OSX Server to manage multiple Macs in an office?

Hi all,

Just to prefix this a bit - I work in IT, in very large windows environments. Done a lot of work with networks, domains, forests, and of course always windows PCs and servers.

I'm setting up a new office, all computers are going to be Macs (mostly iMacs, a few MBPs - about 10 now and growing up to 20-25) and one thing I've been unsure about is centrally managing these computers similar to how one would on a windows domain. Things like security, users, profiles, policies, updates, backups, etc...

Just recently thought about checking out OSX Server - it looks good, easy almost, but is this something that would be possible or is a good idea, maybe using a Mac mini server? Could it take care of things such as centralizing backups, updates, etc? I guess this really is one of the purpose of using OSX Server, but just looking for some clarification or confirmation..

Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback

There won't be any Active Directory or Windows based servers in this office at all. AD/Windows is what I'm used to day to day, but considering the whole office is going to be Mac, I figured there was no point in Windows or AD.. unless there is?

From reading around a bit it looks like a lot of what I want could be accomplished with Server Admin and Apple Remote Desktop (didn't realize how much was included with ARD, I figured it would have solely been some remote connection type software).