By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 06:00 PM EST (03:00 PM PST)

Changes in Mac OS X Server file sharing

Apple has billed its Mac OS X Server product as "open source made easy," rolling together a variety of standard Unix services and open source projects and integrating them within an approachable, graphical interface in Server Admin.

With the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Apple created two interfaces for Server: the ultra simple Server Preferences, which made configuring services as easy as setting options in System Preferences, and the more complex but powerful Server Admin (below).



In Lion Server, Apple has greatly enhanced Server Preferences and renamed the app simply Server. Rather than being a simplistic set of preference panels, the app has transformed into what appears to be a toned down Server Admin, with an interface reminiscent of iTunes or the Finder.



Apple also appears to have removed much of the duplicated overlap in functionality between Server Preferences and Server Admin, relegating all file system and many other user-facing services (including web, instant messaging, and contact, calendar and wiki services) to the new Server app while leaving only network and backend services (such as DNS, DHCP, Xgrid, and more complex Mail settings) to the more technically inclined Server Admin.

Formerly, configuring file sharing on Mac OS X Server involved turning on individual services (AFP, FTP, SMB or Sun's NFS), then configuring shared folders under the Sharepoint tab of each service. In Lion Server, Server Admin is no longer even used to set up file sharing. Instead, it's simply a matter of defining a folder and checking boxes for AFP or SMB support, just like a desktop Mac.

On page 3 of 3: WebDAV file sharing for mobile devices.