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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Integrating Mac studio into Windows 2003

dazzasimmo - Aug 28, 2006 - 3:40 am

-First time visitor to this site, please forgive me if this is the wrong use of this area of your website! I will also post in forums just in case - feel free to delete whichever is inappropriate!

-Essentially what im trying to obtain is any and all information that would help me convince a Windows-based IT team that a Mac Server with network home folders is a much better solution for a Mac-based design studio, than trying to create these home folders on a Windows 2003 AD server (which i believe doesn't work).

-I have seen and heard that connecting from a Mac to 2K3 via SMB causes corruption to all sorts of files (not all the time, but some times)
-I have read pages and pages of forums listing all sorts of glitches that people using 10.4.X are having with integrating into the AD
-I also believe that "home" folders on the 2K3 box isn't proper Mac "home" folders, but instead is just a sharepoint that isn't capable of taking all the library, prefs folder, etc.

-I need to convince this IT dept that Mac really would be best for the Mac environment, and while i know im right and it would be so much better and work much more reliably, etc, im having trouble digging up really good evidence to hand to them. Anything from Apple's or Microsoft's websites is preferable but at this stage anything will help me out!

Any help is greatly appreciated, my meeting is in about 15 hrs but the info will help me beyond this one particular client.

Thanks,

Daniel

rubicon - Aug 28, 2006 - 8:33 am

You don't specify how many Macs you need to connect, the size of your company (and thus an idea of how many servers the IT staff supports), and what the IT staff said in response to your request. This would help me better understand your environment but without this info I can offer the following comments.

If the IT staff is reluctant to implement a Mac server it may be their inexperience at supporting it. You certainly don't want a flakey Windows server but you definitely don't want your IT support staff to shrug their shoulders when you have a problem on your Mac server.

I connect my Mac to a Windows Server 2003 regularly (SMB but not AD) and don't have any problems with file corruption. I do get a lot of .ds_store files but this can be turned off (somewhere) on the Mac. However, I'm not trying to edit a Photoshop file directly on the server (probably a bad idea regardless of your client OS).

Unfortunately I don't have a "smoking gun" to justify a Mac server because there is more about your situation which I don't know.

dazzasimmo - Aug 29, 2006 - 4:56 am

Hi,

yes you're right... reading over my question again, it was left pretty open ended. It was a case of my small company of 3 techs vs a very very large company with a separate multi-level building to hold all it's servers, and their internal IT staff wanting the design studio i look after to adhere to the normal corporate policies and stick all their stuff on a windows server. As it happens, after the meeting today, their link cannot handle the amount of data throughput, so they had to let us put in a mac server!

Although you didn't answer my question, i must say how impressed I am at your response time and the detailed response i got from you, particularly from my very vague question! I will have no hesitation in using you guys again if i get really stuck!

One more question before you can close this ticket... there's no such thing as "free" anything, so what is the general etiquette on these forums in regards to asking for free support? Should i return the favor by browsing the forums every now and then and help where i can?!

thanks again

Daniel

rubicon - Aug 29, 2006 - 8:28 am

Hi Daniel.

There are two places to find support. One is the message forums which are like other message forums: post a community question and see what response you get from anyone and everyone. You are free to ask any questions (for free) and answer any you wish.

The other type of support is the (free) ticketing system where you posted your original question. In this case, volunteers (i.e.: unpaid) review tickets and grab any they feel they can answer. Working one-on-one with a tech should provide a better, if not faster, solution. Not always but that's the goal. If you want to be a volunteer it's free to sign up.

In short, tech support on this web site is free with no strings attached. Like any tech support system, the more information you can provide regarding your problem the better someone can help.

As for other etiquette...I'd simply say to respect the fact people are giving up their time, without compensation, to help the Mac community.