In part 1 we looked at how Workgroup Manager allows you to manage users, groups, computers, shares and preferences. This article will give you an overview of two more administration applications called Server Administrator and Server Monitor .

Server Administrator

Server Administrator allows you to configure Mac OS X Server’s services such as file sharing, network services including DHCP and other internet services. Beyond service configuration the application provides you with statistics and logs.

Configuration of services is similar to setting up options in other day to day applications. The interface consists of tabs, fields and pull down menus. All service configurations are done in the Settings tab. To turn on a service such as Windows file sharing it’s as easy as configuring the service and then clicking Start Service in the main toolbar.

Statistics can be viewed of most services via the Overview, Connections and Graphs . Depending on the service, information that is displayed ranges from how long the service has been running, to the amount of users and throughput. Raw logs can also be accessed for most services.

Server Monitor

Server Monitor gives you valuable feedback on the status of your servers with information from what version of the operating system is in use, to the temperature and speed of the fans in systems that support it. As with Server Administrator you can add more than one server to monitor.

Mac OS X Server’s Admin Tools provide every administrator with a collection of applications designed to make administration as easy as Apple is legendary for. I hope that you have a better understanding of what app does what. This concludes the two part article Get to Know Mac OS X Admin Tools.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Mac OS X. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.