That’s not a bad idea managing a server is something that, on the GUI level, can be handled quite well via a Web UI. While you use Server.app to set up Profile Manager, most of the actual managing work is done via a Web interface. The answer I think lies in Profile Manager, Apple’s new tool for managing Macs and iOS devices (more on that later). It’s certainly not some return-to-Unix idea where each application has a specific focus. Why have four applications doing the work of two? It’s a little like being nibbled to death by baby ducks. Of course, you can also edit and create users in Server.app. If you want to edit the LDAP info for Open Directory in a more direct fashion than the regular UI lets you, you now do that in Directory Utility. In Lion Server, Directory Utility now handles the directory-management tasks. Server.app is the main application used to manage Lion Server, replacing the Server Admin program in previous OS X Servers.Īpple did a similar thing to the Workgroup Manager application, which was used for user/machine/group/ directory management. Server Admin handles DHCP, DNS, NetBoot, Software Update, and others. For example, Server.app handles Address Book, File Sharing, iCal, iChat, Mail, and other service settings. I’m sure that this new server-management program will one day completely take over all the functions of the familiar Server Admin application, but right now it doesn’t, which results in a somewhat tedious bit of hopping back and forth between applications to get things done.

There’s a new kid in town for managing Lion Server, and it’s called Server.app.

Welcome Server.app good-bye Server Admin-sort of But right now, using Lion Server is a tad more maddening than it should be. (Readers with longish memories may remember that OS X Server had a pre-10.0 version, which was called version 1.0.) In many ways, Mac OS X Lion Server (version 10.7 Mac App Store link) succeeds, but it’s hampered by UI annoyances and inconsistencies that will probably be fixed in future updates. The ninth major release of Apple’s server operating system is as big a change as the change from Mac OS X Server 1.0 to Mac OS X Server 10.0.

Omnipage pro x lion