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Chapter 1: Lion Server: An Overview
5. People keep changing settings on Macs, messing things up. With a
server, school computer labs and even user machines can be managed
to keep or restore needed settings.
4. People in your group need to connect to your network from home or
while traveling. Your server can provide secure, encrypted access to
your organization’s network, even while the user sits across the ocean
sipping a cappuccino in a Wi-Fi cafe in Piazza Navona.
3. You want to host your own websites. Whether you or your users want
to temporarily post something for your own viewing or permanently for
the public, having your own web server gives you the most flexibility to
host one or more sites.
2. Your e-mail inbox fills up with messages about finding times for meet-
ings. A shared server-based scheduling server enables everyone to
share one or more calendars. Multiple people can change details of an
event or adds new ones.
1. The number one reason that you know it’s time to get a server: You
want to do all these things and maybe more.
Why you need a Lion Server
Any server platform does the great things described in the preceding section.
Your PC-savvy friends may be telling you to get a Windows server. You’ll need
it, they say, to support your PCs. For a small network, Lion Server will serve
your PCs and your Macs, too. On a large network, Mac OS X will peacefully
coexist with Windows servers, serving your Macs like no Windows server can.
Another friend may roll his eyes and tell you that a Linux server is the only
logical choice. He’ll tell you that Linux is inexpensive and reliable, and that
many of the servers powering the Internet are running Linux. All true, but it
takes an expert to configure and maintain a Linux server. And it still doesn’t
support Mac clients as well as Lion Server does.
Still not convinced? Well, you probably are because you’re reading this book.
But maybe your boss isn’t convinced. Here are some reasons why your server
should be Lion Server.
The price is right
Windows and Linux servers can scale up to some very large networks, which
Mac OS X Server isn’t designed to do. But Windows servers can cost thou-
sands of dollars more than Lion Server, and Linux costs you in terms of
technical expertise.
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