Popular Server Oses?

[fastbilly1]

So I have several older servers coming to me in the near future for me to tinker with in a homelab setup to get my skills back up to where they need to be for a potential job opportunity in the near future. So what OSes do most of yall see out there? I have Windows Server 2k8 and a year of an older version of Redhat entry level already paid for by a previous job. I have downloaded Ubuntu Server and Freebsd already, anything else that is popular out there. Any benefit to loading up an OSX server if I dont own a mac?

I have been out of the server game for a few years - I have mostly been doing integration of large scale networks using a mix of Cisco, Juniper, and Ciena hardware. I am knowledgeable enough to be dangerous on all of those and a Windows server, but would love to take this job at a datacenter. They mostly Windows Server and Redhat, but it was suggested to be familiar with a couple other popular OSes before the interview. So when a friend offered me half a dozen Dell 1950s I jumped at the chance to heat my house with them.

If nothing else, I am about to have one helluva renderfarm for Premier and a overkill dedicated server for games...

[Exhuminator]

I might be boring but Windows Small Business Server 2011 has been very good to me.

[isiolia]

While probably fairly pointless for your own home use, if you were looking for stuff to get experienced with for work, you'd probably want to put a hypervisor on one to get experience with that and virtualized servers.

I mostly have Windows server at home and work. Going newer than 2k8 might be good, since you do get the shift to the Windows 8/10 style stuff, and Exchange (at least) can require using the newer ones.
Linux/Unix is definitely useful. OSX server, at this point, is basically an add-on for OS X (which, granted, is BSD UNIX underneath anyway). Not sure it'd be useful outside of a purely Mac environment, and Macs work fine connecting to other stuff anyway. Maybe MDM...but Apple Configurator works fine in non-server OSX. It has been a while since Apple even remotely tried to do enterprise level server stuff though.

[samsonlonghair]

The name of the game these days is virtualization. Make and run multiple virtual machines on these servers, because that's what network admins need to be able to do today.

As far as operating systems, isiola nailed it. Run a newer version of Windows server with the latest version of Exchange. Make sure you can run group policy updates.

As Isiola mentioned, OSX server is no longer a separate version of the operating system.

As of version 10.7 (Lion), Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server were combined into one release and re-branded as OS X. A separate "server" operating system is no longer sold; the server-specific server applications and work group management and administration software tools from Mac OS X Server are now offered as OS X Server, an add-on package for OS X sold through the Mac App Store[3] along with Workgroup Manager 10.8, available from the Apple support web site.[4]

These tools simplify access to key network services, including a mail transfer agent, AFP and SMB servers, an LDAP server, a domain name server, and others. Also included (particularly in later versions) are numerous additional services and the tools to manage them, such as web server, wiki server, chat server, calendar server, and many others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X_Server

This is basically only useful if you're a network IT in the education field. Most other fields do not run OSX server as far as I know.

[bmoc]

and Macs work fine connecting to other stuff anyway.

That has not been my experience with them in an primarily Windows environment. Every new version of OSX is a complete crapshoot as to whether it will properly communicate over SMB. If it does communicate at all, it is often extremely slow. I know there is stuff out there that can help like Acronis Access Connect but so far my organization doesn't want to pony up the cash for it.

It is mind boggling that we will pay extra to have Macs but won't buy the tools needed to make them run properly on a Windows network. Even more frustrating is the fact that we don't do anything that requires a Mac! In fact all of our enterprise database software is Windows only. If a Mac user needs to use that one of them, we either have to boot camp it or get Parallels/VMware Fusion. Each Mac on our network often causes me more than double the work of a PC.

Sorry for the rant. Back on topic...

All of our non-appliance servers are Windows based. We still have a small number on 2003 and 2008 R2, but most are on 2012 R2. Most new enterprise Microsoft software like App-V, Windows 10 enabled KMS servers, etc are all requiring 2012 R2. It probably wouldn't hurt to download the latest Technical Preview of Server 2016 since that is probably 6ish months away. I'd recommend a strong knowledge of 2012 R2 and 2008 R2. System Center and Exchange would also be good feathers to have in your cap.

[isiolia]

I haven't had many issues with Macs connecting to SMB shares, especially not recently. Some of the older versions, at least at home, would eventually "drop" the connection but still show as connected. Hasn't been a problem with newer versions of OSX.

Now, making them use a domain login or something is a different story.

[samsonlonghair]

I can also safely say that I have had no trouble reliably connecting Macs to SMB shares. The key to success is two-fold: first make sure that all your machines use static internal IP addresses, and second make sure your mac connects to the SMB share via the IP address of that machine. Don't use the old windows-based trick of addressing SMB as \\servername\sharename because that confuses the Mac (especially if you use DHCP). Use \\10.10.???.???\share instead.

Oh, speaking of Mac servers, fastbilly should know that Apple no longer makes Xserve hardware. You can use mac minis or mac pros as server hardware instead. There are third party options of you want to rack mount a mac mini.

[bmoc]

I can also safely say that I have had no trouble reliably connecting Macs to SMB shares. The key to success is two-fold: first make sure that all your machines use static internal IP addresses, and second make sure your mac connects to the SMB share via the IP address of that machine. Don't use the old windows-based trick of addressing SMB as \\servername\sharename because that confuses the Mac (especially if you use DHCP). Use \\10.10.???.???\share instead.

Yup, I've done all that. We have several file servers and many different version of OSX out there. Using a trial of Acronis Access Connect was the only thing I found that made it all work together fast and reliably.

[fastbilly1]

Thanks for the ideas folks. I have a hypervisor ready to go, I should have mentioned that I have experience with Hyper-V 2012 and have a copy of VMware Workstation ready to roll out.

The only reason I am installing Windows Server 2k8 is because I own a copy. I have the trial of Server 2k12, 2k16 Techpreview 4, and Server Essentials 2k16 Techpreview 4 (the rebrand of small business) downloading right now.

[fastbilly1]

I am grabbing my servers tomorrow. A different friend of mine is letting me borrow one of his server 2012 machines for three months so I can get use to navigating the OS and installing and configuring programs and services.