About this Document
This document is the first in a series of documents describing the
process of installing and configuring a Mac OS X 10.5 Server for use in a school environment.
Other documents in this series are available at:
servernotes.wazmac.com
These notes are not a comprehensive description of a total server configuration - only of the configuration of those services that are required in typical “systemic” schools. (For example, such schools usually have access to a central mail service for students and teachers, so no local mail service is described in these notes.)
The organisational model that is described in these documents is not prescriptive nor comprehensive, but rather one that is considered to be supportive of schools’ curriculum needs, while being technically
supportable across a variety of schools:
• The server provides DNS, DHCP, AFP, Web, Netboot/Netrestore,
Windows and Directory services.
• Users are organised based on their cohort year of enrollment; • User IDs are based on an official systemic student number;
• Users are organised into Groups based on cohort year of enrollment; • All students’ and teacher’s Home folders are stored on the server; • A Group folder is set to mount on all users’ desktops at login, to
facilitate the sharing of files between users;
• All users have the facility to publish and maintain an intranet web site.
Wazza’s QuickStart
Other documents in this series
• Installing the Mac OS X Server Software (this document) • Initial software Installation
• Enabling and configuring DNS • Updating the OS X Server software • Setting up Services - 1
• Services overview • Setting up Services - 2
• AFP, Web & SMB (Windows) • Setting up Services - 3 • DHCP • Setting up Services - 4 • Open Directory • Setting up Sharepoints - 1 • Groups folder • Home directories
• Setting up Groups and Users • Setting up Sharepoints - 2
• Netrestore folder
• Group folder permissions • Client Imaging
- Create a master image - Create a NetBoot image - Configure NetBoot - Prepare Server
- Deploy a master image • Managing user Preferences
• Connecting from Windows XP - WorkGroup
1. Getting Started - Server preparation Your server should have two disks:
- Server HD (app 80Gb), for the server OS and client images; - Data, for the storage of student and teacher data.
You may need to partition an existing disk or RAID array to achieve this arrangement.
If you are partitioning a smaller disk, the Server partition can be considerably smaller - down to about 20Gb. But only as a last resort!
2. Initial OS X Server Software Installation Insert the installation DVD and run the installer.
The first part of the process is straightforward - click the Language selection, licensing agreements, etc to commence the installation of the server software.
3. Configuring the server
When the software has been installed and you restart the server, Server
Assistant will launch.
You can configure the installation directly on the computer on which the software has been installed, or remotely from another computer.
3.1.2. Identify the server to be configured.
The password is the first 8 characters of the server hardware serial number.
3.1.3. You will be advised that the selection is being authenticated.
3.2. You will be asked how you want to configure the server. There are three options - Select Advanced
Click on the Continue button.
3.3. Select your local language and keyboard option.
3.4. Enter your serial number and licensing information.
3.5. Enter the registration and survey information, if required. (This is optional).
3.6. Create an Administrator account.
3.7. As part of your initial setup the server may have been allocated a dynamic IP address.
Select the option to configure your network settings
manually, and click the Continue button.
3.8. Enter the relevant IP address, Subnet Mask and Router address information for your server.
If there is an existing DNS server on your network, the DNS
Server and Search Domain information will be entered
automatically.
3.9. Enter the DNS Name of your server.
The Primary DNS Name is in a form similar to:
server5.somewhereps.edu.au
(If an entry already exists for your server’s IP address in the
records of the nominated Primary DNS server, the relevant information may be entered automatically.)
The Computer Name is the name that the computer will be seen as on the local network, and should be unique (eg
Server), but otherwise is not critical.
Tick to Enable Remote Management.
3.10. Set your Time Zone information, and click the Edit button to enter relevant Time Server information.
Check with your network people for the IP address of a
Network Time Server (rather than a DNS name such as ntp.school.org, which won’t be recognised without DNS
3.11. Set your directory usage to Standalone Server.
3.12. Confirm your settings, and click the Apply button to confirm the configuration of your server.
3.13. Restart your server when asked, then setup the Domain
4. DNS Configuration
4.1. Open Server Admin.
You may be advised that There is no server available.... This refers to the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), which the server won’t recognise until the DNS service is configured.
Click on the Remove button.
Click on the + button and choose to Add Server.
4.2. Enter the IP address and authentication details of your server.
4.3. You will be advised that you do not have any services configured.
4.4. If you do not have an existing DNS server on your network, you will need to add this service to your server.
Tick the box to enable the DNS service.
4.5. Click on the Save button at the bottom right corner of the
Services window.
4.6. Select the DNS Service from the available services displayed in the left pane.
You may have to expand the server list.
At this stage, DNS should be the only available service.
4.8. If a pre-defined example zone is added, edit that zone. If not, click on the Add Zone button and choose to Add a Primary
Zone.
4.9. Select and expand the zone entries for the Primary
example.com zone.
4.10. Edit the example.com Primary Zone Name in the lower half of the window, replacing the default information with the information for your server.
Be sure to leave the “.” at the end of the zone name!
Important:
4.11. Select the ns (name server) machine entry in the top of the window, then edit the Machine Name and IP address (of the server) in the bottom half of the window.
Don’t click the Fully Qualified box in the Machine Name
window.
4.12. The edited information will be updated in the Primary and
Reverse zones at the top of the window.
4.13. Only when the Primary Zone and Reverse Zone information are displayed correctly for your server, click on the Save button, but ...
5. Adding DNS Forwarders
In DNS terms, your server only “knows” about itself, because that’s the only info we have entered in the DNS admin records.
So that you server can resolve the addresses of other domains, we need to tell it to forward these requests to a ‘parent’ DNS server that can resolve these addresses.
The parent servers are usually the DNS servers of your ISP or educational organisation.
5.1. Click on the Settings button at the top of DNS Admin window.
5.2. Add the relevant primary and secondary forwarder IP addresses, and click on the Save button.
5.3. Click on the Start DNS button.
6. Network Settings
Now that the server is supplying a Domain Name Service, we need to configure it to use these settings.
6.1. Open the server’s System Preferences and click on the
Network preference.
6.2. Edit the DNS Server address to be the the IP address of the server and the Search Domain to be the school domain name.
7. Checking Your DNS Setup
It is critical to the operation of your server that DNS is functioning correctly.
Before proceeding with any further configuration we must check that DNS is working correctly, resolving forward and reverse lookups both locally and through any parent DNS server.
7.1. Open the Mac OS Network Utility.
The Network Utility is in the Applications > Utilities folder. Drag the Network Utility icon to the Dock for easy access in the future.
7.2. Click on the Lookup tab.
7.3. Enter the IP address of the server. Click on the Lookup button.
7.4. Now enter the fully qualified domain name of the domain server and click the Lookup button.
You should see a response that resolves to the IP address of the server.
7.5. Now we need to check our forwarders...
8. Other Machine-specific Additions to DNS
There are likely to be a number of other local computers that you would like your DNS server to recognise, without forwarding the request to another DNS server. You can add these individually, as below:
8.1. Select the Primary Zone entry, and choose Add Machine (A) from the Add Record menu.
8.2. Select the newly-added machine entry and edit the
information relating to that machine in the lower pane of the window.
8.4. You can then add additional machines to your zone, if required:
- www (if hosted elsewhere) - any other “local” servers
A reverse entry will be added for each machine entry in the zone.
Note: Schools who have a website hosted systemically, but with their own domain name, will need to add the www entry above to be able to see their school’s Internet web site from with their school network.
9. Software Update
