User`s guide

46 Chapter 2 Before You Begin
 Are there air conditioning or power requirements that need to be met? See the
documentation that comes with server hardware for this kind of information.
 Have you been thinking about upgrading elements such as cables, switches, and
power supplies? Now may be a good time to do it.
 Are your TCP/IP network and subnets configured to support the services and servers
you want to deploy?
Defining Server Setup Infrastructure Requirements
The server setup infrastructure consists of the services and servers that need to be set
up early because other services or servers depend on them.
For example, If you’ll use Mac OS X Server to provide DHCP, network time, or BootP
services to other servers you’ll be setting up, the server or servers that provide these
services should be set up and the services running before you set up servers that
depend on those services. Or if you want to automate server setup by using setup data
stored in a directory, both DHCP and directory servers must be set up first.
The amount of setup infrastructure you require depends on the complexity of your site
and what you want to accomplish. In general, DHCP, DNS, and directory services are
desirable or required for medium-sized and larger server networks:
 The most fundamental infrastructure layer comprises network services like DHCP and
DNS.
All services run better if DNS is on the network, and many services require DNS to
work properly. If you’re not hosting DNS, work with the administrator responsible for
the DNS server you’ll use when you set up your own servers. DNS requirements for
individual services are published in the service-specific administration guides.