Mac at Work - Network Connection

cotton31 · 17 Apr 2012 at 12:51

We are getting a Mac at work and I'm wondering the best way to connect it to our network.

Our domain is made up of Windows machines. We'll be installing Windows 7 via bootcamp and using that as the main OS, so there's no problem connecting that to the network and domain.

We'll be using OS X for iOS dev and I'm thinking about how we'll connect it to our domain, or even whether we need to...

In OS X, I'll need to be able to connect to our file and print server and access our internet connection. I'd also like to be able to access the bootcamp partition via VirtualBox.

What's the best way to go about this?

Cheers!

ubersonic · 17 Apr 2012 at 13:31

You plug it in and turn it on, it will get DHCP address for itself and connect to the internet fine as long as your server is running DHCP and it will find machines with file shares itself (mine did all this anyway) im guessing it will find the shared printer too if not it shouldn't be too hard to set up and you can access the bootcamp partition from within OSX and vice versa.

cotton31 · 17 Apr 2012 at 15:59

ubersonic said:
You plug it in and turn it on, it will get DHCP address for itself and connect to the internet fine as long as your server is running DHCP and it will find machines with file shares itself (mine did all this anyway) im guessing it will find the shared printer too if not it shouldn't be too hard to set up and you can access the bootcamp partition from within OSX and vice versa.

Really? I've read that it's much more difficult than this connecting to a Windows domain etc.

What about authentication with my AD user?

I know that I can access the bootcamp partition, but what network problems might I come across with this?

TriedandTested · 17 Apr 2012 at 16:03

http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/join-mac-to-windows-domain

ubersonic · 17 Apr 2012 at 16:06

cotton31 said:
Really? I've read that it's much more difficult than this connecting to a Windows domain etc.

What about authentication with my AD user?

I know that I can access the bootcamp partition, but what network problems might I come across with this?

Ahh sorry I didn't see that you wanted it connected to the domain I thought you just wanted internet access and connection to your file/print servers.

cotton31 · 17 Apr 2012 at 16:28

ubersonic said:
Ahh sorry I didn't see that you wanted it connected to the domain I thought you just wanted internet access and connection to your file/print servers.

Well potentially yes aslong as it's 'seamless' (e.g. I don't have to mess around entering my Windows AD user credentials to access a share, or I can only read from a share and not write to it etc.)

I'd actually read the article that WeOwnTheSky linked too, and was interested by the 'Is It Worth It' section at the end as I started thinking whether I actually needed to to bind it to the domain when essentially I just needed access to file shares, printers, an internet connection and a VM of my domain connected Windows bootcamp install!

ubersonic · 17 Apr 2012 at 16:40

I have a HP Datavault running WHS (based on Server 2k3) at home with shares and the first time I connected to it I was prompted for my account id/pw for the share, that was then saved in the Mac's keychain (optional iirc) and it hasn't asked since, I have full R/W access to the shares and its as fast as it was form my old windows machine or as it is in Windows 7 bootcamp.

cotton31 said:
I started thinking whether I actually needed to to bind it to the domain when essentially I just needed access to file shares, printers, an internet connection

For this, no you don't.

cotton31 said:
and a VM of my domain connected Windows bootcamp install!

No idea tbh, but as im not sure if im reading what your saying about VM's correctly you do get that bootcamp isn't a VM yeah? Its basically just helper software that assists you in creating a Windows 7 partition to dual boot from and a bit of it is also installed in Win7 to let you access the OSX partition and manage the mac keyboard shortcuts/etc. <*Edit* Yeah I think I was reading it wrong, you should be fine for what you want without connecting the OSX to the domain.

Deleted member 77746 · 17 Apr 2012 at 17:23

If you can keep away from the authentication unless it's needed (Files / Internet Auth / Printing e.t.c)

cotton31 · 18 Apr 2012 at 10:06

ubersonic said:
No idea tbh, but as im not sure if im reading what your saying about VM's correctly you do get that bootcamp isn't a VM yeah? Its basically just helper software that assists you in creating a Windows 7 partition to dual boot from and a bit of it is also installed in Win7 to let you access the OSX partition and manage the mac keyboard shortcuts/etc. <*Edit* Yeah I think I was reading it wrong, you should be fine for what you want without connecting the OSX to the domain.

Yeah I know what bootcamp is. On my Mac at home I access the partition via VMWare Fusion occasionally, so thought that would be useful at work too.

mrbell1984 said:
If you can keep away from the authentication unless it's needed (Files / Internet Auth / Printing e.t.c)

Care to expand? How would you do what I'm looking to do?

Deleted member 77746 · 18 Apr 2012 at 15:28

cotton31 said:
Yeah I know what bootcamp is. On my Mac at home I access the partition via VMWare Fusion occasionally, so thought that would be useful at work too.

Care to expand? How would you do what I'm looking to do?

I would leave them as OSX with no network AD authentication only local logins. To access resources that would depend on your network setup.

Does your Internet connection require proxy settings? Does your file servers require authentication?

The Macs don't require to be connected to AD to make these types of services work. It's built into the OS.