Snow Leopard Server (Developer Reference) [Paperback]

Daniel Eran Dilger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0470521317 | ISBN-13: 978-0470521311 | Edition: 1

In-depth guide to all aspects of handling Apple's newest big cat

Whether you manage a large enterprise server or your own Macs at home or in a small office, this book has what you need to understand Apple's new Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server inside and out. Crammed with information, this detailed guide presents best practices and insights that have been field-tested by author Daniel Dilger, a professional administrator and Apple developer. You'll soon learn to deploy, administer, and update Apple's powerful new cat.

• Get to know Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, Apple's scalable, 64-bit UNIX-based operating system, and the most powerful Mac OS X version yet
• Explains all aspects, both hardware and software
• Shows how to host Web 2.0 applications, crunch tons of data, or centralize the day-to-day activities of a software development team
• Covers installation and configuration, account authentication and authorization, using open directory, using print and file services, managing accounts and deployment, and using Apple Remote Desktop, Enterprise solutions, and command line control
• Explores open source applications such as iChat Theater, Mail, iCal, Podcast Producer, and more

Keep Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server purring with this practical guide.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Snow Leopard Server

Developer Reference

Daniel Eran Dilger

Every Snow Leopard Server

administrator needs this book

What better way to learn Mac technology than from an Apple veteran? Whether you manage a large enterprise server or a small network of Macs, this book is your complete guide to configuring, deploying, and managing Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. Written by a professional server administrator, this book starts at the kernel level, takes you through advanced server apps, and covers everything in between—software, hardware, security, migration, and more. You'll learn best practices and field-tested techniques that will make your life easier.

• Map your Mac OS® X Snow Leopard Server deployment

• Understand the Mac OS X kernel, the role of Unix®, and legacy technology

• Integrate Mac OS X with Active Directory® and host Windows clients

• Plan standard, workgroup, and advanced configurations

• Supply DHCP, DNS, Xgrid, file sharing, mail, and other network services

• Set up secure access for remote users with the new Mobile Access Server

• Configure iChat®, iCal®, Podcast Producer, blogs, webmail, Address Book, and other servers

Access the latest information on Apple development

Visit www.wileydevreference.com for the latest on tools and techniques for Apple development, as well as Snow Leopard Server Configuration files.

About the Author

Daniel Eran Dilger is a technology consultant and writer with more than a decade of experience in using Mac OS X Server and in managing networks and servers with mixed integration between Microsoft's Windows, Sun's Solaris, Linux, and Mac OS X. He's managed software development and IT projects in a variety of environments, from the open networks of academia to high-security systems in healthcare to fast-paced Internet startups. He's a contributing editor to AppleInsider and RoughlyDrafted magazines.

Product Details

• Paperback: 976 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470521317
• ISBN-13: 978-0470521311
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #793,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best OS X Server book to date, December 30, 2009

By 

David Emery "(Amateur historian, professional... (Reston, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Snow Leopard Server (Developer Reference) (Paperback)

Mac OS X Server has come a very long way in usability, and Daniel Dilger's book makes server configuration approachable. Doing a good job of configuring any server, particularly one exposed to the Internet, is not easy, but Dilger's explanations usually provides not only 'how' but 'why' to do something.

If you're just starting out with OS X Server, this book will be a big help, but it might not be quite enough to get you from opening the box to a fully working configuration. There are plenty of "gotcha's" along the way (and I've stumbled on many of them myself.) (In particular, pay -very close attention- to the chapter on DNS. If you don't get your DNS working -perfectly-, the rest of OS X Server will not work right either. That's where it makes sense to pay for some expertise if you don't have it.) OS X Server's diagnostic messages in the face of configuration errors leave a lot to be desired, and Dilger's book provides some debugging advice but that is not its primary focus. Nor is this a book particularly focused on maintaining a running server.

If you're experienced with earlier versions of Server, there's a lot of new features in Snow Leopard Server; my copy has lots of dog-eared pages for "Oh, I need to try/configure/change that to take advantage of Snow Leopard."

I still think there's room for a book specifically tailored to Small Office/Home Office uses of Mac OS X Server (the Mini Server is a -very attractive- piece of hardware for such an environment.) But of the half-dozen OS X Server (Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard) books I own, this is easily the best.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Mac OS X Server Book, December 12, 2009

By 

Derek Currie (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snow Leopard Server (Developer Reference) (Paperback)

I've poured through several Mac OS X Server books over the years and this one is the best. Daniel Eran Dilger is an excellent writer. He takes the time to be thorough and explain in coherent detail. IMHO this quality of coherence a first for this sort of book. Example: Find a Mac OS X Server book that gives any justice to WebDAV. There aren't any, except this book. Read the information provided and you'll not only know what you're doing, you'll understand why you're doing it.

The book is full of screenshots and easy to follow procedures. It is hefty at about 950 pages. That's what it takes to adequately cover the subject. The previous 'best' book for Mac OS X Server was 'Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration' by Bartosh and Faas. 'Snow Leopard Server (Developer Reference)' is bigger, better and printed on superior paper.

If you'd like to get an idea of Daniel Eran Dilger's writing style and quality, check out his work at RoughlyDrafted Magazine:

[...]

My only major complaint about this book is the bad choice of fonts. Wiley Publishing follow the current trend of using sans-serif fonts for everything. Even Amazon follows the fad. But sorry, bad idea. Long reading passages require serif fonts for ease of reading. It shall ever be thus. Sans-serif fonts look great and read lousy. Why professionals like Wiley go for appearance over readability is beyond comprehension. Check out books by Peachpit Press for comparison.

Meanwhile, one of Wiley's good ideas is their 99¢ Developer Reference app, available at the iTunes Store. With it you can purchase an electronic copy of 'Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard (Developer Reference)' at $20 for when you don't want to lug around the tree version. It has some very nice usability features.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate and misleading, June 18, 2010

By 

K. Kammer (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snow Leopard Server (Developer Reference) (Paperback)

This book seems like an older edition which was given only cursory attention to bring it up to date with 10.6, or was rushed to market for other reasons. Within minutes of picking this book up and reading, I found several, glaring errors, some of which could be explained if the author had never actually used the features in question.

For example, in a feature overview in one of the early, introductory chapters, the book clearly states that Sun's ZFS file system, which was only partially supported on 10.5, is now fully supported as a read-write filesystem in Server 10.6. Too bad that, although Apple announced expanded ZFS support when 10.6 was still on the drawing board, ZFS was, in fact, completely stripped from 10.6 before it shipped. A minor quibble to be sure, but nevertheless, I have to assume that the author wrote that chapter based only on an Apple press announcement, and without actually touching the finished product.

The section on configuring DNS was even more disappointing. The book states that Snow Leopard Server's graphical administration tools do not support setting up forward servers. That is simply not the case, as I was able to complete the task very easily, and entirely in the GUI, by following another guide I found online.

I quickly lost all confidence in this book and the disinformation it provided. I returned it for a refund; I'll be looking for a different OS X Server reference.