Mac Mini as OSX Server + GlobalSan iSCSI
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It just comes down to managing the mac computers.
in SMB - a windows server setup can be costly and complex. I do not enjoy setting them up all the time and the GPO policies per client needs. pain the F* ass. No distro is perfect, they all suck in my opinion.
Would things be easier if they were still Windows machines? Sure.
Windows 10 - hell no. I tell my customers to stay Windows 7 or 8.1 (classic shell) and hold out.Could I do a Linux domain controller setup (Zentyal or similar) Yep! This would probably be nearly a silver bullet.
But again -- they're on mac computers. iMac's and Mac mini's throughout their office locations. Have been this way for almost a year now.
So needing to manage these machines + users throughout. Also the re-image the machines if something goes honky or a user blows out install. etc.
mac mini + Server.app - I could setup NetInstall & NetRestore....
or... keep a USB drive with Carbon Clone Copy disk image.
For windows machines and installs - I normally keep a CloneZilla disk image of specific machines.
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I've had support issues with Mac OSX Server. Tried to roll them out for a client and Apple engineering had to admit that they didn't work as advertised and could not be fixed and there was nothing to be done but to return it. Apple doesn't stand behind the server approach even though they push it. I'm sure it works well here and I agree with your reasoning on everything except probably the shares, but my own experience with OSX Server is that Apple treats it as an unsupported hobby project and there is no business class support for it.
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Yeah.. Its the unfortunate truth and I see it. They killed their nice server product line and all that to shambles. only one can hope with IBM behind them now for customer service & support center + app development. They would consider re-inventing the server need and enterprise market.
Laughable that Apple says IBM employee's switch to Apple machines or the work place has considerable amount of mac computers.
Which problem area's did you have with Server app? Was this recent or older version of OSX Server?
What would be your take on the shares? Simple point of SMB shares and the security risks associated for future use for threats?
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@ntoxicator said:
Yeah.. Its the unfortunate truth and I see it. They killed their nice server product line and all that to shambles. only one can hope with IBM behind them now for customer service & support center + app development. They would consider re-inventing the server need and enterprise market.
That's just silly. Even IBM doesn't use IBM support.
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@ntoxicator said:
What would be your take on the shares? Simple point of SMB shares and the security risks associated for future use for threats?
Cryptolocker and the like are the big things to watch out for. Eventually a Mac version will make it's way out there.
Moving to a document management system like Sharepoint would negate that problem (assuming you're not using ODfB with it).
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@ntoxicator said:
Which problem area's did you have with Server app? Was this recent or older version of OSX Server?
Couple years ago now, definitely not the latest but not old either. Was probably current in 2012 or 2013? It was issues with SMB handling and they were unable to fix it - not just from support, but they escalated to engineering and it was beyond Apple's technical ability to fix. Their answer was that they were phasing out the product and they couldn't make it work so ... sorry they sold it to us but that's what it is. Wasn't designed to work and there was no intention to fix it.
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@ntoxicator said:
What would be your take on the shares? Simple point of SMB shares and the security risks associated for future use for threats?
I think that shares are by and large a bad idea today. Better to find alternatives. Trial some things and see what people like. Explain that certain ways of thinking just have to change for security reasons.
Start with ownCloud, see how it works for you. It's a great product and easy to manage.
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@Dashrender said:
@ntoxicator said:
What would be your take on the shares? Simple point of SMB shares and the security risks associated for future use for threats?
Cryptolocker and the like are the big things to watch out for. Eventually a Mac version will make it's way out there.
Moving to a document management system like Sharepoint would negate that problem (assuming you're not using ODfB with it).
Or Alfresco. There are getting to be more and more options these days.
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@ntoxicator said:
Windows 10 - hell no. I tell my customers to stay Windows 7 or 8.1 (classic shell) and hold out.
Why wouldn't you recommend Windows 10? It is just an incremental update to Windows 8.1.
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@coliver said:
@ntoxicator said:
Windows 10 - hell no. I tell my customers to stay Windows 7 or 8.1 (classic shell) and hold out.
Why wouldn't you recommend Windows 10? It is just an incremental update to Windows 8.1.
Agreed. So many people are running around with their hair on fire claiming that MS is spying on you with Windows 10. Frankly MS is about the only one TELLING you that they are collecting that data. Google has done this since the beginning, Don't even get me started on Facebook! If you're worried about metadata being collected, you pretty much have to completely disconnect yourself, and even that is not a real and viable solution. I know.. just move to a 3rd world country.
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Its not about the "privacy" issues or concerns. Its about the OS being trash so far. In my experience. I get calls on a weekly basis of customers/residential upgrading to windows 10 and contacting me that now XX is not working or it broke and did not upgrade properly.
Or cases where it upgrades, but the user profile did not get moved over and their data was in another user profile folder and had to be manually moved over.
Furthermore, I do not think its as smooth as windows 8.1 with classic shell
Windows 10 remeinds me of KDE4 - and straight rip of linux theme. Even the new "Settings" area.
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@ntoxicator said:
Its not about the "privacy" issues or concerns. Its about the OS being trash so far. In my experience. I get calls on a weekly basis of customers/residential upgrading to windows 10 and contacting me that now XX is not working or it broke and did not upgrade properly.
Or cases where it upgrades, but the user profile did not get moved over and their data was in another user profile folder and had to be manually moved over.
Furthermore, I do not think its as smooth as windows 8.1 with classic shell
Windows 10 remeinds me of KDE4 - and straight rip of linux theme. Even the new "Settings" area.
Ah you're experience is with upgrades... yep those are going to cause issues no matter what OS you are moving from or to. It is almost universally better to install fresh then to upgrade.
I thought you meant technical reasons as to why you won't deploy it not that you simply don't like the interface.
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Upgrades with MS products have rarely if ever gone well. I definitely discovered that Win 10 upgrades where/are no different.
I tell people to backup their data, make sure they have all of the items they need to reinstall their software (damn I can't wait for a real windows software store, especially for home users), then upgrade, then wipe and reinstall.
I keep hearing that one can choose the OS reset option instead of a full wipe. This supposedly removes all non Windows things and somehow resets all windows components to factory default. This would be a lot easier for a home user than telling them to make a bootable USB stick to reinstall from, but I've never used it. I do the upgrade, then blast an image down.
This is one of those rare situations where I think it's worth the effort for someone to upgrade their OS instead of just buying a new machine, especially if the machine is 3 years or younger.
Unfortunately - if the user can't handle the backup and recovery of their own apps/data, the cost to have someone else do this are often less than buying a new computer - but then the user would have to figure out how to transfer the data and apps anyhow.
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@coliver said:
@ntoxicator said:
Windows 10 - hell no. I tell my customers to stay Windows 7 or 8.1 (classic shell) and hold out.
Why wouldn't you recommend Windows 10? It is just an incremental update to Windows 8.1.
We went 100% Windows 10 something like six months ago and while not perfect, it has been pretty good.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
@ntoxicator said:
Windows 10 - hell no. I tell my customers to stay Windows 7 or 8.1 (classic shell) and hold out.
Why wouldn't you recommend Windows 10? It is just an incremental update to Windows 8.1.
We went 100% Windows 10 something like six months ago and while not perfect, it has been pretty good.
Before the official release? or you went right after the official release?
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@ntoxicator said:
Its not about the "privacy" issues or concerns. Its about the OS being trash so far. In my experience. I get calls on a weekly basis of customers/residential upgrading to windows 10 and contacting me that now XX is not working or it broke and did not upgrade properly.
If they performed a Windows 10 upgrade then neither their opinion, experience or Windows 10 setup feedback are really useful
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
@ntoxicator said:
Windows 10 - hell no. I tell my customers to stay Windows 7 or 8.1 (classic shell) and hold out.
Why wouldn't you recommend Windows 10? It is just an incremental update to Windows 8.1.
We went 100% Windows 10 something like six months ago and while not perfect, it has been pretty good.
Before the official release? or you went right after the official release?
Before the official release.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
@ntoxicator said:
Windows 10 - hell no. I tell my customers to stay Windows 7 or 8.1 (classic shell) and hold out.
Why wouldn't you recommend Windows 10? It is just an incremental update to Windows 8.1.
We went 100% Windows 10 something like six months ago and while not perfect, it has been pretty good.
Before the official release? or you went right after the official release?
We started going before the release. We've been over a year on some devices and 100% of Windows on Windows 10 by several months ago.
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cool - I moved my personal laptop to Windows 10 in the early betas. I've never had an issue. Win10 mobile, that's another story altogether!
Nov 2014 - Bought Lumia 550 for the sole reason of playing with Win 10 mobile beta, The beta was OK
Dec 2014 - beta update was still good, slightly better
Jan 2015 - beta still fine
Feb 2015 - still fine
March 2015 - beta unusable! left the beta never to return. -
Lol getting side tracked here. So much to talk about though! Amazing all the opinions. I just have my own agenda or reservations towards Windows 10. thats all.
I need to look into it from a management perspective though within a Domain network.. That will be fun. As I'm not a big fan of Windows 2012 server either - due to the theme. But over time you get use to it... I'm just 'old school' type of guy I suppose. Granted, I'm not though.
But yes, maybe I over think the solutions, maybe logic gets best of me? I dont know
Just stuck in loop as to a solution for Mac OSX Server and managing those Mac computers & users
