End of macOS Server, Alternative ?

Apple have an official article here - Prepare for changes to macOS Server - Apple Support and in this they do list suggestions for alternatives to Apple's own functions.

• With regards to Mail for many years many admins have been using Kerio Connect instead so there is no change there, this arguably also covers Calendar and Contacts
• For Web serving I expect that despite what Apple imply that Apache will still be on all Macs and you could manually enable and configure it, however this is an area where MAMP would be an easy alternative
• For NetBoot/NetRestore/NetInstall Apple list NetSUS which is free from Jamf but there is also Imagr, I personally hope this change prompts the DeployStudio team to port the DeployStudio server to Linux - something they should have done some time ago, NetSUS already runs on Linux
• I had already several years ago switched away from Apple's VPN server to running StrongSwan5 under Linux which can do IPSec and IKEv2, where I currently work we run SoftEther VPN also under Linux which can do IPSec and OpenVPN/SSL but not IKEv2

The implication from Apple's article as above is that OpenDirectory Server and Profile Manager are both being continued and presumably also the currently unique Caching server. There are plenty of alternatives for Profile Manager including of course Jamf but as I implied non that I am aware of for the Caching server.

With regards to Open Directory this is a much bigger concern to me. There is obviously Active Directory which I suspect Apple use themselves and are expecting everyone else to use as well. In theory there is OpenLDAP on Linux and one fewer people have heard of which is FreeIPA. Unfortunately both have or rather don't have good support for Macs, in particular changing passwords can be a real problem. The official FreeIPA documentation on supposedly how to configure Macs contains several major errors and even if one gets round them still does not deliver a fully working solution and requires a lot of work on each client Mac rather than being configured once on the server. One might have to even consider the absurd approach of using SAMBA as an Active Directory server if that works better.

My problem is not specifically with Apple effectively discontinuing their server offering, it is that they have done nothing to ease the transition. Their above article does not qualify. What Apple should have done is the following - they could still do this if they have any decency.

1. Open Source more of their existing server components
2. Do the work for projects like OpenLDAP, FreeIPA, SAMBA to add proper support for Macs and provide this as free contributions to those projects with code, announcements and articles. Apple could then with a clear conscience end their own involvement knowing that someone else can take over responsibility.

(SAMBA does not yet properly support TimeMachine backups.)

Since I think many of us will agree that Linux rather than Windows Servers is a better alternative people might want to look at Webmin as a weak but better than none means of adding a better user interface to Linux server tools. See http://www.webmin.com/

Now my 2008 MacPro is pretty much a giant, aluminum time capsule... great.

VPN can still be configured from the command line using commands that are bundled with MacOS. Here's a step by step.

Setting it up from the command line provides no GUI, but at least I won't have to install other software.

Netputing made a GUI for the built in VPN functions but it's half a decade old so, *shrug*

thanks for the VPN link @dalexgray

the other services I run are Mail and Web.

purposely bought a macmini server back in the day just to run server services.

macOS Server won't be a Server no longer and will need to be renamed to macOS Manager or something like that.

sad day for macOS Server users ..... was nice using an easy GUI interface to setup my services.

back to installing and configuring via the cmd line.

Mail will be the biggest headache for me .... time to start researching on migration, as I still want to run my own mail server.

My main concern is that I need WebDAV support that functions as it does on Server 5.3. Last time I tried updating to 5.4 it broke WebDAV auth and the info. I found to fix this up was useless so I rolled back to 5.3. Anyone know of a good WebDAV server for High Sierra?

Websites

Before I started paying for web hosting I ran MAMP (Mac Apache MySQL PHP) to host a Wordpress site locally.

I checked the website, https://www.mamp.info/en/ and it's still going strong. I just used the basic, free MAMP and it was easy to get running. It looks like the Pro version has a GUI for the built in macOS mail server, but I can't speak to that.

How close is MAMP Pro?

https://www.mamp.info/en/

It looks a lot like what I might want. The primary concerns I have are in its ability to integrate into the directory service so that I don't have to maintain users in two different ways. (I have maintained most services down at the CLI level since MOSXS 10.6 and only just updated to macOS Server 5.x in the last year. I am, of course, a bit annoyed, because I could have run 10.6 until hardware was no longer available on eBay.)

Thoughts?

/Bill

QNAP NAS, offer exactly what OS X server does for files, photos, and video storage and then some. Fully accessible through finder and iOS Apps even available directly through some apps working platforms as iClouds does?

Actually cheaper than a MAC Mini, unfortunately for those that utilise Profile Manager AD seems to be only alternative although with a bit of creative thinking one can make QNAP achieve required. Includes RADIUS, LDAP authentication and other useful services which have been hidden for sometime within OS X Server.

Linux can be installed within mac mini, and services can be utilised through a Distribution ie Debian, Ubuntu, and WebMin as GUI? A bit of knowledge required as is CLI control and input.

pfSense is product I utilise for router duties required hardware relatively same price as a Business router/modem. This provides DNS, DHCP, IPS/IDS, a Captive Portal which controls WiFi/Internet access or domain access? Firewall/NAT being of industrial strength achieving whatever you require. Lots of other software able to be installed, but remember with these add-ons come more system resources. So, allow for extra when purchasing?

I personally Utilise a Pondesk MNHO-048 https://goo.gl/2RBSjv as it does the job I require, and Ali Express have issues with my address, but here is link if require more HorsePower https://goo.gl/SfkfWY. pfSense requires a processor with AES-NI as of 2.5 and I would suggest a Gold subscription as it provides access to many resources at $99 per year worth weight in gold. https://pfsense.org

QNAP NAS is relatively easy to setup for internet access so it can behave as if in cloud, with pfSense it makes it relatively secure.

Cheers!!

RJDart

Thanks for the great comment.

I'd always recommend a OpenLDAP and Samba 4.x combination on a Linux based system for Identity Management replacement.

It's understandable why a lot are reluctant when thinking about the manual cli configuration of many services thrown together onto a new linux based system, which is why I'd recommend our Univention Corporate Server (UCS) product, a server based on Debian, OpenLDAP and Samba, which is managed through a graphical web interface.

All Services that would be needed to be replaced could be installed and managed through the App Center.

For example, the OX App Suite could replace the Mail, Calendar and Contacts services (WebDAV support),

OpenVPN is the obvious VPN service to use,

Cloud options are ownCloud or Nextcloud,

Identity Management, DHCP, DNS and the Web Server would be directly delivered by the UCS,

RADIUS can obviously be used to manage wifi network authentifications,

MediaWiki is a Wiki replacement.

All mentioned Services of course have alternatives.

John Lockwood wrote:

[...] (SAMBA does not yet properly support TimeMachine backups.) [...]

Samba now has proper Time Machine Support with version 4.8 (released yesterday) 😉

https://www.samba.org/samba/history/samba-4.8.0.html

Regards,

Hendrik P.

IT Systems Integrator Apprentice, Univention GmbH

Yes, i too read that with some trepidation, but realised we have already moved most of the services away from the server app as existing Mac hardware available was just too ridiculous to use for a server. We have already moved all the mail and calendar etc etc into google and all the local file sharing onto FreeNAS installed in a well specced (dell) server with IPMI/LOM and an 8 disk ZFS file system and a 4xNIC , VPN into our router/firewall - ALL of which looks to our three OD mac mini's for auth info (it is all works out pretty fast).

The ONLY thing i need to work out now is SMB authentication against the OD masters... sadly the samba overlay is no longer installed to the LDAP on OSX, so auth for SMB (from the FreeNAS) is failing for us at the moment, once i get that sorted out we will almost be back to the level of sensible hardware/software security that Xserves used to give us. We do NOT want to install a windows server in house, and have no interest in supporting AD, so the above is our solution.

If you get a beefy Dell server and run FreeNAS - not only will it give you excellent file services, you can run virtual machines in it to house your DHCP/DNS/Webservers etc - I guess a bit of a steep learning curve after the Server app - but the GUI is OK and the FreeNAS support actually talks back to you - should you have lots of money then there IS a professional offering from them too. Don't get me wrong, running a server [is actually/has always been] much harder than running the macOS Server app, which hid the complexity of the task. AND FreeNAS is not the only thing out there, Many Many different ways of doing it, and LINUX is not as hard to deal with as you think.

In reality, i would like to be able to run OSX (macOS - whatever) in vmware on dell hardware, but of course we cannot do that, but that would be my ideal solution - say if it would ONLY run if the Server App had been installed?

If anyone has extended the OSX/macOS LDAP server to support the samba overlays, i would be grateful to know about that.

It's not for the casual installer, but if you're experienced with command lines via terminal, you can replace the server app entirely with same capabilities if you follow the instructions from this page.

http://maxo.captainnet.net/highsierra/index.html

I just came here to post the same thing.

Can we start a list of replacement options

I'll kick off, replacement for Mail, Calendar and Contacts - Kerio Connect (Paid Service - macOS or Cloud version)

Looks like the WebDAVNav server in the applestore may be the long term solution for me.

https://cutedgesystems.com/software/MailServeForSierra/