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General discussion

How do you do it?

Mar 3, 2010 11:00PM PST

Hello-

I have been tasked to find a solution to integrate our Macs into our Windows environment. We wish to provide 2nd level support for our Macs as we do with our Windows machines.

I wish to get some ideas how everyone else does this. Meaning...common infrastructure pieces, we might wish to employ.

Exmample: Does anyone use a dedicated Mac server, in the Windows environment, to server their Macs in file sharing/printing?

What are the common users of your Macs (what business uints and common business applications hosted on Macs)?

We use McAfee clinets whcih report up to a McAfee server. How does eveyone else use McAfee on thir Macs?

How do your Macs authenticate through AD?

How do you get your Windows file systems to accept HPFS files?

Thanks so much.

-Larry

Discussion is locked

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Some answers
Mar 4, 2010 4:00AM PST

Probably no need for a dedicated Mac server.
Once on the AD network, files on a server are just files on a server. NTFS and HFS+ work just fine.
Once a file leaves the Mac/PC the format of the drive it leaves or is arriving at, is academic. If it did matter, the internet would not work.

ADmitMac is a good way of authenticating on an AD network, although it may be possible now without it in Snow Leopard.

For support like DameWare or PCAnywhere, Apple Remote Desktop is a good solution. All Mac's come with the Client app installed.

Most Mac users do not employ AV programs but if forced would go with one of the free ones. Both McAfee and Symantec are resource hogs and are not at the top of any Mac users list of must haves.

Should be some more answers along shortly

Hope this helps

P

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skip the AV
Mar 13, 2010 10:54AM PST

you do not need any anti virus software on a mac. if you must then go with a free one and stay CLEAR of nortain and McAfee. Both are just system hogs.

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Old MacFixIt Forums Info
Apr 23, 2011 9:26AM PDT

There used to be a link on the old MacFixIt forums that had detailed information about mixed Win/Mac networks that seemed to be very good. Maybe you can write one of the moderators and try and find that link again.

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Applications on Macs
May 19, 2011 4:59AM PDT

which seems to be one of the questions you pose, Macs run Microsoft Office applications and the files are completely exchangeable. Other software solutions may or may not be interchangeable.

Email is not a problem in most cases. I believe you can use Apple Mail with Exchange servers or use Microsofts Outlook, in the new version of Office for Mac.