There were packages to easily install tools like the mySQL database in addition to the existing personal web hosting services that Apple originally included in OS X. Earlier on in life, when I was still a web developer, I spent time setting up test environments on my personal machine. MacOS Server Profile Manager macOS Server: My personal history

Standard users can install apps and change their own settings, but can’t add other users or change other users’ settings. Standard: Standard users are set up by an administrator.

To keep your Mac secure, don’t share administrator names and passwords. If you do, someone could simply restart your Mac and gain access with administrator privileges. Don’t set up automatic login for an administrator. But that experimentation led me into a couple areas where Mac OS Server was actually a phenomenal tool for casual users. You can create new ones, and convert standard users to administrators. As of Mountain Lion, that price dropped to just $20, and the product had by then transmuted into the Server app, available through the Mac App Store.Īt those prices, it was more than reasonable for even a dilettante hobbyist like myself to invest in the app, even if only to take limited advantage of the functions therein. With Lion, the price dropped to just $50, and instead of being an entirely separate installation it was a package of tools that one added on to a standard OS install. At that price, very few customers who weren’t IT professionals were actually ponying up for the product.Īfter that point, though, the price tag dropped precipitously-by half for the Snow Leopard version. The Leopard version of Server, back in 2007, ran for $999. For a long time thereafter, Mac OS X Server was an entirely separate product that you had to purchase separately-at a hefty price.

Apple os x server users