Wazza’s OS X Server Setup Notes – 10.7

With the advent of cloud services for schools, the need for a full-bottle local file server has declined. OS X Server 10.7 has been superseded – the notes below remain for those that may have a need this info.

These notes are designed to assist teaching staff in K-12 schools to configure a basic server to provide services that support such an environment, and are not intended to be comprehensive nor prescriptive.

OS X Server 10.7 represented the beginning of a transition of OS X Server to a new format, and reflects the changing role of a local server in the provision of network services.

OS Server 10.6 was the last of the ‘old’ format OS X servers, but represents a very stable environment. OS X Server 10.8 continued the transition, while OS X Server 10.9 appears to be a more stable product – and also offers a number of new services.

The notes below should be considered to be legacy notes.

	Please note: As local schools move to cloud-based file services, such as Google Drive, the need for a local file-server is diminishing. For this reason the notes below are no longer being actively updated. It may be that all a school needs on the local network these days is a DHCP server and caching server?

OS X 10.7 Server – Install & Configure
	Installing Lion Server	Installing server software; Configuring initial setup options;
	Install Server Admin & DNS	Adjusting default configuration; Adding zone machines; Checking hostname; Setting up forwarders; Testing Domain Name Service lookup.
	DHCP	Configuring your server to provide a Dynamic Host Control Protocol service (automatic IP addresses) to computers and mobile devices on your local network.
	Configure Open Directory	Create a network directory for your network users and shared folders.
	Create Home Folder Directories	Creating and designating folders that will contain network users’ Home Folders.
	Create Group Folder Shares	Creating a Groups Shared Folder; Creating sub-folders, for student and teacher groups to share resources.
	Create Groups	Creating Groups for user management and resource sharing.
	Shared folder permissions	Set folder permissions on shared folders.
	Create users	Creating network users; Organising users into Groups.
10.7 Open Directory – Client login
	Configuring network computers for OD access	OS X 10.7 clients OS X 10.6 Client Config OS X 10.5 Client Config
	Managing Preferences	Setting up a common desktop environment for students and teachers.