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DayLateDon · Jul 8, 2002, 10:45 PM

Hello ...

My (well, my _school's_) Xserve arrived today.

(That's one _loud_ machine, by the way.)

I got as far as completing the Setup Assistant before realizing that I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do with this thing. (It came with something called a "man-u-al" with all kinds of words and pictures. I wonder what that's for.)

Any suggestions on what I should do first? I want to get this set up to act (at least) as a file server for our school ... and I want to create as teacher-friendly (and student-restrictive) an environment as possible.

Eventually, I'll want web/mail serving, net booting, macmanagering, and so forth. Is it possible to _build_up_ to all of that, or are there foundations I need to lay down from the get-go?

Thanks and regards,

DayLateDon

utidjian · Jul 9, 2002, 03:18 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by DayLateDon:
Hello ...

Any suggestions on what I should do first? I want to get this set up to act (at least) as a file server for our school ... and I want to create as teacher-friendly (and student-restrictive) an environment as possible.

Eventually, I'll want web/mail serving, net booting, macmanagering, and so forth. Is it possible to _build_up_ to all of that, or are there foundations I need to lay down from the get-go?<hr /></blockquote>Start planning:
Now would be a good time to determine how many users you are going to have and how much space on the server you will allow them. You may want to order your users into at least three or more groups (faculty, staff, students).

Figure out all the present services and think about future services you will be providing for your users.

You already listed file, mail, and web services.

BEFORE you add users and start storing their data on the server... consider this... Do you have a backup plan? I don't mean running RAID... I mean removable media (tape, CD-R, firewire disk). How long will it take you to recover? Are you going to store ALL user data on the server? How long can your users do without their data? Do you have a UPS?
Unless you can answer the above questions in a satisfactory way don't store any user data on the server.

Start adding users...

Configure file services. Test your backup plan.

Configure mail. Test your backup plan.

Configure web server.

Are users going to have access to email and files off campus? Do you have a firewall?

Before you go full scale... test each setup with a few of your more competent users (say 5). Then add a few of your least competent users. Work out the problems that may turn up.

Check with Apple or whoever else you can find who has done something similar using Mac OS X server. The software isn't that much different on an Xserve... you mainly have fancy new hardware.

jclarkv · Aug 3, 2002, 05:42 PM

What is your suggestion for the best way to back up an x-serve? What's the least expensive way?

utidjian · Aug 4, 2002, 09:49 AM

Originally posted by jclarkv:
What is your suggestion for the best way to back up an x-serve? What's the least expensive way?

There is no "best"... it really depends on what you are doing with the server. Some solutions are quite different and will vary depending on useage or combinations of useage.

The "least expensive" question is best answered with another question... what is the data on the server worth to your organization?

"Best", but NOT least expensive, would be two Xservers with the data mirrored between them. This would give you high availability but no offsite storage should the building burn down.

"Best", but cost will depend on the amount of data to be backed up, would be a tape backup solution. The only one advertised on http://store.apple.com is the VXA1 firewire tape drive for US$899 which will handle about 40GB of real data. The ad claims 66GB but that is misleading. You will never get 66GB of data on a 33/66 drive in practice. To do a level 0 backup of 400GB of data from an Xserve will take approximately 10 tapes... which will cost you an additional $658. Realistically you will need about $1000 worth of tapes and a $900 tape drive to have a minimal tape backup scheme. It will also take you approximately 19 hours to do the backup! Add to that... $500 for Retrsopect.
If you absolutely have to have offsite storage for a fully dressed Xserve then a 495/990G VXA1 AutoPak will run you about $3500 (before buying the media).

"Good" (depending) and certainly least expensive would be to fit out a G4 tower with 3 x 160G IDE HDDs. Should cost you less than $600 for the drives not including the cost of the G4 or software. Then just backup over the network. Yes it will take a long time and saturate the network the first time you do a backup but it will take a LOT less time to keep the changes in sync.

In any case... the determining factor of how much you can spend is controlled by how much data you can afford to lose.

A few things to remember...

You need to determine how much data needs to be backed up. Exactly what data needs to be backed up. Now and for the next 3-5 years.

RAID 0 (software or hardware based)... if you lose one disk in the array you lose ALL data on that array.

RAID 1 (software or hardware based)... if you lose one mirror, you don't lose any data but you will halve your capacity.

RAID 5 (software or hardware based) if you lose one disk, you don't lose any data but system performance will be degraded until the disk is replaced AND the array rebuilt. Capacity = (size of disk X number of disks) - size of one disk approx.

A server with a large capacity just gives you a way to lose a large amount of data.... and makes backups more difficult.

Having a server does NOT mean you have a server solution... it means you have a server problem.

Having a server AND a comprehensive backup system AND a UPS means you have a server solution.

msuper69 · Aug 4, 2002, 12:42 PM

Pay attention to what utidjian says. Especially regarding backups. The last thing you want to have happen is a server crash (or other disaster) that takes everyone's files with it. With no recent (from the previous evening at least) backup available, you'll have to deal with some very irate users. Imagine having to recreate (if it's even possible) a paper or other document that took days/weeks/months to create. Users don't always make their own backup copies (on their own media) so they have to rely on you. Do not skimp here. Repeat-do not skimp with backups. And make sure the backups you create are actually useable. There have been instances where admins have gone to use a backup and found out that it was blank, even though it appeared to have been created properly. Do test restores on a regular basis.

Being a network/server admin isn't an easy job. And this is just one (although very important) aspect.

Good luck!