Poll: Which server OS do you prefer for mid to large mac environment?

[laura_survance]

We are currently looking to update our server farm, but I'm struggling with what the best option is now. We're a K12 district with approximately 2000 apple devices in JSS and only a handful of Windows machines. We currently have mostly all OS X servers (a couple Xserves and several mac mini servers). What is your preference for your backbone for not only JSS, but also network services?

[tu-egadsby]

I work in a very Windows heavy enterprise. We have JSS's running in Mac OS X Server and Windows Server. Neither is ideal from my point of view, and let me stress it's my point of view. As a Mac guy I don't trust Windows as a server but I also know that Mac OS X Server's current incarnation is well... sad and awful. I'd say Linux if you have the expertise around. Windows Server is getting better and Mac OS X Server is getting worse. That said from a JSS perspective, the JSS is super easy to install and keep up to date on a Mac OS X Server.

[tanderson]

We run our JSS in a virtual Windows Server environment and have been doing that since we started using Casper about four years ago. I haven't had any issues with the JSS running that way. My 1.5 cents. :)

[wdpickle]

We are also k-12. We have about 3500 Windows machines and 3000 Macs. We have been AD since before we started with Macs (about 3 years ago). Our new director (about 3 years) is all Apple. Our JSS is on a Windows VM our DB is on a physical (for now) Windows box. We have multiple OS X servers (all mini's now) about to handle our Apple needs.

[davidacland]

For the JSS, personally, Linux. Apache Tomcat runs noticeably better in its natural home ;)

For file servers, I like Windows, still with ExtremeZ-IP for Macs. It's an expensive option but the service desk guys can manage shared folders and permissions a bit easier with a GUI.

Certificate services & directory services, both on Windows. Both very mature products and nice a solid (in my experiences).

Netboot on a Linux VM, just because its easy(ish) to get going. I treat these as throwaway appliances.

Server.app running on OS X is still a useful option as a Netboot and caching server (or servers). Again just as disposable appliances. Mac minis with a RAM upgrade and SSD (or Fusion drive) works well for this purpose.

[John_Wetter]

Also a moderately sized K-12 here with about 4000 OS X, 4500 iOS, and about 600 Windows. Infrastructure we are virtualized and our JSS is in Linux. Directory services are AD.

[alexjdale]

We're running our JSS on Windows Server 2008 R2 Std, managing over 10k Macs. For a (admittedly beefy) server that is over 3 years old, it's holding up just fine, no issues with it.

[calumhunter]

As everyone has said, it will depend on your current infrastructure and support resources.
For me, if we are only talking about Casper Suite (JSS) then its Linux as option 1. Windows closely behind and I don't even bother with Mac OS X as a server platform. For casper DP's I like to use linux as well with NetaTalk (AFP), Samba(SMB) and Nginx (HTTP)

If we are talking fileservers for end users, it will depend on your use case but generally this will tie in with your Directory service for permissions management ect ect, in which case AD just owns this space. So +1 for Windows here as well. As David mentioned ExtremeZ-IP is a great AFP fileserver on Windows - ridiculously simple and reliable (IMHO). But not cheap.

As mentioned before for a directory service, you really can't beat AD.

[russeller]

@calumhunter I noticed you said you use Nginx for HTTP on your linux flavored server. Is there a particular reason you prefer that over apache?
I'm currently using apache for a HTTP DP with visualized Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and its been rock solid so far. I'm mostly curious if I'm missing out on something awesome.

Thanks!

[calumhunter]

@ssrussell Main reason is that nginx is faster and uses less resources than apache (for serving static content like pkgs's and dmg's for example).

It probably doesn't matter much unless you have many thousands of client requests to your DP and your DP VM has limited compute resources. I certainly wouldn't change if you are not having any issues with your current setup and have no pressure on your VM resources ie ram/cpu

Heres a good article on the differences

[bentoms]

@laura_survance I'm a fan of OSX Server & Mini's to take the load.

I actually recently posted on how I set this up, here.

[Simmo]

Originally tried getting the JSS up and running on a SuSE VM, without any luck, so we're running it on Ubuntu without any problems. But as others have said.. Whichever your environment supports or your guys are more comfortable with..