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created 23 Oct. 2000

Connecting Mac OS X to the rest of the world

Well, after spending few more weeks with the OS X Public Beta, I've had a chance to see how it reacts to the rest of the world, namely, connecting to other Unix systems, MacOS systems, and Windows. Allowing for the beta status of the OS, and many of the products, it's been a mixed bag, result-wise, but in general, more good than bad.

One of the bigger downsides, (although this is due to many of these products being quick ports from other Unix products, or from earlier NeXT products, where the command line was not the verboten thing it is in the Mac world), is that you need the command line to install many of these products. While not inherently bad, most Mac users are not going to want to come close to this environment. I am however, reasonably confident that the vendors of these products realize this, and will create an OS X GUI install program that allows Mac users to avoid the command line, if they choose to do so. Admittedly, not many of these applications are the type of things a home user is going to install, but nonetheless, when in Rome, use a proper GUI.

So, since the Public Beta is an Apple OS, how does it connect to AppleShareIP servers? Quite nicely. The way you bring up the Network Browser is a bit different, (It's the "Connect To Server..." item in the Go menu, or cmd-K from the desktop.) This brings up the familiar Network Browser-style window, although it's named "Connect To Server". Currently, only servers that support either the AppleShareIP protocol, (more correctly, Apple File Protocol over Internet Protocol, or AFP over IP), or the HTTP protocol, and even if the server supports those protocols, it needs to be able to use the Network Services Locator, (NSL) protocol to advertise itself to the OS X Network Browser. The other restrictions are that the KeyChain is not usable from the Network Browser, and you cannot yet add remote drives to your "Favorites" list. However, once you connect to a remote AppleShareIP server, and log in, select the drive you wish to mount, it obediently pops up on your desktop, just like in OS 9. From there, you can use it just like you always have.

The only real downside to OS X Public Beta to AppleShare connections is that it can only connect to AppleShareIP servers, (this limitation is clearly spelled out in the various readmes for the Public Beta, so if you are running the Public Beta, and haven't yet done so, go read them, and the other installation notes.) So that means no straight AppleTalk, which keeps the Public Beta from connecting to Windows NT PCs running Services For Macintosh, (SFM), as NT's SFM is using straight AppleTalk. Windows 2000 servers are connectable, as that OS uses the AFP/IP protocol for its SFM. Similarly, for a Mac running the Public Beta to connect to other Macs via File Sharing, those systems must be using the File Sharing over TCP/IP capabilities included in OS 9.X, or, for older systems be running a product such as ShareWay IP from Open Door Networks, or some other product that allows a non-server Mac to use the AFP/IP protocol. In general, I'd give the ability of the Public Beta to connect to existing Mac networks a B+. It's limited by the lack of straight AppleTalk support, KeyChain support, and the inability to keep individual drive mounts in your Favorites.

As far as allowing other Macs to connect to the Public Beta, the results are about the same. Again, it's acting as an AFP/IP server, so most Macs should not have too many troubles connecting to a Public Beta Mac. The Public Beta Mac shows up in the Chooser or the Network Browser of the connecting Mac, just like any other Mac on the network. The only oddity is in what is accessible from the client Mac. If you are not logging in as the System Administrator, then all you can access is the Public folder in your user folder. As an example, if I log into my PowerBook when it's running OSX, and I use my userID, then the only folder I can access is the MacOSX/Users/jcwelch/Public folder. However, if I log in with "System Administrator" as my userid, and either the password for root, or my own password, since I am an admin for that OS X machine, then I can access any and all volumes that are connected and visible to that PowerBook. (Note: This information is spelled out in the Apple Tech Info Library, article # n106010.) While this may seem to be a bug, in an OS designed for multiple users, you do not want a user being able to just traverse the hard drives at will remotely. By locking down normal user access to a specific shared folder, you can help prevent accidental deletions of other users files. Now obviously, there will need to be more flexibility here, so that folders needed by a group can be accessed regardless of location, but I will keep a 'wait and see' attitude on this. In any case, I'll give Apple a C+ on this, as it works okay, but it is a bit too limited in scope to be as useful as it can be.

Finally, as of yet, there is no allowances for an OS X Public Beta Mac to connect to a server running Macintosh Manager, nor is NetBoot implemented in the Public Beta yet. Again, this is a beta, and since there is no server implementation of OS X, (OS X Server being a very different beast from OS X), the face that these features are missing is not surprising.

So Apple has done a decent job of allowing for Mac to Mac connections within the Public Beta. Although there are some rough spots, (AppleTalk, KeyChain), the basics are there, and the work well. Next time, I'll take a look at connecting to the wonderful world of Windows, followed by Unix connectivity, and finally, a look at managing the Public Beta on networks.

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