Requirements for OS X Server Leopard?

1

1988goldenbear

Registered
Hi there,

I have a small work network (5 Macs, adding 2 pc's). I need to run OS X Server in order to run some Mac software on the pc's via Aqua. I need the pc's to run some equipment that is not Mac-compatible.

If I am running the non-server version of Tiger now - 10.4.11 - can I upgrade directly to OS X Server for Leopard or must I purchase OS X Server for Tiger instead?

And can I also load OS X Server on my Macs at home that are not used on the work network? I guess this would only be advantageous if I can upgrade from regular Tiger to the server version of Leopard....

Thanks for the advice,
Ted
 
You may run MacOS X Server on just about any computer that supports the standard version of MacOS X. MacOS X Server is not an upgrade to MacOS X nor is it a different OS. It is MacOS X with the tools that make network support and administration easier.

That said, you need to under that capabilities of the Server platform. Who told you that MacOS X Server allows PC's to run Mac software? We understand that a lot of hardware is not supported under MacOS X by the manufacturer. Whenever you have hardware questions, however, you should name the hardware and enquire about using it with your Mac. Certain hardware has excellent non-manufacturer support on MacOS X--usually free.
 
1988goldenbear said:
And can I also load OS X Server on my Macs at home that are not used on the work network?
Click to expand...
Yes, but OS X server has similar licensing restrictions to Mac OS X: typically, if you purchase one copy of OS X Server, then you can load that software on one and only one machine. If you wanted to also load OS X server on a computer at home as well as work, you would need to purchase two copies of OS X server.
 
So it sounds like I will only need to upgrade the Mac that will function as the server to OS X Server, is that right? The Mac software is very specialized - called MacPractice - and I was told it was usable on a networked pc as long as the Mac server ran OS X Server and had Aqua. I need to run x-ray data manipulation programs on the pc's that aren't written for Mac and drag and drop data to the MacPractice files.

I was trying to find out if I could use the Leopard version as an upgrade to the OS on all the Macs, but that is apparently not what it does.

Thanks for the responses - if you have time could you clarify whether or not OS X Server Leopard can be installed on a Mac running Tiger, or do I need to upgrade to Leopard OS first and then install OS X Server Leopard?
 
In the Mac world, there are no "upgrades." When you purchase Mac OS X "Tiger", you get the full install of Mac OS X Tiger. You can use that disk to "upgrade" a system running Mac OS X "Panther" to Mac OS X "Tiger."

When you purchase Mac OS X Server, it's a full install of the server software -- more than likely, you will install a fresh, new install of Mac OS X Server on a machine running Tiger.

"Panther," "Tiger," and "Leopard" are code names given to Mac OS X versions -- 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5, respectively. Beyond that, Mac OS X comes in two flavors: client and server. There is a Mac OS X "Tiger" client install, and a Mac OS X "Tiger" server install. So when you refer to "Tiger," you're referring to the Mac OS X codebase that is version 10.4. "Tiger" does not denote either "client" or "server" install.

"Aqua" is the window manager that Mac OS X uses -- much like "Gnome" or "KDE" on the Linux side of things. It's been a part of Mac OS X since version 10.0.

Mac OS X Server "Leopard" can be installed on any machine that is compatible with "Leopard" -- a G4/G5/Intel-based Mac with a processor of at least 867MHz and 1GB of RAM. Detailed system requirements can be found on Apple's Leopard page on their website.

In a typical setup, you'd have one machine running a Mac OS X Server flavor -- either "Tiger" or "Leopard." Then, client machines running the client flavor of Mac OS X (either "Tiger" or "Leopard") would then connect to that server.

That's just a bit of clarification on what flavors of Mac OS X are available, and how they're typically used -- it may help to post verbatim what the requirements are for both MacPractice and the X-Ray data manipulation program you want to use, and we can suggest an optimized setup to get what you need done, done.
 
Got it.

So Tiger client will upgrade to Leopard Server, so I only need to install OS X Server on the server.

And I will upgrade the terminals to Leopard individually.

Should work just fine, thank you everyone!
 
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