Performing the Lion Server Installation, Upgrade, or Migration

With Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple created a very different installation process. Here are the main new aspects:

  • Lion is a 4GB download and has no DVD. The server is an additional download.
  • You cannot create a bootable disk image to make your own installer DVD.
  • The Lion installer creates a small, invisible recovery partition. After installation, you can boot from this partition by holding the Option key during startup. It gives you the options of erasing the drive and downloading the whole 4GB again.
  • You no longer have the option to do a remote install.

In order to run the Lion installer, you must be booted from the client or server versions of Mac OS X 10.6.8 or have Lion installed. If you have only one disk or partition, an upgrade install is your only choice. But a $20, 16GB USB flash drive with Snow Leopard or Lion installed on it can change that.

Another requirement is that the server Mac must be connected to the Internet during installation. The Lion Server installer downloads material during the server install process. It also gathers some information about your network during installation to further automate the setup. Also make sure any DNS or DHCP servers on your network are running.

Once you're ready, the basic installation procedure for Lion Server for most installations is as follows:

  1. Download the Lion client installer from the Mac App Store.

    Immediately after download concludes, the installer launches. ...

Get Mac OS X Lion Server For Dummies® now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.