touch). Words don’t do this justice because it really looks cool and its very intuitive – a major selling point.
Lets say you are programming login names for a Pre- Kindergarten class. The new Leopard Server allows you to simply add their picture to the login screen so they simply need to point and click it to access the machine. You can also have them enter simple passwords such as “ 1 2 3”.
Lets say you are desperately searching for a file and know some key words. Just type in the key words and the screen dims and a spotlight points directly to the closest match for your search criteria (*jaw hits floor when I saw this*).
SPEED
Leopard is much faster than Tiger when run on the newer Intel Core Duo 2 Processors with 2 GB of RAM (or better). Microsoft Office and most of the Office 2008 programs open in a flash rather than the 5 or 6 seconds they used to take.
Much of that speed is also prevalent in L.Server as I noticed load times were shorter than Tiger.
Some of the most intelligent upgrades made in Leopard include a “scheduled deleting feature” which allows you to schedule deletion of files (and accounts) set up on the computer to prevent them from filling the Hard Disk. Lets say you are running workshops and you have 100’s of new users in your lab from January to June. You can set the system to delete all these new accounts and their files in August. When you check in September, its all gone ! Naturally you can set this to occur daily, weekly, monthly, etc – down to dates and specific times.
Leopard also includes a new & improved feature called “Mobility”.
In the past, if you had a person who moved from machine to machine, they would end up having to download their files from the server to use them on the machine they are now sitting at. This can take long periods of time. Mobility allows the server to write a temporary cache file to whatever machine they are using – which synchronizes itself whenever they have moved. This cuts down on time. Furthermore, this cache file can be set to be deleted so that this situation occurring multiple times doesn’t clog up your hard drives.
CLASSROOM USE
Wiki’s are the new thing in technology classrooms. For those of you unfamiliar with them: a Blog is a typically uneditable posting which is added to a host’s posting and archived. A Wiki is basically an editable posting. In classrooms and entire school settings, students can create Wiki’s and collaborate. This can increase student participation and enthusiasm in much the same way that a WEB 2.0 app like Facebook – or an HTML editable webpage like Myspace can.
The Wiki Server in Leopard is basically designed to allow an intranet group to setup Wikis and maintain them without intrusion from the outside world. This allows young children to set up school webpages without the prying eyes of anyone outside the school.
It is therefore much safer than Myspace.com or even Facebook.
Spotlight Server takes advantage of new offering’s in Leopard to offer the host an advanced search engine across his network. Wherein Tiger’s “Finder” only allowed a Host to search their own machine, Spotlight allows the host to search any client on the network using specific search words, specific dates,times,etc. A new addition is a feature called “Quick Look” which provides a live preview of the file to prevent the searcher from having to open each individual file to figure out if they’ve found the correct one.
Podcast Producer allows Podcasts to be produced quickly and easily provided the maker understand the Apple interface basics. I witnessed a cool Podcast being produced in less than 10 minutes using Garageband. Once the music, voice and pictures were compiled into a Quicktime format, Podcast Producer allows you to save it as any file you like and then broadcast it over the server-client network. In action, you might have one classroom produce a Podcast to broadcast to the rest of the school. The best thing about Podcast Producing is it takes children from computer illiterate to, podcast producing know it alls in virtually no time – and you’ve actually taught them numerous skills in this process: scripting, storyboarding, sound editing, etc.
iCal is a personal calendar application on the OS X platforms which is for all intents and purposes a digital organizer. It allows you to create appointments which will remind you that you set them via SMS, pager or email. What’s special about iCal is that users can subscribe to other users iCals so you can synchronize your schedule with theirs. Bob want you to watch that baseball game on specific nights at specific times?
Sarah want you to know when she’s doing presentations? Laura wants you to watch Desperate Housewives’ season premier ? Whatever the event, iCal lets you easily track it. iCal server however, is designed to let you share more easily with a server-client system.
Say you are in a school (or office) and you want every connected computer to get similar calendars. Well, you can use the host machine to blast out calendars across the network without subscription. You can also manage client’s subscriptions.
OVERALL
OVERALL For the business and school environments, Leopard’s Spotlight Server and iCal Server can be useful, but, if you are happy with your current TIGER SERVER, there is no necessity to upgrade right away to LEOPARD. It offers marginal - mostly cosmetic –changes to an already stellar Tiger and right now suffers from some bugs when used in the same environment as Windows based devices. Its not remarkably faster than Tiger but, because Remote Desktop and Workgroup Manager have been combined, it is a single interface that fulfills the jobs that it used to take two interfaces to do.
If you are part of a department of education, you should qualify for a free upgrade to Leopard OS and Leopard Server (ask your tech department). I'm getting a full lab upgrade for free and I've already gotten a free copy of Leopard OS.
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