Preparations

– Backup all your important data. Backup your server and service data on client machines.
– Verify your backups. Make sure it’s all there.
– Download Mavericks. Consider downloading a fresh copy from the App Store, this way you’ll have the latest version which will save you some time updating afterwards and includes some enhancements and bug fixes that were not available last time you downloaded the installer.
– Boot from your recovery partition, make changes to partitioning if you want and install a fresh copy of Mavericks.
If your internet hard drive is 500GB or larger I do recommend partitioning it. One partition for your OS X and a second (larger) partition for all the service data. For example I partitioned my 500GB internal hard drive and made the system partition 120GB with the rest available for data.
– Once installed, run software updates and install whatever is available.
– If you reinstalled the server and/or repartitioned your hard drive, do not copy any of your data back yet. This will come later. Copying it now will cause a conflict and Server app will ask you to select a different location for that service data.
– Download the Server app from the App Store, do not open it yet.

Alright, at this point your machine should be up and running. Either as a freshly installed machine or one that’s currently in use. Before we dive into the Server app, make sure you have secured your machine.

  • Use strong administrator passwords.
  • Have a password protected screensaver.
  • Disable automatic login.
  • Disable the infrared receiver if your machine has one.
  • Consider enabling FileVault and encrypting your partitions and external drives.

Using FileVault and encrypted drives may cause your server to be unreachable in the case of a power outage. Once the server boots up again, no services or data will be available until the drives are unlocked by an administrator. If you are away from home or can’t access the server when this happens, it will be offline until you get a chance to unlock it. If you do decide to use FileVault and disk encryption I strongly suggest having a capable battery backup installed.

When you are confident your machine is properly secured, continue to the next page.

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