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created 19 Feb 2001

Preparing your network for Mac OS X

So last time we talked about general preparation work for the full OS X release. This time, we are going to take a look at one of the more specific items you will need to prepare, specifically your network.

OS X is a much more networkable, and network-oriented operating system than previous editions of the MacOS. Indeed, if you look at the lowest level of your system in the OS X Finder, you see two things, the hard drive volumes, and an item called Network. As you add OS X to your environment, you will find your network being used much more heavily and constantly than before. In my own tests, 200MB file transfers proceed smoothly, and quickly, even if you are doing three or four at once.

Not only does MacOS X support AppleShareIP, but you also have things like NFS, Network File System to think about. NFS, the traditional way of networking Unix partitions, is designed to be transparent. In other words, in a traditional Unix you should be able to use NFS without noticing that you are working off a different machine than the one in front of you. Now, in the Apple UI environment, this is not the way things work, and I have yet to see that NFS will be any different. But the point is, that in a Unix-based environment, you can easily be running major applications across a network, while you are running heavy apps locally. Depending on your environment, you may have other people logging into your OS X machine, and using applications they need that are only on your machine.

This is doubled when you consider, that while NFS is primarily for drive access, when compared to products such as XTools, from Tenon, or one of the XFree86 ports, you can now have multiple users on multiple operating systems making use of your Mac's resources from all across your network. So if you have a copy of the GiMP, the open source image manipulation program, on your Mac, someone on a different Mac is going to be able to use it, if you set things up correctly. This is also one of the more exiting features of the BSD base of OS X. The fact that the Mac is no longer a closed box to the rest of the world, or at least your network. If you need more horsepower for a given task, and you have a bright, shiny G4 sitting on a VPs desk, you can now use it while he's not there. The inherent economies that an integrated network gives to Unix are now going to be available to the Mac.

You also have Samba, which is going to provide services from OS X for Windows users. While you aren't going to be running windows binaries on your Mac with Samba, the opposite could happen with PC users. Have a group of PC users that need to get to data on an OS X Mac? No problem, Samba is there. Have a bunch of Mac OS X users that need to use data on Windows boxes? DAVE, from Thursby Systems, and Sharity, from Objective Development are here for you, or will be here for you native on OS X.

Because OS X is designed to make such extensive networking so easy, you have to take a serious look at your infrastructure.

First of all, if you are still using hubs, start looking at switches. Even with a gigabit backbone, shared bandwidth will bring your network to it's knees. Switches also allow you to consider such other networking features, such as virtual LANs, vLANs, Quality of Service, QoS monitoring and allocation, better use of Simple Network Management Protocol, SNMP features, etc. Hubs are cheaper than switches, but you are going to quickly be paying a much higher price in wasted bandwidth and lost capabilities.

Secondly, start looking at making your minimum internal wired connection speed 100Mbps Fast Ethernet. It's standard on every desktop since the iMac, and on every laptop since the 1999 G3 PowerBooks. It's not noticeably more expensive to implement than 10Mbps Ethernet, and the time you save on backups alone will make up for any increased costs.

Take this as a chance to look at upgrading wiring if you can. Not just new wires, but organize things, trace things, find out why you still need that odd connection that's just there. Look into management packages, such as InterMapper, LanSurveyor, netOctopus, Timbuktu Pro, etc. If you are having weird network problems, this is the time to get a product like EtherPeek, and check them out.

MacOS X is going to be a networked OS like nothing the Mac community has seen before. (And no, A/UX doesn't count, neither does AIX on the Network Servers.) If you take the time to plan your infrastructure upgrades, not only will your OS X users benefit, but other OS's on your network will see the benefits as well. In addition, if you take this chance to organize your network, you may find that what you have is a lot better than you thought. Finally, things like video conferencing, internal usage of streaming media, network attached storage, Storage Area Networks are not going to go away. If nothing else, they may get more intense. Preparing now is like getting a ton of cure for that same ounce of preparation.

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