Help with Mac OS X Server 10.4

Hello all,

I am relatively new to Mac and i have been having a lot of issues with the server software. I work for a small photo journalism company. We currently have 4 iMac's, 2 Mac Books (all with 10.6) and a Xserve G5 RackMac (using Server 10.4).

We currently only use the server for storing data but we are looking to centralise our Mac Mail and the contacts held within. We are currently using Virgin's DNS servers for name resolution as i know having a centralised DNS server can be crucial to some services on Mac Server.

I was wondering if anybody can help me with centralising our Mac Mail so that it is "synced" across all of the iMac's and so that the contacts held within Mac Mail (which currently are only on one of the iMac's) can be accessed on any of the iMac's.

I hope this makes sense, sorry for being such a Newbie but I am a Windows user through and through

Any help would be much appreciated on this matter and any tips on Mac Server would also be welcomed.

Thank you

The Rabbit

If you are a Windows user than you will appreciate my suggestion.

Get an SBS 2011 standard server and use Exchange 2010 for mail.

In the end you'll pay a few thousand bucks but it will make life so much easier.

Microsoft does a lot of things wrong, but Exchange is one they got right. Mail, contacts and calendaring on an OS X server are only there as an option, but not really much of one for OS X 10.4 or 10.7 for that matter.

Buy an ML150 from HP and an OEM SBS 2011 license and call it done. You might even find it as a smart buy bundle from HP.

MacsWork said:

If you are a Windows user than you will appreciate my suggestion.

Get an SBS 2011 standard server and use Exchange 2010 for mail.

In the end you'll pay a few thousand bucks but it will make life so much easier.

Microsoft does a lot of things wrong, but Exchange is one they got right. Mail, contacts and calendaring on an OS X server are only there as an option, but not really much of one for OS X 10.4 or 10.7 for that matter.

Buy an ML150 from HP and an OEM SBS 2011 license and call it done. You might even find it as a smart buy bundle from HP.

Click to expand...

Hey MacsWork, thanks for the reply

I agree with your solution but it just seems a little bit like overkill for such a small set up and I highly doubt my employer will want to fork out so much for something that is essentially just "more convenient"

I wish my boss would just accept my solution of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it!"

So there is no way to sync mail and contacts through mac os x server?

It would even be quite a way towards a solution if it was just the contacts that were synced, after all it isn't to much of a big deal to access mail from each mac

I mean setting up a dedicated mail server was one of my thoughts but again it seems like something so complicated for something so simple.

Still muchly appreciated though

The Rabbit

There is mail, contacts and calendar syncing from OS X server. Not sure how robust 10.4 is but with 10.6 and 10.7 you can sync between devices. However shared resources like company contacts and company calendars are going to be handled through the WIKI. Which is not convenient at all.

ZIMBRA is the alternative to Exchange and is open source (or commercially licensed) owned by VMWare.

Zimbra Collaboration Suite Flash Demo