Bryan Derman has published an article on setting up a virtual private network (VPN) connection between a Mac running OS X 10.3.x Panther (client) and the Linksys BEFSX41 router. This solution uses the freeware tool IPSecuritas to accomplish its magic.

Posted at 4:51 PM PDT with these tags: mac, network, tools

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Webmin, a web-based interface to hundreds of server functions, has been updated to version 1.150. Among the enhancements is support for the BSD firewall module to configure IPFW on FreeBSD and Mac OS X systems. The changelog lists other improvements in recent versions.

Posted at 4:20 PM PDT with these tags: mac, network, tools

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MacDevCenter has some good tips on Panther Unix connectivity, including coverage of the handy Connect to Server capability built into the Panther Terminal. Protocols such as ssh, scp, and sftp are discussed, albeit with no mention of the excellent freeware tool Fugu.

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Posted at 6:58 AM PST with these tags: mac, network, cli

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Getting Mac OS X Panther Server to serve up private IP addresses to local clients via NAT and DHCP is a royal pain. Ironically, this same task couldn’t be easier to do on the regular, non-server version of Panther. Go figure.

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Posted at 11:07 PM PST with these tags: mac, network

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Included with Mac OS X Server, the Watchdog process monitors certain applications and re-launches them if they unexpectedly quit. On hardware that supports automatic restarts (e.g., Xserves), Watchdog can also restart the computer when it detects the operating system has stopped responding (”system hang”). The best part is that you can configure Watchdog to monitor and automatically restart applications other than the defaults, as explained in an Apple Knowledge Base article on Watchdog.

Posted at 11:04 AM PST with these tags: mac, network, cli

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Apple has posted instructions for setting up IP over FireWire on Mac OS X 10.3. This new Panther feature allows for computer-to-computer file transfers that are much faster than the 100 Mb networks currently in widespread use. Then again, if you have newer computers, gigabit Ethernet allows for even faster transfers with longer possible cable lengths. Is anyone out there using IP over FireWire? Gigabit Ethernet? Post a comment with your experiences and let us know what’s working best for you.

Posted at 11:43 PM PST with these tags: mac, network

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MacCentral has a brief overview of Mac OS X Server 10.3, which Apple’s director of server software calls “open source made easy.” That was indeed the opportunity available to Apple when they originally released Mac OS X Server, but it seems the initial focus was on LAN administration rather than Internet servers. Will Panther get it right this time? Next week we’ll take an in-depth look.

Posted at 11:27 AM PDT with these tags: mac, network

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Apple’s Overview of Xserve for a Small Business LAN offers just that, covering security, expandability, logging, backing up, databases, and administration. The first in a suite of articles, this overview will be followed by additional articles to fill in the details on using Xserve on a small business LAN for these functions.

Posted at 3:00 AM PDT with these tags: mac, hardware, network

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Apple today announced the imminent release of Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) and Panther Server on October 24. Priced at $499 for 10 clients or $999 for an unlimited-client license, Panther Server offers a number of significant improvements over previous versions of Apple’s server solution. It’s terrific that many of those improvements are built into the operating system itself and are available even in the client version. See Apple’s list of system administrator features in Panther for more detail.

Posted at 1:36 PM PDT with these tags: mac, network

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Apple has a comprehensive Clustering Resources page available on their Server Solutions section. The resources are divided into five categories: Software Resources for Cluster Computing, Scientific and Research Applications for Cluster Computing, Distributed Applications for Animation and Effects, Solution Providers and Professional Resellers, and More Resources.

Posted at 3:47 AM PDT with these tags: mac, network

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