Demonstration
MacOS X Server with NetBoot and Streaming QuickTime - The final solution for easy administration and attractive network access? Dr.med. Marc M. Batschkus, Marc Gumpinger, Dr.med. Dipl.Inf. Martin Dugas IBE University of Munich
Abstract:
Maintaining a multimedia lab for students brings with it ist own set of hurdles difficulties and challenges. Even a Mac-only lab will develop a life of ist own especially if it is also used as a teaching facility. Some tools have addressed these conditions but there is anew promising candidate that might solve all difficulties at once. The new Mac OS X (ten) Server offers unique and very powerful features that can ease administration considerably and open new possibilities at the same time.
In our lab that consists of 12 Macs we had already a G3 Mac that could be used as NetBoot Server and network connections were already in place. After the installation it is necessary to decide about the feature set that students were allowed to use and which kind of printers and programs. To make better use of already existing hardware it is possible to share the work load between several servers and declare one as NetBoot server one as application server and one as server for user documets and files. Additionally it is possible to create a small scale video-on-demand setup since the MacOS X supports the streaming features of QuickTime 3. We will present our first results and experiences using the described system with special emphasis on cost reduction, performance, scalability and the use of streaming video for students and faculty. To illustrate the process and all implications and possibilities we¥ll show pictures, screenshots and movies of all important aspects.
Benefit in Attending Session:
The new features of MacOS X enable an administrator to give powerful and attractive access to network resources to students and/or faculty. Administration is reduced dramatically, hardware costs are reduced and stability as well as performance is increased. even using video-on-demand is now in reach of a small multimedia lab.
Dr.med. Marc M. Batschkus IBE Marchioninistr.15 81377 Muenchen, Germany Telephone Number: +49-89-7095-4711 Fax Number: +49-89-701000 bat@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de http://www.med.uni-muenchen.de/ibe/mmlc/mmlc.html Marc Gumpinger Dr.med. Dipl inf. Martin Dugas gum@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de dug@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de