A Service-By-Service Guide For Moving Away From macOS Server

I’ve been making guides to macOS Server since Server 2:

• Mountain Lion Server (Server 2)
• Yosemite Server (Server 3)
• Mavericks Server (Server 4)
• OS X Server 5 (for El Capitan)
• macOS Server 5.2 (for macOS Sierra)
• macOS Server 5.4 (for High Sierra)

And along the way, I’ve also sold plenty of books on Mac Servers and gotten a lot of opportunities I might not have gotten otherwise. So thank you to everyone for joining me on that journey. After teaching so many how to use the services that Apple made available in their server operating system, when they announced they’d no longer be making many of the services my readers have grown dependent upon, I decided to start working on a guide on moving away from macOS Server. 

• macOS Server Changes Coming Soon To A Server Near You
• A list of other services and tools available for the Apple platform
• DNS and Network Services
  • Export DNS Settings and Records So they Can Be Run without macOS Server
  • Run A DNS Server On Your Mac Without macOS Server
  • Manage DNS Services on Windows Servers
  • Install And Manage DHCP Services On A Mac
• Time Machine
  • Replace Time Machine Server on macOS Server with WD’s MyCloud.com
  • Replace Time Machine Server with Backblaze
  • Replace Time Machine Server with Carbonite
  • Replace Time Machine Server with ARQ and S3
  • Replace Time Machine Server with Acronis True Image
  • Time Machine Backups to macOS Instead of macOS Server
• Web Services
  • Replace macOS Server Web Services with MAMP
  • Replace the Web Services in macOS Server with MAMP Pro
  • Migrating Data Out Of The Apple Wiki Server
  • Setup WordPress on a Synology NAS
• Messaging, Mail and Groupware
  • Replace the Messages Services From macOS Server With OpenFire Instant Messaging (Jabber/XMPP) Service
  • WebDAV, CalDAV, And CardDAV Oh My!
  • Migrate Calendars on macOS
  • Migrating the Mail Service From macOS Server
  • Build clamAV for message hygiene
• File Services
  • Replace File Services From macOS Server With WD’s MyCloud.com For Smaller Environments
  • Replace File Services From macOS Server With Windows Servers
  • File Services on macOS as Opposed to macOS Server
  • Xsan In 10.14 And Beyond: NAS, SAN, and High Performance File Shares
• Directory Services (open Directory is not deprecated but it’s only necessary in certain environments, like Xsan)
  • Export Directory Services Data from macOS Server
  • Install Active Directory on Windows Server
  • Replace LDAP on macOS Server with Active Directory Federated Services From Azure
  • Replace LDAP on macOS Server with Okta
• Radius and VPN
  • Install FreeRADIUS Server on a Mac
  • Configure FreeRADIUS On macOS
  • Replace the VPN Service From macOS Server With iVPN
  • Replace the VPN Service in macOS Server with a Synology
• Imaging macOS 10.13.5 And Beyond
• Install homebrew on a Mac
• Configure time services (NTP) on Windows Servers

And then there are tons of all-in-one small business servers solutions, including Buffalo, Qnap, NetGear’s ReadyNAS, Thecus, LaCie, Seagate BlackArmor, and Synology. Because I happen to have a Synology, let’s look at setting up the same services we had in macOS Server, but on a cheaper Synology appliance:

• Setup A New Synology NAS
  • Update Packages/Services on the Synology
  • Enable SSH Access on a Synology
  • Scan Your Synology For Viruses
• File Services
• AFP and providing files to Macs
• Time Machine Backups
• Sync Data to Cloud Accounts
• Network Services
  • Hosting DHCP Services on a Synology
  • Migrate DNS Services to Synology from macOS Server
  • VPN Server
  • RADIUS
• Web Services
  • Install Web Services (Nginx and Apache) on a Synology
  • Web Application Services
  • Install WordPress and import from macOS Server
• Xcode and Git Integration
• Directory Services
• Chat Services
• Backup iOS Devices To Your Synology With Acronis True Image