Mac OS X Server

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Mac OS X Server is the server edition of the Mac OS. It is based on the BSD-Unix-based operating system that Apple Computer acquired from NeXT Computer and which formed the basis of the current Mac OS X.

Prior to Mac OS X, Apple's AppleShare services provided server applications such as file and printer sharing and user management.

The first version of Mac OS X Server was a hybrid of OPENSTEP from NeXT Computer and Mac OS 9. The GUI looked more like OPENSTEP did, with an emulation layer for running legacy Mac OS 9 based applications. WebObjects was included with the server package.

As of version 10.0 of Mac OS X, the server version and the standard version are nearly identical. (There was an earlier version of Mac OS X Server released some time before the introduction of Mac OS X 10.0 and Mac OS X Server 10.0) Mac OS X Server mainly adds server management software—web, mail, and user services. Most of OS X Server's services are based on standard BSD tools, e.g., the Apache web server; Mac OS X Server adds a GUI interface to these services. An exception, however, are User services, which are based on (NeXT's) NetInfo.

At version 10.3 (Released August of 2003), OS X Server presents a mature, fully featured server environment. User and file management are provided via Open Directory, an LDAP compatible server architecture. The new Workgroup Manager interface improves configuration significantly. Many common network services are provided such as NTP, SNMP, Web Server, Mail Server, LDAP, AppleTalk, Print Server. The inclusion of SAMBA version 3 allows tight integration with Windows clients and servers. MySQL v4.0.16 and PHP v4.3.7 are also included.