[jira] Commented: (INFRA-605) Install and patch OS on Xserves

["Chris Pepper (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

    [ http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INFRA-605?page=comments#action_12356878 ] 

Chris Pepper commented on INFRA-605:
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Note that creating software RAID volumes should be done before putting software on the RAID volume. It's theoretically possible to convert a live volume into a degraded RAID mirror, then add another, but it didn't work when I tried and isn't really supported.

What exactly did we get? Some Xserves come without video cards, some with VGA. Did they come with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" Server?

If they don't have video, initial config is normally done through Server Assistant.app, and requires knowing the serial number to connect to the server. Alternatively, an Xserve can be connected to another Mac in FireWire Target Disk mode. This way, you run the installer on the other Mac, and select the Xserve's drive to install to; then boot (the other Mac, with video) from the drive and do further configuration.

Apple has two remote management tools (aside from ssh, of course). Server Admin runs over HTTPS on its own port, and configures all Apple's services and various other basics, including SSL. For a remote control session, Apple's tool is Remote Desktop, which is VNC-based. Unfortnately, it uses 3 TCP & 2 UDP ports, so doesn't tunnel well through ssh. Apple does include an IPsec VPN server in Tiger Server, and a compatible client in Panther & Tiger, but I haven't tested compatibility with other IPsec clients.

For a VNC server which is fully ssh-tunnelable, I recommend OSXvnc <http://www.redstonesoftware.com/vnc.html>. The application bundle includes two binaries. storepasswd works like htpasswd (and may in fact be compatible -- dunno), and OSXvnc-server is a CLI-invoked VNC server; the bundle can also be double-clicked to start the server as a graphical Mac application. This is probably a good task for initial configuration.

Note that Apple uses OpenLDAP (and NetInfo) for accounts, so before installing someone needs to decide if the servers will master/slaves in an OpenLDAP directory, and/or Kerberized.

Apple's Server docs are at <http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/>.

Third-party docs & discussion on Mac OS X Server are at <http://www.afp548.com/>.

> Install and patch OS on Xserves
> -------------------------------
>
>          Key: INFRA-605
>          URL: http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INFRA-605
>      Project: Infrastructure
>         Type: Sub-task
>     Reporter: Sander Temme
>     Assignee: Sander Temme

>


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