How Do I Install Lion Server? COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL 004_9781118031735-ch01.indd4_9781118031735-ch01.indd 2 22/16/12/16/12 77:18:18 PMPM 1 2345678910111213 For Mac OS X Lion and Lion Server, Apple no longer offers disk-based media for installation and no longer supports the .dmg file format that users of pre- vious versions of OS X have used. Instead, purchase and installation are man- aged by the Mac App Store. This simplifies purchase for some users but complicates it for others. This chapter explains how to buy and install Lion Server, and it includes timesaving tips about installation on multiple com- puters and reinstallation. Choosing a Mac for Lion Server . 4 Installing Lion Server . 8 Reinstalling Lion Server . 13 004_9781118031735-ch01.indd4_9781118031735-ch01.indd 3 22/16/12/16/12 77:18:18 PMPM Mac OS X Lion Server Portable Genius Choosing a Mac for Lion Server OS X Lion Server can run on any Mac compatible with OS X Lion. But because Lion Server doesn’t have the same performance requirements as a standalone Mac, some Macs are more suitable than others. When you choose a Mac for Lion Server, the ideal specification and form factor may not be the same as your perfect standalone Mac. Choosing a processor Lion and Lion Server require a 64-bit Intel processor. Older G-series processors aren’t suitable. Nor are Rev A Intel Macs with a 32-bit Core Duo processor. At a minimum, Lion Server Mac needs a Core 2 Duo or i-Series processor. Slower, older processors are good enough for light home use. For small office use, aim for a more powerful i-Series multi-core processor. Because Lion Server doesn’t spend much time generating graphics or calculating floating-point numbers, an i5 or even an i3 processor should be adequate. For light commercial applications, consider a fast Mac with an i5 or i7 processor. Selecting memory Lion Server will run in 2GB of RAM, but 4GB is a workable minimum. When a computer lacks RAM, it can thrash—write stale information to disk while trying to load information that users are asking for. This can create long pauses. Users of standalone computers can get used to this, especially when there’s a visual indication to tell them to wait. But long pauses are less acceptable on a server. Web pages may fail to appear on demand, and other services may stall without warning. For best performance, a server needs more RAM than a standalone Mac. A computer with 4GB of RAM should be adequate for very light home use. For small office applications, aim for 8GB. And 16GB is recommended for a larger office or a business running a small commercial web server. Selecting peripherals As a network product, the only essential peripheral needed for Lion Server is an Ethernet socket. Most Macs have one. 4 004_9781118031735-ch01.indd4_9781118031735-ch01.indd 4 22/16/12/16/12 77:18:18 PMPM Chapter 1: How Do I Install Lion Server? You can manage Lion Server remotely without using a monitor, mouse, keyboard, or trackpad. But you must connect them for initial installation. After installation, you can disconnect them and use them with another Mac. Because Lion Server is designed to be administered remotely, there’s no advantage to using it with a large monitor unless you also plan to use your server as a general- purpose Mac. Lion Server no longer supports the print server available in Snow Leopard Server. But almost any Mac can be used as a basic print server. So if your home or office needs a printer, you can locate it next to any Mac on the network. External backup storage is a useful optional extra. Depending on the size of the network, it can be useful to add an Apple Time Capsule, shown in Figure 1.1, or some competing NAS (Network Attached Storage) server. Alternatively, to save costs, you can simply attach an external 1.1 Don’t forget that you may need to add extra USB drive to the server Mac and set up Time hardware to your server, such as a Time Capsule Machine to use it for backups. backup disk for use with Time Machine. Selecting a form factor Lion Server doesn’t have to run on server hardware, but some Mac form factors are more suitable than others. Running Lion Server on a laptop You can run Lion Server on a laptop, such as the Mac Book Air models shown in Figure 1.2. In theory, it’s possible to create a mobile server that can be carried by one person and accessed remotely by others. But the patchy availability of mobile bandwidth in most locations makes this an unlikely option. Even where wireless 1.2 Although you can run Lion Server on any bandwidth is available, Lion Server is more effi- recent Mac laptop, this doesn’t usually create an cient when it’s physically connected to a net- ideal network server. work using cabling—preferably gigabit Ethernet for maximum performance. 5 004_9781118031735-ch01.indd4_9781118031735-ch01.indd 5 22/16/12/16/12 77:18:18 PMPM Mac OS X Lion Server Portable Genius Generally, Lion Server isn’t a practical choice for less experienced laptop users or for anyone who wants to build a relatively simple network. But it can offer intriguing possibilities for developers and advanced users with network experience. Running Lion Server on an iMac At first sight, an iMac, shown in Figure 1.3, appears to be the ideal Mac for a home server. You can set up Lion Server to share music files, notes, calendars, and other infor- mation. You also can pre-filter and monitor e-mail, and you can create a custom family chat server that is invisible to the rest of the Internet. Performance can be an issue. If the family iMac is heavily used, it may not have the power to operate as a full-performance stand- 1.3 An iMac can be a practical home and small alone Mac and a server at the same time. office server, as long as you don’t underestimate Because family network applications aren’t the required performance. usually demanding, this may not be a problem in practice. But if you plan to use your iMac for heavy gaming, video editing, advanced photo editing, and other more challenging applications, consider an iMac with more memory and a more powerful processor than you would otherwise use, to allow for simultaneous standalone and network use. Running Lion Server on a Mac Mini The Mac Mini, shown in Figure 1.4, is a small and convenient solution for small office and home use. But Mac Mini models aren’t outstandingly powerful, so they’re not recommended for mid- weight commercial applications. You can use a Mac Mini to share photos and media with friends, family, and coworkers and to host a low-traffic blog or an eCommerce site with limited traffic. But a Mac Mini won’t cope with the tens of thousands of page impressions needed to run a popular blog or with the background ser- vices needed to run a busy shopping site. However, it can still be a good choice as an affordable hobby and home media server or as a small office web server and storage manager that can be accessed remotely when working away from base. 6 004_9781118031735-ch01.indd4_9781118031735-ch01.indd 6 22/16/12/16/12 77:18:18 PMPM Chapter 1: How Do I Install Lion Server? 1.4 A Mac Mini is ideal for light and medium performance applications, but may struggle as a professional web server for eCommerce. Running Lion Server on a Mac Pro Now that Apple no longer supplies Xserve hardware for commercial and industrial networking, a Mac Pro, shown in Figure 1.5, can be a practical substi- tute for lightweight commercial appli- cations. Unfortunately, Lion Server isn’t ideal for heavy-duty corporate, educa- tional, and commercial networks. Many of the enterprise features in Snow Leopard Server have been simplified, deprecated, or removed. Experts can continue to manage some of them from the command line, but this makes Lion Server more difficult to work with than Snow Leopard Server. For high- performance web applications, con- sider other solutions, especially the 1.5 A MacPro is a good choice as a medium performance Mac version of the free and widely- server for office and light commercial use. used LAMP package (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP; see Appendix 1). A Mac Pro running Lion Server continues to be a good option for mid-weight applications, such as a network for a larger single office with a few tens of users. Because ultimate performance isn’t needed, it’s possible to run Lion Server successfully on a mid-range Mac Pro, enhanced with extra memory. 7 004_9781118031735-ch01.indd4_9781118031735-ch01.indd 7 22/16/12/16/12 77:18:18 PMPM Mac OS X Lion Server Portable Genius But because of the changes to Lion Server, and because Apple is deliberately moving out of the enterprise market, Lion Server isn’t ideal for heavy-duty commercial and enterprise applications. The high performance of a very powerful Mac Pro is likely to be wasted, and cheaper and more efficient solutions may be available elsewhere. Installing Lion Server Lion Server has three components, and installation isn’t a single-click process; you must download and install the components separately. If you buy Lion Server from the App Store, you won’t be told about Server Admin Tools, and it’s not obvious that one third of the full package is missing! Genius These are the three components: OS X Lion.