Deciding How to Manage Users and Groups
During the initial setup of Mac OS X Server, you’ll choose how the server manages the
user and group accounts it uses to authenticate users and determine which services
they’re allowed to access. You can choose to:
Manage users and groups independently for a small organization
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Import users and groups for a workgroup in a medium or large organization
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Configure manually for a server that provides selected services to a medium or large
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organization
Managing Your Own Users and Groups
If you’re setting up a server for a small organization without an existing directory
server, you can choose to set up an independent server with its own users and groups.
The server provides its own directory service, as an Open Directory master, for its user
and group accounts.
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After setup, you’ll manage users and groups, configure basic service settings, and
monitor server status with the easy-to-use Server Preferences application. You can also
use the Server Admin and Workgroup Manager applications if you need to change
advanced settings or set up advanced services.
Importing Users and Groups for a Workgroup
If you’re setting up a server for a department or workgroup in an organization with an
existing directory server, you can choose to import users from that directory server.
This allows people to use your server with their existing user names and passwords.
You’ll need to know the following information:
The directory server’s DNS name or IP address
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Whether you need to authenticate to the directory server, and if so, the type of
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directory server and the name and password of a user account on the directory
server
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For an Open Directory server, you can use a standard user account; you don’t need a
directory administrator account.
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For an Active Directory server, you can use an Active Directory administrator
account or a standard user account that has the “Add workstations to domain”
privilege.
Your server uses the account name, password, and other attributes that already exist in
imported user accounts. Your server can augment the existing attributes with attributes
needed for its services. For example, imported users can be members of a group you
create on your server.
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Your server will also provide its own directory service as an Open Directory master, and
thus can have its own user and group accounts. After setup, you can create groups for
teams or projects within the workgroup, and you can create a user account for anyone
who doesn’t have one from the organization’s directory server.
After setup, you’ll manage users and groups, configure basic service settings, and
monitor server status with the easy-to-use Server Preferences application. You can
also use the Server Admin Workgroup Manager applications if you need to change
advanced settings or set up advanced services.
Configuring Manually
If you’re an experienced system administrator setting up one or more servers for a
medium or large organization, and you need complete control of service configuration,
you can choose to configure manually. This choice accommodates a wide variety of
business needs.
During initial setup, you’ll be able to bind your server to a directory server or make your
server a directory server by creating an Open Directory master. You can also choose to
configure directory services after initial setup.
After initial setup, you can configure services and manage users by using either
advanced applications such as Server Admin and Workgroup Manager or command-
line tools. You can also use the Server Preferences application if you only need to
configure basic service settings and manage basic user and group settings.
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