argo10 wrote:
thanks for your detailed reply it is much appreciated, do you know if there is such a way of setting up a network where you can take all your information with you from computer to computer via your login details and user priviliges etc without upgrading to Lion at all?
Same computers on local area network your looking at a Network Access Server, where all the user created files are stored there and then accessed by any machine at any time. Permissions can be set on folders for access.
But if your refering to particular account changes, like your wallpaper, settings, programs. log in etc., no that's not possible due to licensing issues, a copy of third software is for each machine only and it would take too long to log in and download from the server anyway.
What it sounds like to me is you want to turn the Macs into dumb terminals, where you log in on any machine and everything is running off the server like it's your personal floating account.
That can be done, but on Windows/Linux and the server has to be very powerful, like a mainframe, to support the CPU requires of all the terminals. You'll also need a very fast network to transfer the data to each machine from the mainframe, like what superclusters use.
Since you can only place Fiberchannel PCI cards in MacPro's, all your machines have to be that to do it.
iCloud isn't a option because it relies upon Apple servers and won't work like you expect, if your Internet connection goes down then you won't be able to access your data and your business workflow stops. Also ISP's restrict the upload speed to a fraction of the download speed to prevent you from doing such a thing. So the only thing iCloud can handle is small details as the upload speed will be too slow to be acceptable. So your back to having a LAN or data on each machine like before.
A local Network Access Server and keep everyone's shared files there, but accounts, it's details, customization and programs all have to reside on each individual machine because regular LANs, WIfi etc are too slow and all your CPU power is on the computers themselves.
Clearly the skills required to set something like a NAS is outside of Apple's consumer focused area, Apple has discontinued the X-Server, so your looking at a Mac Mini Server, or a outside Windows/Linux solution that caters to business.
Apple is a luxury consumer products company, they have been gravitating away from being a full computer company for quite some time.
The X-RAID and X-Server is gone, the MacPro is on life support and hasn't seen a update, the latest Final Cut Pro X is a industry nightmare and the Pro's are moving to Avid instead.
It's clear if you have this sort of need, that Apple cannot help you. The solution is to call a local Windows PC businees specialist to set up such a NAS network for you.
Microsoft caters to business needs, there is a whole industry centered around it, Apple caters to consumers needs and changes stuff often. You can use Apple hardware for a time, but eventually it's going to place constraints as the business has new needs and Apple doesn't remain flexible to accomondate business needs.
I guess you could learn how to set up a Mini server, but to handle all those Mac's is a bit much for it I would say, you'll have to talk to someone knowledgable about such things if it's feasible or not. The restriction is the only one choice of hardware and it's not very powerful at all.
Like I've said before, Apple dumped the powerful X-Server as people were not buying it, so your looking at a Linux/Windows server solution and a specialist.
