With all the attention on the desktop version ofMac OS X Lionand its 250 - plus new features , the word about Mac OS X Lion Server has been somewhat disregard . That ’s a pity , because it looks like there ’s going to some really good stuff in it .
Pricing and distribution
The first two bits of good stuff are the terms and the way of life you get it . Lion Serverwill sell for $ 50 ; that ’s on top of the price of Lion itself ( which you have to purchase , too ) , but the sum will still be less than $ 100 . That ’s a huge deduction from Mac Snow Leopard Server , which be $ 499 , making this great way for small companies to bulge out using Mac OS X Server .
Ironically , that pricing is have some alarm among larger companies who had pay for theApple Maintenance Program . AMP gets you three twelvemonth of free rise for $ 449 per license . When Mac OS X Server cost $ 499 , that was a big deal . When it be less then $ 100 ? Not so great . ( It will be interesting to see how Apple deals with this . )
The second good mo is the new dispersion simulation . The only real difference between Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Lion Server — other than the extra $ 50 — is that the latter includes administrative shaft . For model , if you wanted to directly connect a Mac toXsanprior to Mac OS X Lion , you had to pay $ 999 per Mac . With Mac OS X Lion , the Xsan filing cabinet system is built into the client . All you utilise Mac OS X Lion Server for is configuration and direction of Xsan volumes and the SAN itself .
Xsan management in Lion server
Xsan direction in Lion waiter
Obviously , in - place climb are n’t always the good solvent , and there are still some unrequited enquiry about both cost and distribution . But an 80 percent cost stinger ? That ’s not bad .
Device management at last
With Mac OS X Lion Server , Apple in the end deals with an embarassing job : There was no Apple - bring home the bacon style to deal big numbers of iOS devices . Oh sure , it was manageable from a Mac , but you had to pay for third - company software . It was as if Microsoft made you corrupt an IBM Cartesian product to deal Exchange . Apple is fixing that in Mac OS X Lion Server , by including a raw management tool : Profile Manager .
base on what footling information I ’ve been able to find , Profile Manager is an Apple carrying out of itsMobile equipment Management APIsthat will allow you to recruit and manage iOS devices without connecting them to iTunes or the iPhone Configuration Utility . Much asiOS 5will make it well-heeled to superintend your own Io gimmick , Profile Manager will radically simplify the management Io devices for IT department . Even better , from my experience work with Mobile equipment Management product , I ’d wager that a Mac miniskirt will be a adept option as host for PM ; the calculation requirements should really be quite small . Even better - er : You ’ll get PM — along with the respite of Lion Server — for $ 49 .
But wait , there ’s more : Profile Manager is n’t just for iOS . It will also avail you manage your Macs and your users . I have no theme whether Profile Manager will replace Apple’sMCX systemfor managing Macs and user . But , feed how twitchy MCX can be and how well Mobile gadget Management ferment , I sure as shooting would n’t shake off a tear if that were the case . If all my guest have to be on Lion to absent MCX from my toolset , I could live with that , too . Profile Manager alone would be a swell reason to upgrade to Lion Server . And , again : $ 49 .
Xsan management in Lion server
There are a bunch of other melioration and new features coming in Mac OS X Lion Server . Among those I ’m really looking forward to : File divvy up for iPads , via the WebDAV communications protocol ( please let this ferment better than the Finder ’s WebDAV execution ) ; integration of Mac OS X Lion Server ’s atomic number 99 - mail and calendar server into Apple ’s Push Notification substructure ( mean Apple client plug into to Apple server will get push notification of e - chain armour and calendar information ) ; well-off shared calendar apparatus in iCal Server ; and an update to the Mail server ’s Webmail .
The bottom line
There ’s more to OS X Lion Server than just pricing and features . Apple is saying that a server O does not have to cost chiliad — or even hundreds — of buck more than a client OS . It ’s even saying that we might not even need a particular , separate “ server ” OS . Maybe , instead , everyone buy the same OS ; if you require it to work as a server , you spend a little amount of money for a few utilities that help you manage the features that are already there .
rightful , IT will no longer get its server OS on a DVD — but hey , nobody else will , either , and is that really all that important ? As long as the features I need are there , I do n’t need to get my knickers in a twist just because the differentiation between server and node is blurrier than before .
John Welch is IT Director for The Zimmerman Agency , and a long - time Mac IT savant .
Have a doubtfulness about managing internet Macs , at piece of work or at home ? pen us at macitguy ( at ) macworld.com .
