Deviant - Slashdot User

How to provide managed services to Macs? 1

Submitted by Deviant on Tuesday August 24 2010, @08:39AM

Deviant writes "I work in a MS-focused IT managed services provider to SMEs (some as large as 200 seats). Increasingly we've been getting requests to introduce Macs or even switch to them. Up until now I have accomodated a few here and there — joining them to Active Directory and pointing Entourage at Exchange etc. I had a client whose Macbook Pro I've supported ask why he shouldn't move his whole 50 seat company to Mac Minis or Macbooks. I dismissed it with concerns around how you'd image/deploy and manage that many Macs. His servers are a bit old as well and he mentioned switching to a Mac server which I've never done and the XServe hardware seems a bit lame compared to the HP DL380s I usually use.

My question to those who deal with large fleets of Macs is this — what are the tools of the trade and how is it done? Can you build one image with all the relevant software like MS Office already in it? Is there a Volume Licence Key for that so it doesn't compain if you can? Can you automatically have Entourage set itself up like you can with Windows Office and a PRF? How do you automatically mount network drives and setup printers? How do you deploy software? I've read a bit about the Golden Triangle of having a MS for AD and Exchange and an Apple server with the machines to provide management — is that really necessary? If I went that route would the Mac Mini server be enough if the MS was doing the heavy lifting?

I guess I just want to take a look down the rabbit hole at just how much we'd have to change the way we do business/solutions to roll out solutions that incorporate a large Mac component. We are very comfortable reselling HP ProLiant MS servers and services and does an all/mostly Mac solution on the desktop solution mean that you really just should go with an Apple server and a total change? Even if you went "All Apple" what tools make a Mac network as easy to manage as a well configured Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2 one?"

Microsoft releases ~$150 OEM Server 2008 version-> 2

Submitted by Deviant on Wednesday October 07 2009, @06:08AM

Deviant writes "I was browsing the Dell site and noticed that they are now bundling a new product called Server 2008 R2 Foundations with their servers for seemingly desktop OS cost. It turns out that Microsoft have indeed released a CAL-free version of their full server platform, limited to 15 accounts and 1 physical CPU, for between $150-200 to OEMs under that name — including Active Directory, File/Print, IIS, Terminal Services etc.

This is interesting as it will not only help them to compete against Linux in many small buisinesses where their existing offerings were cost prohibitive but that it is also inexpensive enough for use as a home server OS for those who otherwise would have filled that role with Linux. It is a smart move and it is definetly shows that Linux is changing the game and Microsoft is now actively competing with it on the low end."
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IBM's new inexpensive Notes/Domino push against MS-> 1

Submitted by Deviant on Saturday April 26 2008, @10:25PM

Deviant writes "Speaking as an IT consultant, the one big gap in the Linux stack is in its messaging/collaboration stack. Outlook with Exchange is a fine product which many businesses truly rely on and it is almost impossible to match on Linux — server or desktop. The one competitor to MS in this space has always been Lotus Notes/Domino, which has always left many with the impression of being expensive, bloated and unfriendly. I certainly wouldn't have considered it for the small businesses that we usually sell on MS's SBS server product. That is why I was truly surprised when I was told about the new Domino Express Licensing and Notes 8. This is a product that now has both native server and client versions for both Mac and Linux. Notes 8, as well as now being written in Eclipse, also includes an integrated office suite called Lotus Symphony. This should conceivably let a user do all of their work in the one application. And you now can license both the server and client components together for as low as $100/user. Is this the silver bullet to take out the entire MS stack — server, client and office? Or will IBM drop the ball yet again?"
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