LION SERVER UPGRADERS BEWARE
First off, let me preface my response to this posting by saying that my position on Lion Server is based on running an online Web-based application service provider business.
A: What is bad, and what do you lose moving from Snow Leopard Server 10.6.x to Lion Seerver 10.7.x?
In short, lots! Here are a few items I know of (there are likely more):
- Thin documentation in LS. Unlike the detailed PDF documentation that came with SLS, LS has very thin documentation.
- Poor migration tools - Migrations seem to fail or provide only partial information for many of the services such as Mail, Web, and file sharing.
- No FTP server: I suppose this could be built as well or you will have to buy Apple Remote Desktop or simply use SSH to move files.
- Oversimplified admin tools: Server.app which allows only the most basic Web and email service setup. You can download the old-style Workgroup.app and Server_Admin.app software from the Apple support Web site, but even these tools - which were the bread and butter of server management - are watered down. For instance, in Workgroup manager there is no longer a "Mail" tab for managing advanced mail features of a user like forwarding (how basic is that) and whether or not to give a user access to iMap versus POP email. The Web service is completely missing from the old Server_admin.app and had been replaced by a very slimmed down Web site manager in the new Server.app. All those advancd Web site domain and realm panels, logging, multi-sub domains, forwarding, port 443 SSL and port 80 combined sites, etc. are all now missing or are only accessable through complicated command line tweaking.
- No MySQL - this comes as no surprise after Oracles acquisition of MySQL. Postgre SQL is now standard. I have nothing against Postgre, as its a great database, but for folks deeply entrenched with MySQL its simply not an option. You can install MySQL yourself, but smooth integration into the Lio Server startup and shutdown process aren't going to be built-in requiring more work for the administrator.
- No Java - What? This just seems silly to me. Again, you can install this as an end-user, but be prepared for some deep Unix knowledge for installing, configuring, and testing.
- No Tomcat Server - Again, a head sratcher. This is another critical piece of software for anyone doing advanced Web-based applications. You can build and configure this yourself again, but be prepared to know how to manually configure it and incorporate it with Apache.
- Different Launch Daemon process for jobs. If you were using CRON, or had migrated to how 10.5 and 10.6 use the new LaunchDaemons and LaunchAgents will cause you headaches for your batch jobs.
- Mail Server - Oversimplified to the point of ridiculousness as a mail server administrator. Not enough front-end control over individual users and how they interact with the system.
- Web Server - Again, massively oversimplified interface in Server.app and no access to the advanced configuration that we used to have in Server_admin.app makes this unuseable by all but the simplest Web site hosting.
B: What is good about Lion Server?
If you are a mom-and-pop business that basically just wants to set up a simple email server, file sharing, and a simple Web site server, I suppose the new Server.app makes it very easy. But if you need anything beyond the bare bones basics, you will quickly become frustrated.
C: Thoughts and Comments
Overall, the biggest issues I have with Lion Server all stem from Apple dumbing down the tools, eliminating the most useful technologies, dropping the ball on documentation, and generally trying to more Lion Server into the realm of a server OS only useable to companies like "Bob's Local Real Estate".
What Apple should have done with Lion Server is taken Snow Leopard Server, with all its granular tools and front-end GUI management software, and simply made it better. What they did was the opposite. They made this as unappealing now as possible for the thousands of small but tech savvy businesses that need all of those tools to run their businesses without having full-time UNIX folks on-hand to build and manage all the tools that used to just exist and "work" on Snow Leopard Server. Sure, they could have included the simplified Server.app for those businesses wanting a basic solution, but why make everyone else pay the price for that simplicity. Lion Server was a fantastic OS.
I would love it if Apple were to re-release Snow Leopard Server and make it compatible with the Mac Mini Server and the latest Mac Pro's. That would solve all our problems for the next 5 years or so.
After the demise of the Xserve (luckily we stocked up before they were gone), I knew Apple would be gradually shutting down their presence and support for enterprise level business. Lion Server just cements that thought in my head. Apple has decided loud and clear they are a consumer facing business. They no longer want to work with or support the enterprise level businesses that so fell in-love with their great server products.
Sadly, with new product like the Mac Mini server, Apple tells me they are basically "hardware incompatible" with anything but Lion Server. I guess it's time to start learning Windows Server (Aaaarg!) or go with an all-Unix server solution.
*cry's* I miss Snow Leopard Server...
