Hardware manual

Chapter 2 Inside Mac OS X Server 33
Discovery of Network Services
Information about file servers and other services tends to change much more
frequently than user information, so it isn’t typically stored in directories. Instead,
information about these services is discovered as the need arises.
Open Directory can discover network services that make their existence and
whereabouts known. Services make themselves known by means of standard
protocols. Open Directory supports the following service discovery protocols:
 Multicast DNS, for discovering file and print services on the local network
 SMB/CIFS, the protocol used by Microsoft Windows
 AppleTalk, the legacy Mac OS protocol for file services, also used for print services via
Printer Access Protocol (PAP)
 SLP, an open standard for discovering file and print services
To make network browsing easy for users, you can use managed network views.
See “Managed Network Views” on page 35 for more information.
User Management
Mac OS X Server helps you manage access to network resources, files, and services by
Macintosh, Windows, UNIX, and Linux computer users.
The user management guide contains a full description of the server’s user
management capabilities. Some highlights follow.
User Accounts
User accounts contain the information needed to prove a user’s identity: user name,
password, and user ID. Other information in a user’s account is needed by various
services, to determine what the user is authorized to do and perhaps to personalize the
user’s environment.
Group Accounts
Group accounts offer a simple way to manage a collection of users with similar needs.
A group account stores the identities of users who belong to the group as well as
information that lets you customize the working environment for members of a group.
You can also use nested groups and group folders:
 A nested group is a group that’s a member of another group. Nesting groups lets you
set folder access privileges for groups of users at both a global level (when you want
to influence all members of a group) and at a smaller, more focused level (when you
want to influence only certain members of a group).