Resolved One dilemma. Two users. Dual booting possible?

[phoenixsan]

Ok, long history short:

Management in my work buys a mac Mini server model without putting too much thinking about it. Needs to accomodate two users. User A works only in Mac Server 10.7 User B dont knows nothing about 10.7 Server, dont want to learn/use. And mainly will use the computer for office stuff (Microsoft Office), database managing (FileMaker) and browing the Internet for getting info for quotes/budgets. And office management dont want users meddling with stuff created/done between users (User A will not allowed to access the info from User B and viceversa).

So, the question after this convoluted and lenghtly post is: Exist some way to install and boot the OS X non Server and the OS X Server (10.7) from the computer available/bougth.

Thanks in advance for any help/pointers/solutions to this connundrum.

 

[justperry]

No.

What I think you want to do is having two users logged into OS X (One Server, one non Server) and both have the UI, that is not possible as far as I know.

 

[phoenixsan]

No....

I had the hope of some solution for, said, install the OS X server version in one HDD and the non server version onto the another. After, when booting the Mini, ideally the users can get the option to boot in the OS X version that fit them better. (Not in the same time).

 

[justperry]

I had the hope of some solution for, said, install the OS X server version in one HDD and the non server version onto the another. After, when booting the Mini, ideally the users can get the option to boot in the OS X version that fit them better. (Not in the same time).

Yes, dual booting is no problem.

I never used OS X server but I don't think it is that much different now is it, especially now, the server side can be installed as an extra on a normal OS X version, it used to be two versions.(Could be wrong here)

 

[phoenixsan]

Yes, dual booting is no problem.

I never used OS X server but I don't think it is that much different now is it, especially now, the server side can be installed as an extra on a normal OS X version, it used to be two versions.(Could be wrong here)

Ok and thanks again for the help. Would do a Web based search and consult in the real world. But again, feel free to weigh in onto the question as you wish.

 

[benwiggy]

YOu can't use dual-booting if you want the server to be ... serving while you're booted onto the non-server OS.

In fact, I'm not even sure whether the OS will serve if you boot into a different, nonadmin user on the Server OS.

It is bad practice for to have a server in use as a general user device.

 

[ikev85]

A server shouldn't be used for everyday office stuff... but.

Setup two users accounts

User A can do their server stuff.

User B can log in and use it as a normal mac.

the Server software mostly lives inside Server.app in the /Applications folder so they can ignore it.


Correct Answer?: Buy another Mac for the office person.

 

[phoenixsan]

Thanks for the advice....

A server shouldn't be used for everyday office stuff... but.

Setup two users accounts

User A can do their server stuff.

User B can log in and use it as a normal mac.

the Server software mostly lives inside Server.app in the /Applications folder so they can ignore it.


Correct Answer?: Buy another Mac for the office person.

No possible to buy another computer because management is adamant in "use the equipment we had given you"...

So, if I get you right, this can be done: Install the Server version in the Mini server. Create two accounts for users A and B. No more to be done?

 

[ikev85]

Correct, Sever.app is self contained.

as long as office user B doesn't go into it and start mucking with things (maybe make it a standard non admin user) it'll be fine.

Correct answer: Still buy another machine for the office user.

What is being done with the server?

 

[MattInOz]

User could even be set up as a lower privilege user. Have a look at account styles you could lock down that account to have no admin rights, but also hide Server.app, terminal and anything else they could use to muck up the server side.

Also take in to account most of Server.app is an interface to processes happening below the user level. These keep running as long as the machine is running, even if just sitting "idle" at the log in screen. What ever it's serving stays accessible to the network regardless of which or any user logged in. Which depending on situation could be good or bad thing.

 

[phoenixsan]

User A....

Correct, Sever.app is self contained.

as long as office user B doesn't go into it and start mucking with things (maybe make it a standard non admin user) it'll be fine.

Correct answer: Still buy another machine for the office user.

What is being done with the server?

is setting a server where resides an archive of invoices for the last 10 years, stored in PDF format. Have to work also with the CS 5 Adobe suite

 

[phoenixsan]

So.....

putting the advice of ikev85 in motion, I installed the Mac OS X Server 10.7 in the Server mini. Make an account for user A as admin and User B as No Admin user.

Seems resolved to me. Both nagging users work well.... (until now).

Thanks all for the input, mainly ikev85 and MattinOz.

 

[ikev85]

Cheers, glad you got a good solution out of it.

I still think they should be separate systems!

 

[phoenixsan]

Thanks again.....

Cheers, glad you got a good solution out of it.

I still think they should be separate systems!

for the help. And I second too the option with two separated machines....