OS X Server
Product Overview
October 2013
2
Product Overview
OS X Server
Contents
Page 4 OS X Server
Page 6 Server App
Setup
Stats
Alerts
Logs
Page 8 File Sharing
File Sharing for Mac, PC, and iPad
Flexible File Permissions
Connection Monitoring
Spotlight Searching
Page 10 Caching Server
Fault-Tolerant Design
High Availability
Multiserver Cache Replication
Page 11 Prole Manager
Conguration Proles
Mobile Device Management
Web-Based Administration
Self-Service Portal
Institution-Licensed Apps and Books
Volume Purchasing
Page 14 Xcode Server
Continuous Integration and Testing
Team Development
Page 15 Wiki Server
Simplied Content Creation
Optimized for iPad
WebDAV Access
Quick Look
Page 17 Time Machine Backups
Server Backup
Page 18 Mail Server
Standards-Based SMTP, IMAP, and POP Server
Push Notications
Junk Mail Filtering
Virus Detection and Quarantine
Optimized for Mobile
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Page 20 Contacts Server
Sharing Contacts
Standards-Based CardDAV Server
Global Address Books
Push Notications
Page 22 Calendar Server
Standards-Based CalDAV Server
Email Invites
Push Notications
Page 23 Messages Server
Standards-Based Jabber Server
Store and Forward
Persistent Chat Rooms
Page 24 Websites
Access Controls
Virtual Hosting
Encrypted Data Transport Using SSL
Dynamic Web Content
Page 25 VPN Server
Standards-Based Protocols
On Demand
Page 26 NetInstall
Page 27 Xsan
Volume Management
Metadata Controller Failover
Journaling
Real-Time Monitoring, Graphs, and Event Notication
Page 28 Server Fundamentals
High-Performance Networking
Advanced Server Features
Security and Access Controls
Page 29 Additional Information
System Requirements
Languages
Pricing
Resources
4
Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server brings more power to your business, home oce, or school. Designed to
support Mac and iOS devices, OS X Server makes it easy to share les, schedule meetings,
synchronize contacts, host your own websites, publish wikis, develop software as a
team, remotely access your network, mass-congure Mac computers, iPhone, iPad,
and iPod touch devices, and more.
The key features of OS X Server are as follows:
File Sharing. Share documents and folders, and exchange les between multiple
computers—Mac or PC. And with WebDAV le sharing for iPad, users can access,
copy, and share documents on the server from within applications such as Keynote,
Numbers, and Pages.
Caching Server. Speed up the download of apps, books, software updates, iTunes U
course material, and OS X Recovery images delivered by Apple. Caching Server reduces
Internet bandwidth usage and speeds up software installs on your network.
Prole Manager. Simplify the deployment, conguration, and management of Mac
computers and iOS devices in your organization. Prole Manager acts as a Mobile
Device Management (MDM) server for conguration of user accounts, system settings,
security policies, and distribution of institution-licensed apps and books.
Xcode Server. It’s easier than ever for Mac and iOS development teams to create
robust, reliable software, thanks to continuous integration, testing, and repository
hosting services.
Wiki Server. Improve group collaboration using wikis. Users can create new wikis;
add content and formatting; tag and cross-reference material; upload les and images;
add comments; view revision history; and share documents.
OS X Server
OS X Server is available for $19.99 as an
easy download from the Mac App Store.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Time Machine Backups. Use your server as a Time Machine backup destination for
all the Mac computers on your network. You can also use Time Machine to make a
complete backup of all les and server conguration data on your server.
Mail Server. Standards-based mail services allow OS X Server to work with email clients
on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. Push notications ensure that iPhone and iPad users
are immediately notied when they receive new mail messages.
Contacts Server. Be more productive by syncing and sharing contacts—such as a list
of customers or suppliers—with other iPhone, iPad, and Mac users in your organization.
Calendar Server. Easily share calendars, schedule meetings, and coordinate events
within your organization. OS X Server provides real-time access to your calendar from
your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or web browser.
Messages Server. Transfer les securely, share a persistent chat room, conduct an audio
conference, or even broadcast a presentation, movie, or photo slideshow to others
using Messages with OS X.
Websites. Your complete, easy-to-use web hosting solution. You don’t need to be an
experienced webmaster to set up websites and host them on OS X Server.
VPN Server. Allow users to securely connect to your organization’s network services
and condential information from home or away from the oce.
NetInstall. Save time by automating the deployment of OS X software installs and
upgrades across your network.
Xsan. Built into OS X, the Xsan le system allows any Mac with appropriate connectivity
to access an Xsan volume. OS X Server includes the Xsan Admin application for hosting
and conguring Xsan volumes.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
The Server application is a powerful tool for managing OS X Server. In one place, it
gives you control over managing users and groups, and setting up key services such
as le sharing, calendaring, messaging, mail, wikis, secure remote access, and backup
settings for network clients.
Setup
Conguring OS X Server is almost as easy as conguring your Mac for the rst time.
Simply launch the Server app and choose to set up your Mac as a server.
An assistant walks you through the setup of your Mac as a server, veries network
settings, and helps dene your administrator account.
An Overview screen displays the host name, the computer name, the amount of time
since the last system restart, the system version, the server version, and the Ethernet
ports with assigned IP addresses.
Server App
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Stats
Picture your server activity over time. Stats show when your server is the most busy,
nearing capacity, and least used. Stats include the following:
• Processor Usage. Monitor the workload of the server’s processor or processors.
• Memory Usage. See how much memory the server has been using.
• Network Trac. Track how much incoming and outgoing data the server transfers
over the network.
Alerts
It’s easy to receive notication of alerts and other important events on your server. In
addition to email, OS X Server can send push notications to alert you about low disk
space, software updates, expiring SSL certicates, email viruses, and network conguration
changes. Each alert message notes when the event occurred, briey describes the event,
outlines available recovery options for resulting problems, and may assist you in recovery.
Logs
OS X Server maintains standard UNIX log les and Apple-specic process logs. These
logs include the messages you see in alert dialogs, and messages you won’t see
anywhere else about routine actions, warnings, and errors. If you receive an error
message in a dialog, a log may show additional detail about the issue.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Whether you’re supporting a creative team, a distributed sales force, a class of students,
or just about any small business or workgroup, you know your users need to share
information to work eectively. OS X Server makes it easy to share les between Mac
computers, iPad devices, and PCs, as if they were using the les locally.
OS X Server is the easiest and most cost-eective way to share les locally or over the
Internet. Once you’ve created a group on your network, the group gets a shared folder
on the server, as well as a guest folder and a drop box. Whether they’re on Mac or PC
systems, all group members can read and write to les in the shared folder as if they
were using their own hard drives. Built-in le-level locking keeps any Mac or PC from
overwriting changes when a le is opened by more than one user at a time; only the
user who unlocked the le can make changes.
Productivity is greatly enhanced when users store work in centralized folders rather
than on individual computers. With centralized le storage, all users have access to the
same up-to-the-minute le. Since a single version resides on the server, there won’t be
any confusion about multiple versions of the same document. And users won’t need
to worry about losing important data in the event of a system failure or a lost or stolen
laptop. The le is safe on the server.
File Sharing
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Product Overview
OS X Server
File Sharing for Mac, PC, and iPad
OS X Server makes it easy for you to set up central network storage that’s accessible
to clients throughout your organization. Using native protocols—including SMB2, AFP,
SMB/CIFS, NFS, and WebDAV—OS X Server delivers le services to all the clients on
your network.
iPad users can access les from a Mac or PC. And with WebDAV le sharing, they can
access, copy, and share documents on the server from within applications such as
Keynote, Numbers, and Pages.
SMB2 is the new default protocol for sharing les in OS X Server. It is superfast, increases
security, and improves Windows compatibility:
• Ecient. SMB2 features Resource Compounding, allowing multiple requests to be
sent in a single request. In addition, SMB2 can use large reads and writes to make
better use of faster networks and also provides large MTU support for blazing speeds on
10Gb Ethernet. It aggressively caches le and folder properties, and uses opportunistic
locking to enable better caching of data. It’s even more reliable, thanks to the ability
to transparently reconnect to servers in the event of a temporary disconnect.
• Secure. SMB2 supports Extended Authentication Security using Kerberos and
NTLMv2.
• Compatible. SMB2 is automatically used to share les between two Macs running
OS X Mavericks, or when a Windows client running Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
connects to your Mac server. OS X Server can share les with other Mac computers
and PCs using the SMB2, AFP, or SMB network le-sharing protocols, automatically
selecting the appropriate protocol as needed.
Flexible File Permissions
OS X Server supports both traditional UNIX le permissions and access control lists
(ACLs), oering administrators an unprecedented level of control over le and folder
permissions. With le system ACLs, any le object can be assigned multiple users and
groups, including groups within groups. Each le object can also be assigned both
allow and deny permissions, as well as a granular set of permissions for administrative
control, read, write, and delete operations.
Connection Monitoring
See who is accessing your server. File-sharing connection monitoring gives you status
of who is connected, how long they have been connected, and if they are idle or not.
In addition, you can send users notication messages, and warn them if the server is
going oine.
Spotlight Searching
Designed for workgroups with shared documents, projects, and les, the built-in
Spotlight searching delivers lightning-fast search results for content stored on the
server. Powerful search options, such as Boolean logic, quoted phrase searching,
category labels, and range support, make it easy to locate content in a ash. Content
indexing occurs on the server—automatically and transparently—keeping search
results up-to-the-moment accurate.
To safeguard your organization’s data, Spotlight searching works with access controls
in OS X Server, so users see only the search results they have permission to view. This
makes it easy for everyone in a group to store les in a single shared location, while
protecting condential information from unauthorized access.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks
Caching Server supports iPhone, iPad and
iPod touch devices running iOS 7, and
Mac computers running OS X Mavericks
or OS X Mountain Lion.
Speed up the download and delivery of software from Apple. Caching Server locally
caches content from App Store, Mac App Store, iBooks Store, Software Update, and
iTunes U to reduce Internet bandwidth usage and speed up software installs on
your network.
When a user on your network downloads new software from Apple, a copy is auto-
matically stored on the Caching Server. The next time other users on your network
update or download that same software, they’re actually accessing it from inside
the network.
Using Caching Server requires no client conguration. Computers and devices on
your network automatically take advantage of the Caching Server when available.
Caching Server is easy to use; no complex setup or network conguration is required.
Simply turn the Caching Server on to begin enjoying the benets.
Fault-Tolerant Design
The service has a built-in failover mechanism. When the client cannot reach the local
Caching Server, or if the connection is disrupted, it automatically fails over to the public
content distribution network used by Apple. The failover is automatic and instantaneous.
High Availability
Caching Server is designed for high availability with automatic load balancing
of incoming connections, and scalability that supports up to 750 simultaneous
connections on a single Mac mini server.
Multiserver Cache Replication
For improved performance on large networks, Caching Server automatically replicates
cached content between multiple servers.
Caching Server
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Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server is ideal for schools and businesses that need to simplify the deployment,
conguration, and management of computers and devices in the organization. Prole
Manager is a web-based admin console for the creation of conguration proles and
can act as a Mobile Device Management server for both Mac and iOS devices.
Conguration Proles
Prole Manager simplies the creation and deployment of conguration proles for
Mac and iOS devices. Conguration proles—essentially XML data les—can easily
be created using Prole Manager, then distributed through the self-service portal or
emailed to users for installation on their computer or device.
Prole Manager
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Mobile Device Management
Apple has built Mobile Device Management (MDM) into both OS X and iOS, giving
businesses and schools the ability to remotely manage devices in an enterprise
environment. With MDM, IT departments can wirelessly congure and update accounts,
settings, restrictions, and password and PIN code policies; monitor compliance with
corporate policies; remotely wipe or lock managed devices; distribute institution-
licensed apps and books; and more.
Management of OS X and iOS devices takes place via a connection to an MDM server
such as Prole Manager. The device communicates with the server to see if there are
tasks pending and responds with the appropriate actions. These tasks can include
updating policies, providing requested device or network information, or removing
settings and data.
Most management functions are completed behind the scenes with no user interaction
required. For example, if an IT department updates its VPN infrastructure, Prole Manager
can congure a Mac or iOS device with new account information over the air. The next
time VPN is used by an employee, the appropriate conguration is already in place, so
the employee doesn’t need to call the help desk or manually modify settings.
Web-Based Administration
Featuring a web-based console, Prole Manager enables administration from web
browsers such as Safari on Mac or iPad. Admins can dene prole settings for individual
users, groups, devices, and groups of devices. For group-based management, Prole
Manager easily integrates with directory services such as Open Directory, Active
Directory, and LDAP.
Self-Service Portal
To simplify prole deployment, Prole Manager includes a web portal where users can
download and install new conguration proles for their Mac or iOS device. Users can
access this portal in Safari to manage their passcode, set the boot password for their
Mac, or remotely lock and/or wipe devices that have been lost or stolen.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Institution-Licensed Apps and Books
Apple is making it easier than ever for businesses and schools to get apps into the
hands of those who need them, whether employees, students, or faculty.
The App Store Volume Purchase Program allows your business or institution to purchase
apps, books, and textbooks individually or in bulk; pay using purchase orders or other
means; and distribute them to users directly within the App Store or iBooks Store.
Best of all, your organization maintains control and ownership of app licenses, allowing
them to be reassigned. If an employee leaves your company or a student moves on,
the app license can be revoked and allocated to another employee or student. (The
prior user receives a notication and can purchase a personal copy of the app during
the expiration grace period.)
Volume Purchasing
The App Store and iBooks Store feature thousands of great apps, books, and textbooks
ideal for businesses and educators. With the App Store Volume Purchase Program,
you can harness the power of the App Store for distributing institution-owned apps
and books.
Once enrolled in the App Store Volume Purchase Program, your business or educational
institution has access to a dedicated portal for software purchasing, license management,
and distribution.
• App Store download. Accessing new apps couldn’t be simpler. Within the App Store,
users install institutionally purchased apps directly on their Mac or iOS device using
their own personal Apple ID.
• App purchasing. The App Store Volume Purchase Program website allows your business
or school to purchase apps, books, and textbooks individually or in bulk for all of your
Apple products.
• Institutional payment methods. Apps and books can be purchased individually or
in bulk using purchase orders, credit cards, procurement cards (pCards), or PayPal.
Payment methods vary by country.
• Mac and iOS. The App Store Volume Purchase Program supports purchasing and
distributing apps and books to Mac systems running OS X Mavericks and devices
running iOS 7.
• User privacy. Users install institutionally purchased apps directly within the App Store
using their own personal Apple ID, which remains private and is never known by the
business or education institution.
• Distribution. Apps can easily be assigned to users via email, or be delivered over the
air from within Prole Manager.
The same App Store used to distribute over
50 billion apps is available for businesses and
schools to provide licensed software to their
employees, students, and faculty.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Xcode Server makes it easier than ever for a Mac or iOS development team to create
robust, reliable software, thanks to continuous integration, testing, and repository
hosting services.
Software developers can use OS X Server directly from within Xcode to automatically
integrate and archive their projects, automatically run tests on multiple iOS devices, host
Git repositories, and view a history of build and test results.
Continuous Integration and Testing
With Xcode Server, developers can create continuous integration “bots” that build,
analyze, and test your software running on OS X Server. Bots can be congured to
run at specic times, or continually as code is committed to the repository. Automation
tests can be run for OS X and iOS apps, including the execution of tests on multiple
iOS devices.
Xcode Server includes a Big Screen web interface with active bots showing success/failure
status, perfect for display on a high-denition TV.
Team Development
Development teams can host their own Git repositories, and remotely access detailed
integration summaries and nightly builds from a web interface. Xcode Server also
provides easy downloading of product archives or executable apps, ideal for internal
testing by the QA team, and a web interface that details integration history.
Xcode Server
Bots
Xcode can congure a continuous integration
“bot” on any Mac in your network running
OS X Server. The Xcode bot on the remote
Mac will perform an integration—build,
analyze, test, and archive your app—when
anyone on your team commits to source
control, or at a dened interval.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server makes it simple for people to collaborate and communicate using wikis.
With wikis, users can add content and formatting; tag and cross-reference material;
upload les and images; add comments; view revision history; and share documents.
And because the wiki content is web based, it is easily accessible from your iPad,
iPhone, Mac, or PC.
Simplied Content Creation
Editing a wiki is easy. The intuitive edit toolbar lets users customize fonts; add text,
tables, charts; and attach les, including audio and video. No syntax or HTML or markup
required. You can even customize your wiki look and feel with your own icon, color
scheme, banner, and background image.
Optimized for iPad
Wiki Server has an elegant touch-based design, giving iPad users faster, more powerful
ways to create, edit, and share information. In Safari on iPad, wikis appear as tidy stacks—
just tap to take a peek inside. Or tap to reveal recent activity, view change history, or
add comments.
Wiki Server
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Product Overview
OS X Server
WebDAV Access
iPad users can open and save attachments from wikis directly within applications such
as Keynote, Numbers, and Pages.
Quick Look
One of the most useful features of the Wiki Server is Quick Look. By clicking the Quick
Look icon next to a le attachment on the wiki, users can view the document without
downloading it. Quick Look supports all standard le formats, including Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, QuickTime, PDF, and text documents.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server can act as a designated Time Machine backup for all the Macs on
your network. Centralizing your backup storage helps protect valuable data, free
up disk space on individual drives—and eliminate the need for separate backup
drives altogether.
Time Machine automatically makes a complete backup of all les on the computer
to a locally attached external hard drive, an available internal hard disk, or a remote
network le system. It also keeps track as les are created, updated, or deleted over
time. Time Machine backs up the changes and creates a history of the le system
that you can navigate by date. You can use its intuitive time-based visual browser to
search back through time to nd and restore any les that were backed up.
Server Backup
You can also use Time Machine to make a complete backup of all les and server
conguration data on your server. Time Machine automatically backs up data and
settings for Contacts, File Sharing, Calendar, Messages, Mail, Prole Manager, VPN,
websites, wikis, and Xcode Server.
OS X Server takes advantage of Time Machine to back up all les and conguration
data on your server. Once they are backed up, you can easily restore your server to a
previous state or restore just a service.
Time Machine Backups
18
Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server is the ideal solution for companies that need email access in the oce
or while on the go. With OS X Server, you can bring email in-house and use your own
domain name rather than rely upon your ISP to host your email.
Standards-Based SMTP, IMAP, and POP Server
Based entirely on open Internet standards, OS X Server provides mail services that work
with email clients on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. OS X Server uses SSL to encrypt
your email transfers on your network.
Push Notications
With integration into the Apple Push Notication service, OS X Server can immediately
notify iPhone and iPad users when they receive new mail messages.
Junk Mail Filtering
Mail Server features adaptive ltering to protect your network from unwanted junk
mail. OS X Server analyzes the content of each mail message and trains itself to
recognize—and lter out—marginal mail.
Mail Server
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Virus Detection and Quarantine
To prevent destructive viruses, Mail Server scans email messages and attachments—if
a virus is found, Mail Server quarantines and deletes email before it can make its way
into your organization.
Optimized for Mobile
OS X Server improves the speed and responsiveness when accessing mail from a
mobile device. It features advanced IMAP protocol support that enables server-side
document searching of text and attachments, attachment compression, and
attachment forwarding without requiring a download.
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Product Overview
OS X Server
Accessing an up-to-date list of contacts is critical to the operation of any business.
OS X Server keeps your business and employees productive by enabling contacts to
be shared and kept in sync on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Sharing Contacts
With OS X Server, you can share and synchronize contacts—such as a list of customers,
suppliers, or employees—with other users, devices, and computers in your organization.
Contact information updated by one user is immediately accessible by everyone
accessing the shared CardDAV account.
Standards-Based CardDAV Server
Contacts Server uses the CardDAV protocol standard supported in iOS and OS X for
exchange of contact data. Users manage their contacts directly within Contacts on
their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The information is then stored on OS X Server, allowing users
immediate access to the new and modied contacts within applications such as Mail,
Messages, and FaceTime.
Contacts Server
21
Product Overview
OS X Server
Global Address Books
Contacts Server delivers real-time search results from individually managed contacts,
in addition to contacts stored in your company’s existing LDAP directory.
Push Notications
With integration into the Apple Push Notication service, OS X Server can immediately
notify users when contacts are added or modied.
22
Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server makes it easy to share calendars, schedule meetings, and coordinate events
within your organization. OS X Server provides real-time access to your calendar from
your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or web browser. You or your colleagues can propose meetings,
book conference rooms, reserve resources, and add comments quickly and easily.
You can even attach les—such as agendas, to-do lists, presentations, or movies—
to the invitation.
Standards-Based CalDAV Server
Calendar Server uses the industry-standard CalDAV protocol for calendar scheduling
and sharing. Users access their calendar information directly within the Calendar
application on their Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
Email Invites
Need to invite someone who is not in your organization? No problem. Just enter their
email address in the meeting proposal, and OS X Server sends them an email invitation,
then shares their response with the rest of the meeting attendees.
Push Notications
Calendar Server is integrated with the Apple Push Notication service, so you and your
colleagues nd out immediately when there’s a new meeting invitation or a change to
an upcoming event.
Calendar Server
23
Product Overview
OS X Server
Bring the power of collaborative instant messaging to your organization. With Messages
Server, users can transfer les securely, share a persistent chat room, conduct an audio
conference, or even broadcast a presentation, movie, or photo slideshow to others
using Messages with OS X.
Standards-Based Jabber Server
Messages Server uses the Jabber instant messaging protocol. Also known as XMPP,
the Jabber protocol enables support for Mac computers using Messages, as well as
for other Jabber clients on iPhone, iPad, and PCs.
Store and Forward
Thanks to store-and-forward functionality, Messages Server allows users to send
messages to buddies who are online, combining the advantages of instant messaging
and email.
Persistent Chat Rooms
Messages users can request Messages Server to create and host a persistent chat room.
Perfect for virtual-team scenarios, project-specic discussions, and real-time, blow-by-blow
updates, the chat room allows individuals to join at any time, leave when they need to—
even log out and shut down—and still come back to review all communications from
the time the chat room opened.
Messages Server
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Product Overview
OS X Server
You don’t need to be an experienced webmaster to set up websites and host them on
OS X Server. Use OS X Server to publish custom websites that you created (or someone
has created for you) using website development software.
Access Controls
You can restrict access to each website to a specic group, or restrict parts of the
website to specic groups. Authentication using name and password can be required
to access restricted content.
Virtual Hosting
OS X Server takes the complexity out of conguring, hosting, and managing websites.
You can congure individual security options, index les, and access controls, and host
dynamic web applications on a per-site basis.
Encrypted Data Transport Using SSL
OS X Server features integrated support for strong encryption and authentication
using SSL digital certicates.
Dynamic Web Content
OS X Server is extremely exible, so you can add dynamic content for more interactive
websites and applications. The Web Server supports dynamic content generated by
Server-Side Includes, PHP, Apache modules, and CGIs.
Websites
25
Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server allows users to securely connect to your organization’s network services
and condential information from home or away from the oce. Virtual private network
(VPN) access enables your osite users to securely access network services while
preventing access by unauthorized individuals.
Standards-Based Protocols
OS X Server supports the standards-based L2TP/IPSec and PPTP tunneling protocols to
provide encrypted VPN connections for iPad, iPhone, Mac, and PCs. These VPN services
use strong authentication methods, including MS-CHAP and network-layer IPSec.
On Demand
When using Prole Manager, administrators can now dene VPN on-demand proles to
provide seamless, secure access to your organization’s network. VPN on demand allows
your Mac to establish a secure connection to the VPN server without requiring the user
to bring up the connection manually.
VPN Server
26
Product Overview
OS X Server
Automate OS X installations and upgrades across your network. Designed for admin-
istrators who manage operating system installations and software updates for their
organizations, NetInstall performs automated software installations, whether it’s a
new version of the operating system, a specic suite of applications for a workgroup,
or both. NetInstall saves time and eliminates the expense of distributing software on
disk or the need for administrators to congure each system in person.
Instead of going from computer to computer to install an operating system and app
software, you can prepare an installation image that installs on each computer when
it starts up. You can also choose to not install software and have client computers start
up (or boot) from an image stored on the server. In some cases, clients don’t even need
their own hard disk. Using NetInstall, your client computers can start from a standardized
OS X conguration image suited to specic tasks. Because the client computers start
from the same image, you can quickly update the operating system for users by updating
a single boot image.
NetInstall
27
Product Overview
OS X Server
Xsan is a 64-bit cluster le system specically designed for small and large computing
environments that demand the highest level of data availability. This specialized tech-
nology enables multiple Macs to share RAID storage volumes over a high-speed Fibre
Channel network. Each client can read and write directly to the centralized le system,
accelerating user productivity while improving workgroup collaboration. Because
everyone can be working with the same les on the network, Xsan dramatically
improves the eciency of post-production and other data-intensive workows.
The Xsan le system is built into OS X, allowing any Mac with appropriate connectivity
to access an Xsan volume. OS X Server includes the Xsan Admin application for hosting
and conguring Xsan volumes.
Volume Management
Xsan allows you to create storage pools made of identical sets of LUNs, and stripe
them together for the fastest-possible performance. Dierent pools oering special
storage characteristics can be combined into volumes; and data placement settings,
or anities, enable you to direct data to specic volumes depending on performance
and protection requirements.
Metadata Controller Failover
Xsan has a high-availability design that allows users to access mission-critical data even
in the event of a system or Fibre Channel network failure. Metadata controller failover
protects storage availability from server hardware failure.
Journaling
File system journaling tracks modications to metadata, enabling quick recovery of the
le system in case of unexpected interruptions in service. And Fibre Channel multipathing
allows le system clients to automatically use an alternate data path should a failure occur.
Real-Time Monitoring, Graphs, and Event Notication
For day-to-day SAN management, OS X Server includes the Xsan Admin application.
Xsan Admin makes it easy to manage and monitor your SAN and noties you of
impending issues.
Xsan
28
Product Overview
OS X Server
OS X Server takes advantage of the UNIX-compliant foundation of OS X. This rock-solid
core provides the stability, performance, and security that organizations require—and
full UNIX conformance ensures compatibility with existing server and application
software.
High-Performance Networking
Incorporating the latest industry-standard networking and security protocols, OS X
uses the time-tested BSD sockets and TCP/IP stack to provide compatibility and
integration with IP-based networks.
A fully multithreaded IP stack and advanced process- and thread-scheduling algorithms
enable OS X to eciently service requests—even when hundreds of users are simul-
taneously connected to the server. From the lowest levels of the kernel to everyday
applications, performance gains are especially noticeable on the latest Intel multicore
systems.
Advanced Server Features
OS X features an industrial-strength design required for business-critical server
deployments. “Headless” operation allows administrators to install and congure
services without needing to connect a display to the server. Powerful remote adminis-
tration tools permit secure service management from anywhere on the network
or over the Internet, and support for SSH provides secure access from the UNIX
command line.
To keep critical services up and running, OS X has built-in tools for monitoring systems,
preventing accidental shutdown, and recovering services quickly in case of network or
power failure.
Security and Access Controls
OS X is designed to be secure right out of the box—no security expertise is required.
Included are features that keep your systems secure, such as advanced security archi-
tectures, a built-in rewall, and strong encryption and authentication technologies.
Server Fundamentals
29
Product Overview
OS X Server
© 2013 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, FaceTime, iBooks, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iTunes, iTunes U, Keynote,
Mac, Numbers, OS X, Pages, QuickTime, Safari, Spotlight, Time Machine, Xcode, and Xsan are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered
in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Intel is a trademark of Intel Corp. in the U.S. and other
countries. UNIX® is a registered trademark of The Open Group. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be
trademarks of their respective companies. October 2013 L516499A
System Requirements
• Mac computer running OS X Mavericks.
• 10GB of available space; some features require additional disk space.
• Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
• Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
• Some features require program enrollment.
• Some features are not available in all countries.
Languages
• English
• Chinese
• Dutch
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Spanish
Pricing
Anyone can quickly and easily turn a Mac running OS X Mavericks into a server that’s
perfect for home oces, businesses, schools, and hobbyists alike. OS X Server is an
application you can add to OS X Mavericks right from the Mac App Store for $19.99.
Resources
• Documentation: www.apple.com/osx/server/documentation
• Training and certication: training.apple.com
• Product support: www.apple.com/support
Additional Information