![]() ![]() It interfaces with Xsan 4.0 (up from 3.1 in Mavericks), a product that serves as Apple's storage area network (SAN) implementation. ![]() The Xsan Admin is a bit of a niche service in an operating system packed with niche services. Depending on your router's firmware, you may actually have more network configuration options there than OS X gives you, but for homes or small businesses it's nice to have all of these settings available in one simple tool, especially if you're using it in conjunction with the DNS service and don't want to have to jump around between different administration tools. If you have lots of clients on your network, though, the DHCP service will give you more options than what is available in most home Wi-Fi routers.Īs in Mavericks, the service allows you to configure multiple subnets on different physical network interfaces (or VLANs, for Macs with only one physical network interface), configure your DHCP ranges, set DHCP lease time, reserve specific IP addresses for specific clients, and view information on connected clients. OS X Server's basic DHCP service probably won't be useful to most home and small business users-your router is already handling this for you, and most individuals don't need multiple subnets or anything like that. The VPN service typically uses UDP 500, UDP 1701, TCP 1723, and UDP 4500. Apple's comprehensive list of TCP and UDP ports used by OS X and OS X Server is helpful here. You might also look into a business-class Internet connection, which is usually more expensive than a home connection but generally comes with less restrictive terms-of-use, better support, and an option for a static IP address.įinally, you'll need to make sure to open the appropriate ports in your router's firewall to make your server's VPN service accessible from outside networks. You might consider a dynamic DNS service like NoIP or DynDNS, which will track that IP address as it changes and make sure the right one is associated with your hostname. If you have a standard home Internet connection, the odds are good that your IP address changes from time to time-not the IP address of your computer connected to your home router, but your external IP address that identifies your network to the rest of the world. If you do intend to run your own home VPN server (and there are definitely benefits, particularly if you find yourself working from cafes or other locations with unsecured Wi-Fi networks), there are some other concerns to keep in mind. While not a requirement for a decent VPN solution, it's too bad that Apple hasn't come up with its own attempt to "fix" the VPN problem. Microsoft introduced a feature called DirectAccess in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that allows for seamless, always-on, VPN-like connections between servers and clients that make things a bit less messy for users who need to get on the corporate network from remote locations. The biggest nit to pick here is that offering VPN services on an OS X server doesn't provide any particular benefits for Macs and iOS devices. The VPN service is considerably easier to set up and configure than something like OpenVPN, and L2TP and PPTP are both widely supported protocols that can be used with most recent versions of Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone with no issues. You can define routes for your clients as well. You can define the IP address range that VPN-connected clients will use-by default it uses 31 addresses in the high 200-range, so most home users won't run into any trouble there-and set separate DNS settings for VPN-connected clients. mobileconfig file right from the VPN service window to hand out (useful if you're not already handing out these settings with the Profile Manager). If you'd like to provide VPN settings to clients without handing out information like the shared secret password, you can save a standalone. All you need to do is select the protocols you want to support, your VPN server's hostname (which is separate from your server's regular hostname, a feature new to Mountain Lion), and your shared secret password. The VPN service in Yosemite Server continues to support both L2TP and PPTP VPN connections. ![]()
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