Mac OS X Lion Server For Dummies®

File Sharing in Lion Server

Previous versions of Mac OS X Server used Server Admin for setting up and managing file sharing. With Lion Server, Apple stripped all file-sharing controls out of Server Admin and put it in the new Server app. The Server app provides a simple way to quickly set up file sharing and grant users and groups access. You may not need to know anything about protocols or permissions, and you don't have to understand the differences among AFP, ACL, ACE, and other tech jargon. Although the Server app doesn't provide the level of control that previous versions of Mac OS X Server did, many of the more technical settings still exist, hidden away. Apple's approach seems to have been to keep the more complex tasks out of the way. In fact, you may never need to use them. If that's the case, congratulations — you don't have to read most of this chapter.

Unlike some other services, file sharing doesn't require much in the way of prerequisites on your network. You don't need a shared network directory; local user accounts will do. For a small network not connected to a larger network, you can do without DNS. Of course, there's nothing to prevent you from having these and other network infrastructure items, but they aren't strictly related to file sharing.

In the next section, I describe the different methods Lion Server provides for sharing files.