OS X 10.7 Lion Server: PITFA.

Servers. You’ve got to love them.

Let me take you on a little journey. Back in time, we had Tiger server. It was good. Then we had Leopard Server. It was also good (to a point) with iCal server and some other glitter, but wasn’t as stable or reliable as Tiger. We missed out Snow Leopard entirely as we didn’t think there was any benefit in the upgrade.

Then a Lion came along. Well… it came as standard on our new hardware.

WTF? Everything is different.
Fire up the new Server App and you’re greeted with something akin to ‘My First Server’. It’s a collection of On and Off switches and a bewildering gloss of simplicity. It’s horrible if you’ve been using server since 10.5, where everything is in essence the same. This is something totally new, and mores the point, it doesn’t work very well.

In the past, the first thing we do is configure DNS. A simple affair that doesn’t take too long to do. Once that’s done, we start Open Directory and use Workgroup Manager to set global, group and individual user preferences. We create sharepoints in Server Admin, start services we need… then start adding users into LDAP. Simple.

In this… it’s just not that simple. Two days later, and I have yet to successfully configure DNS. It just will not resolve. I’m doing nothing different to what I’ve ever done before, but it just will not work. The next issue is Kerberos is all messed up. We used cloned machines. Make an image, apply across the network to all the new hardware… but the kerberos tickets are all cloned too. Never been an issue before, but now the first machine I try to bind to the directory works fine, but every one after that will not bind, telling me that the computer record already exists. Even when the tickets are flushed out and remade, still the clients will not bind with the directory.

Very frustrating.

Gah… too much to talk about, not enough time to try and fix it.

Tiger. That’s where the answer lies. Strip out Lion, reinstall Tiger server. Forget it ever happened. You knew where you were with 10.5. It wasn’t the most exciting thing ever, but it never failed and was very robust. Tiger was a Landrover Defender. Tough as old boots, got the job done, but wasn’t very glamorous. Lion sever is a Rav4. Looks the part, but fails to deliver in anything other than easy street.

Monday morning I feel is going to be a stressful time. Shame the shops don’t open early. I think I need to buy a stress-ball, or some Tramadol.

Stuff Update

I realise it’s been a while since I stuck anything here, gentle reader… so a brief update on the office geeks, er, stuff.

I’m still fighting it out with Orange and Carphonewarehouse about the fuck up they’ve made, and how now I’m stuck in this blameless limbo between two multi-nationals that won’t move an inch. Still haven’t gone to OFCOM, but it’s not far off. Thankfully for them, I’ve got so much else on at the moment, it’s taken the heat off them, but I’m like an elephant. I don’t forget.

In other news, I’m saving at least £150 a month on fuel since I switched to diesel. I didn’t get an A6 in the end. I just couldn’t find one that was worth having on my budget. Maybe the next one will be an A6, but I bagged a very tidy B5 Passat TDi estate for less than a grand. You wouldn’t know it’s got 200k+ on the clock by looking at it. It looks superb, has a full service history and drives really well. Patience paid off.

Still looking for a new flat. The good ones go so quickly… but again, perseverance will win the day.

Still looking for a new place of employment. The present employer is just getting to me in ways that make going to work an unpleasant experience; strange as it seems, I like going to work. Honestly, but work should be a thing you do to please you, not to please other people – unless you’re a prostitute, and that’s what it feels like at the moment.

If ever I find myself unhappy in my work, then it’s time to work out why. Change something if needs be. If the changes are not enough, move on.

Sod company loyalty and forget the people you leave behind. Get out and go somewhere else, and if that’s not working out, move on again. You’re a long time dead, and I really don’t want to look back at any point of my life and think, ‘why did I spend five year osf my life being unhappy?‘. Anyway.

Rant over. It’s the last Sunday before all hell breaks loose. Time to relax for a while.