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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The perfect book for me, December 14, 2009
This review is from: Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Server Essentials v10.6: A Guide to Using and Supporting Mac OS X Server v10.6 (Paperback)
I recently purchased a Mac Mini Server to replace some old hardware I have running linux. I thought, being a Mac, that this would be a very simple server to use an probably not need any additional documentation to run. I have been used to doing things in a very low level way and I kept trying to use the beautiful interface that Snow Leopard Server offered but then tweek things by hand. My servers I have been running for over 20 years are not very fancy and I had never configured directory services. I messed things up enough to the point where I reinstalled Snow Leopard Server a total of 5 times as I would mess things up again and again in my ignorance. I decided that I needed some help and while reading the Apple Documentation was helpful, I needed more.
This book has been perfect for me. It is very easy to read. It has pictures where they are needed and each chapter has an exercise that can be completed to learn the concepts. Since I had already set up my server and was using it to host several web sites, I could not follow the exercises verbatium but it was easy to transfer the ideas to my live server. This book has made things click for me and the server is humming along now. I am confident that the things I do won't mess it up now as I have a clear idea on what I need to do to accomplish the things I need to do.
I highly recommend this book to folks new to Snow Leopard Server.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just what it says: a guide to the essentials, February 7, 2010
This review is from: Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Server Essentials v10.6: A Guide to Using and Supporting Mac OS X Server v10.6 (Paperback)
"Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Server Essentials v. 10.6" is just what it says it is: a book on how to get Mac OS X 10.6 Server up and running, and how to configure it to support different types of environments and users. It is organized into major topics according to server services (mail services, file services, Web services, etc.), and richly illustrated with screen shots.
As the book is frequently used in classroom settings, every chapter has a classroom-style review section. But the book is not written as a textbook; you can skip around from topic to topic and use it as a "how to" guide.
The book assumes you are familiar with the concept of server services and have either a Mac OS X or Unix/Linux background. None of the topics is covered exhaustively, and some services -- the firewall, for example -- are essentially not covered at all. The emphasis is on getting Mac OS X 10.6 Server up and running quickly and supporting users.
On the whole, it is an excellent introductory volume. I would have preferred a better index, and almost every chapter could easily be expanded into a whole book. But judging the book on its intended audience and purpose, it is a winner.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe not a bad newbie book. It regurgitates the online help., July 2, 2010
This review is from: Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Server Essentials v10.6: A Guide to Using and Supporting Mac OS X Server v10.6 (Paperback)
I bought this book because I was having problems setting up my 10.6 server (after having last done such work with 10.3). All together I was disappointed with the book. I could not learn anything from it that was not in the help and hints on the server itself (or in the Apple support pages). It's very basic. Beyond that, for real problems, Google searches and blogs offer much more.
It could well be helpful to people who are preparing for a certification test or just don't know much about servers. There are introductions to each section which attempt to explain what the server does in each respect (AFP, mail, chat, etc.). I hope it helps some people.
I bought the book as a medium-advanced server admin who inherited a server in a bad state and needed to clean it up. This book offers no help for working out of bad configurations. (In the end I simply reinstalled the OS). So if you are anything but a beginner take a look around at the books on the market and Apple's own online documentation. (Apple offers a near 300-page pdf file for administering OS X Snow Leopard and it's quite detailed and high-quality.)
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