Macworld Forums: Mac OS X 10.6 Server - Macworld Forums

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In general works well, and is faster and easier.

So one little surprise we discovered on upgrading, is that Python got upgraded to the latest 2.6 version. SURPRISE! your apps probably won't work. Yes I am aware one can work around this with difficulty, but that's a big break for folks who do some development with python.

Tomcat is at version 6.0.18 for those who care (this has a smaller, but not 0 chance of breaking web apps).

As for MySQL read carefully about this prior to upgrading. In the end it works fine, but take great care.

"Both the e-mail and iCal servers gain push capabilities in Snow Leopard, so you no longer have to use someone else’s mail server if you want push features on your iPhone."

Unfortunately, the push email doesn't work with the iPhone. It does work with Mail.app.

Anyone using external eSATA drives, be aware that Mac OS X 10.6 is incompatible with the LaCie eSATA II PCI-Express Card. The problem lies with the Silicon Image chipset - there are no new drivers and none are likely to be available.

Lacie's 4-port alternative works fine - at 5 times the cost.

I wonder if the bug of permissions occasionally getting hosed when saving from Leopard Client to a Tiger or Leopard Server has been fixed in Snow Leopard Client and/or Server? We are a newspaper publishing company that started to get a few machines near the start of the year that shipped with Leopard client. On heavy production days, on a real simple share point, we would get maybe 5-10 files (out of several hundred) that would lose track of their permissions - real simple, setup, basic setup on both a Tiger Server and Leopard Server. The file owner and group would become "unknown". I switched from POSIX to ACL permissions on the two servers, but no luck. I have heard through various forums that the problem originates in the Client's ACLs, and not the server. I'm testing one workstation, my own, with Snow Leopard client, and so far, the bug has appeared once. I do fix the problem temporarily by propagating permissions with Server Admin, but would love to have a permanent fix.

That's a nice overview of a few new features, but I wouldn't mind seeing a performance review. In short, why should someone consider setting up a Mac OS X based server as opposed to a Linux server. How does OS X server perform with serving web pages? How about databases, etc. These are the types of things servers are used for and I'd like to see how OS X 10.6 compares.

viclen, on 16 October 2009 - 05:41 AM, said:

viclen - we're using the $99 SeriTek eSATA card in our early '09 Xserve running 10.6 with no problems.

http://eshop.macsale...mtek/SATA2SE2E/

Steve_S, on 16 October 2009 - 07:42 AM, said:

Performance testing is a chimera. the best you can ever do is create a completely hypothetical lab setup and test that, which will have nothing to do with real world situations, loads, connections, data types, etc.

I wonder if the guest account problem also exists in this Server version.

10.6 is fine if you're a noob to Mac OS X Server and don't mind some of the advertised features not working (yet at least), but Apple needs to do a better job of supporting its existing Server customers. Where is the information about features that are new, changed, discontinued, and not currently working? If you're an admin planning an upgrade from 10.5, you have almost no idea going into it how much pain you'll be faced with... until you are.

This post has been edited by perdygood: 16 October 2009 - 12:48 PM

perdygood, on 16 October 2009 - 12:48 PM, said:

That would be called the "Server Documentation" and the server web site, which has a decent list of what's new and what's changed. You can also download a time-limited demo, run it in a VM, and see for yourself.

I wish Apple offered upgrade pricing on Mac OS X Server. It costs the same whether I'm installing it on a Mac Pro or an XServe that came with 10.5 Server. In my opinion $499 is way too much for this minor upgrade.

jcwelch, on 16 October 2009 - 03:01 PM, said:

Actually, no, that would be an indecent list Apple provides. I really doubt Apple has any organized idea what all the changes are, discontinued features, and features that don't quite work, but if they do, they're not sharing.

Unfortunately, no matter how good it is or how inexpensive it is even if Apple was giving it away, IT managers will ultimately choose Microsoft Windows Server because supposedly it is far better product and has more add-ons for management in all aspects than what Apple offers. I wonder why Apple even bothers. Most IT managers are in love with Windows Server software and will never change.

When Apple builds it's own data center, they'll be their own best customers for Apple Servers and Server software. At least I hope so. Surely Apple won't go with Windows Server software in their own data center. That's pretty funny.