Remote Desktop and Snow Leopard Server

What is the best way to use Remote Desktop with Snow Leopard Server?
I purchased a mac mini with snow leopard server and Remote desktop so I can easily manage my 11 computers, install and upgrade software etc. etc.
The mac mini server will basically be nothing but a server.
I will use as my main computer a mac pro. Do I need to install Remote Desktop on the server and on my mac pro? What is the best way to deploy the services of Remote desktop and mac os x server?

You install Apple Remote Desktop on the machine you want to control from. In this case, install on your Mac Pro. All you have to do on the clients (controlled Macs) is enable remote management in the System Preferences under Sharing. Just make sure that all your controlled Macs are up to date on their ARD version (v3.3.2) which can be taken care of from Software Update.

Similar Messages

Small problem: how using "Remote Desktop" on Snow Leopard Server

Hello,
How can I login to the Mac Mini Snow Leopard Server from 2 different Macs ?
Before I bought my Mac Mini Server in July, I asked the Apple Support if Snow Leopard Server has the equivalent of the Windows Remote Desktop functionality. He told me that it is possible. He did not tell me how, but I believed him.
I cannot find it in the documentation. Only 1 person can use screensharing. But I need more than 1 person working on the Mac OS X Server.
I moved our Photo library to the Mac OS X Server. With filesharing it takes 5 minutes to start iPhoto on our client iMac ( 1Gbps network). That is unworkable. So, from more iMacs users have to login to the server and start iPhoto on the server.
Thanks for the solution.
Hubert Anemaat

As per Jason's reply, there are two Terminal Server products available for Mac OS X. I have been testing both, both work in the same sort of way and will allow multiple simultaneous users to connect.
The typical approach is to (obviously) first to install one of these Terminal Server programs on your server. Then you (ideally) need another server hosting your Mac network home directories, and it needs to share the network home directories via NFS rather than AFP.
Note: Due to the way Mac OS X handles mounting AFP shares, you cannot have two users using the same share at the same time as the login defines the privileged's and the first logins privileged's would not be suitable for the second user, this is also why you cannot use "Fast User Switching" with two network login accounts when using AFP.
So, a client uses an RDC client (e.g. the free Microsoft Remote Desktop Client) to connect to the Terminal Server, this initiates a network login which access the users home directory via NFS.
RDC client (Mac or PC) ------> Mac Terminal Server <------ Mac network home directories
I have not tried iPhoto, but have tried various other applications, e.g. FileMaker, AppleScript, Microsoft Office 2004, etc. and the only problem I have hit so far is that Visual Basic in Office 2004 generates errors but Word and Excel otherwise work. Remember Office 2008 does not support Visual Basic (i.e. Macros).
I would actually expect iPhoto to work for multiple users as long as you use NFS. Using NFS for network home directories rather than AFP has actually 'fixed' a couple of badly written applications that had problems with AFP based network home directories, e.g. Adobe Acrobat 9.
I am using Mac OS X 10.6.4 Servers.

How do I remotely access my Snow Leopard server from my Mountain Lion MacBook Air

Does anyone know of an idiot's guide to setting up a VPN to access my server? I'm running Snow Leopard server in the office and I'd like to be able to access the server, probably just from one computer (MacBook Air runnung Mountain Lion) from home.
I'm not sure if it complicates things or not, but the office is in an area with poor broadband and so the internet connection is via satellite broadband. The set up is a satellite modem into a Gigabit router and the server is connected to the router via an unmanaged switch.
As an aside, I'm considering changing this set up so that the modem plugs into a Time Capsule and the server will connect directly into the TC. The desktops will then run into the server via the unmanaged switch or wirelessly via TC - any thoughts on the best set up here? Are cables into a switch better/worse than using TC's wireless facility.
Is this something that I, as a reasonably competent computer operator but definitely not an IT expert, could do, or should I get someone in to set it up for me?
Thanks in advance
Jim

VPNs aren't particularly special or weird or secret or such. They're "just" a network connection. A sometimes very fussy network connection, but a network connection.
My preference is to use a firewall that includes an embedded VPN server. This for several reasons, as it avoids trying to forward the VPN through a device that's using NAT [1], and it means you can connect to multiple devices on the target LAN, and you can connect even if the OS X Server box is down.
Other folks will forward the VPN through NAT, and use the VPN server that's available in various versions of OS X Server.
Forwarding a VPN through NAT does work, but can also sometimes not work. NAT can cause some types of VPNs to get tossed off when (for instance) there's a second VPN connection arriving.
In various cases everything connects and works the first time, and in other cases it's trial-and-error.
With a VPN-capable firewall (which is a step above your average residential firewall), usually configuring the firewall as a L2TP server or the Cisco protocol, if you want to use the standard OS X or iOS clients. Or PPTP — which is easier to get working — but less secure. Once the firewall and the VPN server is set up — and that's where most of the "fun" is — then the set-up in Network Preferences is (usually) pretty simple.
There are thousands of OS X VPN set-up articles around, but the details all hinge on the particular VPN server, and whether you're going to try to push the VPN through (for instance) that Tome Capsule and its NAT. Until you sort out your VPN target and/or VPN client, and what sort of attacks you're securing against...
As for this case, satellite latency is large. The latency involved is the time it takes to the command or the text from your local Mac to the satellite ~35,786 kilometers up and then ~35,786 kilometers back down, and then the response back again. That's about a quarter second, each way, at the speed of light. Transferring big files is fine (once the connection is open and the transfer gets rolling), but anything interactive — such as a typical use of a VPN — is going to have a noticable lag.
Yes, it'll be easiest to get somebody to work through your requirements and expectations, and initially set this up for you. Or you can use this as an opportunity to read about and learn more about IP routing and networking and VPNs, too.
[1] VPNs seek to ensure that the network connection is secure, and from a known client IP source address to the IP address of the target VPN server. NAT explicitly obscures the network connections, and often has multiple client hosts located behind one IP address. Put another way, the VPN and NAT software implementations are working at cross-purposes.

Upgrade From Snow Leopard Desktop to Snow Leopard Server

I just installed Snow Leopard on my Mac Pro and it's running great! I upgraded it from 10.5 and it worked just fine for me. I was looking at the Snow Leopard Server and all the features it offers for the other Macs on my home network. My question is this: Can I install Snow Leopard Server on my Mac Pro without having to do a clean install? I have everything set up perfectly and I really don't want to have to reconfigure everything.
My other question is, besides the server software, is there any difference between the server and desktop versions? More specifically, am I still going to be able to use my audio creation/editing software and play the few games I have? Does the server strip out any functionality or is it exactly the same thing as the desktop version, but with added server tools?
Thanks in advance for your input!

1. No, you cannot upgrade from Client to Server. You will need to erase and install.
2. Generally, you can do the same things. It isn't exactly the same, even ignoring the server tools. Are there some things that won't work? Maybe. Namely because developers don't typically code with MOSXS in mind.
My question to you is this: What do you want from MOSXS that you cannot do with the Mac OS Client? And are you set on using it on your Mac Pro?
I ask because:
1. Client does most of the thing people want to do that are "server" like.
2. It isn't a good idea to mix server and production environments. OS X Server is typically easy to setup for basic operation, however, there will be issues and you will have to dig a little to get things working. Which means you will stopping and starting services, issuing terminal commands, modifying plists and .confs and rebooting. Sometimes it goes so wrong that you have to reinstall.
This is why if you are serious about a server, you should really consider a separate machine. The Mac Mini is a great option for a light duty server.
Also, carefully consider your needs. Can the things you want to do be accomplished with OS X Client and maybe a few web services. Not trying to sway you either way, but it isn't always as simple as "Click the Start button and the service is working."

TLS and Snow Leopard server issues

I have a customer with Snow Leopard server running mail services. A few clients cannot email them due to what we think is a TLS related issue. Their host has TLS enabled for the mail server and they receive the below error message when sending to my customer:
15:27:41.044 3 SMTP-406902(domain.com) failed to establish a secure connection with [xx.xx.xx.xx]:25. Error Code=X509: signature algorithms do not match.
The host that cannot send seems to think it's a Postfix configuration issue but I don't know where to begin. It's not a firewall issue as we've tried that with no success.
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

You are in the Leopard Server section, better to direct your question to the +Snow Leopard+ Section.

Running Parallels Desktop under Snow Leopard Server?

I'm considering buying a mac mini server to replace my old windows server. This would require running some windows-based server applications in a virtual machine.
Does anyone have experiences running Parallels Desktop under Mac OS X server? Parallels support says: it's not supported - use Parallels Server instead. Priced at 1248 USD, the latter is definitely not in my spending budget.

I've done this without any problems. Originally I did it because my Mac mini was the only Intel box I had available, and even accessing Parallels 3 via a Mac remote desktop on my PowerMac was speedier and more responsive than running Virtual PC directly on the PowerMac.
So, yes, it certainly runs and I had no problems. Whether newer versions, e.g. today's release of Parallels 5 will also run, I can't answer. I don't see why not. Download the free trial and see how you get on.
Me: I bought a Parallels 4 upgrade this week cos Parallels 3 won't run under Snow Leopard. <grrr>. Onl;y to discover that a new version is released today. <grrr>. I am very relieved to learn that Parallels will give me a free upgrade to Parallels 5. Good on them -- well done Parallels.

Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server system differences - are they critical

I need to make several virtual machines with MAC OS for QA testing. As only MAC OS Server can be virtualized, does anybody know, will it make a big difference with Desktop version of Snow leopard for testing of antivirus and firewall? The same question is actual for 10.5. Thank you in advance.
If anybody has an apple software QA experience, I would be grateful if you would share it and tell how did you solv such kind of problems.

Were you ever able to solve this problem. I'm having similar issues since upgrading to snow leopard. Four macs connect to a Windows Server 2003 for shared files. Each user has full permissions & when we "get info" it shows read & write permissions. Two of the computers were running 10.4, two were running 10.5. Everything worked properly until upgrading to snow leopard. Some files let me copy, move, delete. Others either just hang up or we get a "no permission" error. Also getting a "pdf is in use" error, even when the file/folder doesn't contain a pdf. We had our IT rep check the server who said everything is in working order. They don't represent macs any longer but feel that it's a mac problem. I would have to agree since this problem only started after the upgrade, and the one machine that was not upgraded (still running 10.5.8) is not dealing with these problems.
Lastly, I would install 10.5 back on all of the computers if I could, but the leopard disk that came with one of the computers wouldn't work with the 2 machines running 10.4 and I didn't see it available at the apple store. I'll buy it if it's still available, but why wouldn't the disks that I have work?
Thanks for any help

Tiger Server and Snow Leopard Server

I have 2 servers. 1 is an old tiger server and the other a snow leopard. When I try to connect to either in the workgroup app. I am getting and error 14105 line 2334 error and the app unexpectedly quits. I want to be able to have a share point on the old server without users having to log in again. I would assume you could use LDAP for users but I am relatively new the MAC OSX servers. Thanks

No progress yet. Have tried a lot of things with preferences on the server. I have confirmed with another snow leopard machine that this is not related to the machine in any way. I have not yet had a chance to test it on another Tiger server but given the fact that you are seeing it as well I would say there is a problem with the two operating systems cooperating.
As I said, I do have a temporary workaround. If you do a save as with the document, choose to overrite the original it works and then lets you continue to work on that file and save for that session. After you close the file and reopen the problem returns but at least for that session you are fine.

IP Addresses with Airport and Snow Leopard Server

I have DNS running on my MacMini Server with a static ip address of 10.1.0.201, the dns resolves within the network. But I get a double NAT issue, I believe this might be a result of how I have setup the IP addresses.
My DSL router ip address is 192.168.1.254
My Airport
IP Address 192.168.1.1
Subnet 255.255.255.0
Router 192.168.1.254
DNS 194.72.0.114
The airport DHCP is 10.0.1.2 - 10.0.1.200
I think I should reassign IP addresses so that they are in the same subnets is that true?
Should the Airport TCP/IP be
IP Address 10.0.1.1
Subnet 255.255.255.0
Router 192.168.1.254
DNS 10.0.1.201
The airport DHCP is 10.0.1.2 - 10.0.1.200
LDAP server.home.net

Okay tried that and it didn't work, should I have the whole network on 192.168. is that the better approach?
Cheers Andrew

Zend optimizer, Php 5.3 and Snow Leopard server

I'm looking to install Zend Optimizer on Mac OS X 10.6.4 Server but it's seems
that the latest version of Zend Optimizer is not compatible with the 64-bit version
of Apache and PHP 5.3. Anybody with a solution?

The Server version is for machines that are serving small to medium to large networks. It provides various security and account management tools not available in the Client version. For a single user you don't need the Server edition. Furthermore, it's quite expensive by comparison.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Using ms office 2008 for mac home & student edition with snow leopard serv

Hi all,
I have a very particular question.
I have a new small business starting up and we want to make full use of leopard and snow leopard server in our infrastructure. We also want to use os x for all our client machines.
We want to use ms office 2008 for mac as our main offfice software but i believe we don't need all the uses or festures of the business edtion and i need to seek good advice and clarity on this.
We won't ever use any microsoft exchange servers but instead willl use the apple mail servers and all the other apple server services.
My question is, based on the fact that we will have an all apple mac os x backend and client frontend but want to use the ms office for mac as our business software, and also based on the fact that we wont use the "Build your Brand clip art, Build your skills by lynda.com, the Remote Desktop for mac 2, the Microsoft Exchange Server Support and the Microsoft Windows sharepoint services support, do we really need to go for the business edition? Can we not just use the home and student edition and get the same functionality using everything else apart form what we listed as we wont need these?
The other question is, the Entourage 2008, Web services Edition, will this work with an apple backend instead of ms exchange server?
Kind regards and thanks for your wise advice,
Neil Watson

Thanks, Kurt--I understand now.
One reason I was alarmed was that evidently when the tech installed Office 2008, something went awry with either the key installer or the key code, because when I finished the first two updates (12.1 and 12.2), I tried to open Entourage to see if the problem I'd been having was resolved. Instead of opening, Office gave me a message that my product key was invalid! I did find the product key, and called the tech, who will come by to see what's wrong (he's an honest guy, so I'm sure it's a legitimate error of some kind, not a pirated copy). But the thought of installing two pages of updates and maybe running into the same glitch every time made me blanch. So I'm glad to know that Microsoft is still doing Service Packs for 2008!

Help: Install Snow Leopard Server 10.6.0 on Mid-2010 Mac Mini, then update?

I just purchased a Mid-2010 Mac Mini with Snow Leopard Client 10.6.3 (the new ones just released) with the idea of installing my copy of Snow Leopard Client on it and using it as both a network server and media server.
I own Snow Leopard Server 10.6.0 (the initial DVD release) and was thinking I could do a fresh install and update to 10.6.4 on the Mini without problem, but that didn't work. I also tried doing a Target Disk Install to the Mini using my MacbookPro, but the installer choked at the Machine Checksum saying MBPs weren't supported to run the installer.
So, that blows both of my previously known installation options. I was wondering if anyone else with the new Mini and Snow Leopard Server had any suggestions on how to get my current version of Snow Leopard Server (10.6.0) installed on the Mini and then run system updates to get it to boot properly.
Thanks

Allan Eckert wrote:
Hi GrainFocuser;
Your copy of SL Server version is probably too old to install on the new Mac Mini. It probably doesn't have all of the correct drivers for the newer hardware.
You might have better success with your alternatives if you post over on the server forum instead of here.
Allan
Message was edited by: Allan Eckert
Allan, thanks.
It is pretty clear that my installation disk is too old, hence looking for options and suggestions.
In years past with previous versions of Server, there was a way to install an outdated install disk (a point release or 3 behind) and then run the necessary installation updates...either through target disk mode or on to a separate boot disc.
So, with my 10.6.0 Server Install disc, I am not able to do so in either scenario because a) My other admin machine is a MB Pro and the installer performs a hardware checksome preventing install...so no Target Disk Mode, and B) Install on other disc from mini, again Hardware checksome since hardware not recognized.
I am looking at options to enable an install with my disk short of having to physically walk into Apple (a huge trek) and get a new install disk or ask Apple Support to mail one.
So, again... Any options from OS X Server Admins out there?

Installing Snow Leopard Server From a USB Sticki

In my job, I install Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server three or four times a day.
With Snow Leopard, I've found it easiest to install from a USB stick. So, I did a restore from a DVD to a USB in Disk Utility and it's worked great.
With Snow Leopard Server, it is not so simple. When trying to install from a USB stick, I get "Mac OS X 10.6 Server Cannot Be Installed To This Machine." Though strangely, installing from the DVD is no problem.
I've tried to restore straight from the DVD to the USB. I've also tried to install from the DVD to a disk image to the USB. Both times, the USB will mount fine, but I get that error message.
Am I missing a trick here?

Oddly enough it is working for me. I had some issues initially so I went out and bought ONE 16GB thumb-drive (major vendor) and partitioned into two partitions.
I restored one of the partitions with 10.6 and restored the other with 10.6 server. Works flawlessly for me though I do like netinstall. It is a bit slower than the FW800 drive though I do not have to carry around a power brick.
I hope this helps!

Trying to install Snow Leopard Server into Parallels 9

Help! I have a 10.8 macbook, purchased Parallels 9 and Snow Leopard Server to create virtual environment for old ppc software (namely final cut pro 6), but the SLS installation halts saying not enough free RAM, but laptop meets min 2gb requirements... Does anyone know how to solve?
I get as far as b in step 6 here
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=17285039&postcount=564
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Lulu

lulumalmgren wrote:
Help! I have a 10.8 macbook, purchased Parallels 9 and Snow Leopard Server to create virtual environment for old ppc software (namely final cut pro 6)...
Final Cut Pro 6, which is a component of Final Cut Studio 2, is not a PowerPC application; it was written for Intel Macs and should run fine in 10.8, Mt. Lion.
The problem is that there is a "bug" in the installer application that triggers the "PowerPC" dialog box when attempting to install FCP 6 into a Mac running Lion, Mt. Lion or Mavericks.
If the MacBook is old enough to run Snow Leopard, one solution is to partition your hard drive, or add an external one, and install Snow Leopard on it. Then use the "dual-boot" method to run either Snow Leopard or Mt. Lion on your MacBook. When running Snow Leopard, you can then install FCP 6 and run it.
In theory, once you have successfully installed FCP 6 into Snow Leopard, you could then upgrade this partition to Mt. Lion as well, and it should continue to run.
If your MacBook will not run Snow Leopard, review Jeremy Johnstone's method to use Terminal to install FCP 6 into Mt. Lion:
http://www.jeremyjohnstone.com/blog/2012-03-11-installing-final-cut-pro-studio-2 -0-on-mac-os-x-10-7-lion.html
...and as Bill Gates always says:
"You can never have too much money, or too much RAM!"

New to server, need VPN for remote desktop and file share...

I've set up server and have the VPN working, I think, I need to have several outside systems join the servers VPN permanently to allow for file sharing and remote desktop. I don't want the "normal" internet browsing to go through the VPN (huge slow down) I have read that a "split DNS" or "split tunnel" is what I need, then to disable "send all traffic over VPN connection" option on each remote system. I was a little confused after reading on how to do this on Leopard server (the only instructions I found) but have absolutely no idea on how to do this on Snow Leopard server (the server I set up is 10.6) any assistance would be great, thanks in advance.

Server Admin, VPN, Settings, Client Information, Network Routing Definition.
Here add a private network record type that matches your LAN/VPN ip.
For example
IP Address: 192.168.0.0
Mask: 255.255.255.0
Type: Private
You can find more informations about this feature in Snow Leopard Server documentation:
http://images.apple.com/server/macosx/docs/NetworkServices_Adminv10.6.pdf
search for "Configuring VPN Network Routing Definitions"

Remote Desktop and Snow Leopard Server

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