Mac OS X SL Server for Home?

Im considering setting up a server at home for my family due to everyone uses each computer and all accounts are different per each machine. What I would like to do is setup a what I think is called a "Portable Home Directory" allowing each user (family member) to login to any mac they want and still have the same account be used rather then several accounts across the network.

My questions are:
Would a mini be sufficient?
Is there a SL Server 10 license available?
And would server allow me to do this? (one account across home network?)
What are the instructions to do this if a mac mini is sufficient?

Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for double post not sure where this falls under

thanks
Estrates

iMac 24, iMac 20, Macbook, MacBook Pro 15x2", Mac OS X (10.5.8), 3x iPod nano, iPhone 8GB and iPhone 3GS 16GB, iPhone 3GS 32GB, ATV, TC 500GB

Posted on Aug 27, 2009 7:00 PM

20 replies

Estrates Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 11, 2009 10:37 AM in response to Estrates

Thanks everyone these replies help me greatly to prepare or even decide I want to get into this quite yet.

I think Ill check a demo at an apple store or reseller before committing.

Excellent replies and thanks again 🙂

Sep 14, 2009 5:48 PM in response to Estrates

Hey, did you ever get around to checking it out at WestWorld? I was thinking of doing the same, and I wanted to know what they had to say. I'm also in Alberta (Calgary).

Estrates Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 15, 2009 2:44 PM in response to Estrates

Ya I went to Westworld edmonton

They said its overkill for what I want to do, but Im confused here hahahaa
This is one of the definitions of a "Server"

Oh well never got to see a demo ...yet! will check one out soon

UKenGB

Level 2

317 points

Sep 18, 2009 7:14 AM in response to Estrates

I've been running a Leopard home server for a while now and overall it's good, but boy, what a headache to set up. Complex stuff needs good documentation and as usual, Apple falls woefully short in this respect. However, one really useful service that has proved to underperform is Portable Home Directories. The original user whose Home directory was copied to the server (me) was always able to sync ok from the client (MacPro). Also my MacBook Pro, until it got stuck when 'Checking' and I deleted some sync history files and nothing (except the MacPro) has sync'd since. If I logged in on a new Mac, it would ask about creating a Mobile Account etc and then create a default account with nothing copied down from the server. Manual sync'ing just said "Nothing to sync" and no more. Never did sort that.

Interested to read here that there's a few others with a similar setup. Has anyone suffered similar problems? Is it something that 10.5 suffered from and 10.6 fixes?

Is the 10.5 -> 10.6 Server upgrade painless?

Is anyone using PHDs/Mobile accounts and logging in on multiple machines simultaneously? Is this possible? Not advisable? No problem?

Comments on the above would be helpful. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread but the topic is relevant to my questions and there are others with similar usage, so it seems appropriate.

Estrates Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 18, 2009 5:06 PM in response to Estrates

I have found a solution to what I need instead of Snow Leopard Server.

It still requires accounts on all machines you want to use on the network (original intensions no biggy)

Since iTunes now allows Family share I have made accounts via airport utility for Time Capsule (500GB for now) and on each family member account on the macs I have created an alias for each of those itunes linking to a iTunes library on the Time Capsule and now updates regardless which mac they are one, providing they are not using iTunes on another mac (potential library corruption)

Iam going to try a couple things to go beyond just itunes

iPhoto library (highly possible)
iCal (not sure on this one yet... mobile should do for this)
Mail
Address book (mobile me should take care of this)
And a bootable drive via Time capsule for each account this would mean each account would have its own bootable drive off the network and access on any machine they want (Maybe, see how that goes)

The list could go on but naturally I always tend to find the limits of something this simple.

At least with the iTunes 9 I have found a solution across the network and access to individual users accounts on any mac.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Mac OS X SL Server for Home?