Dominantly Mac environment job

loxleynew

Anyone here work or has worked in a mac environment job where it is mainly mac and not windows or linux ect ect?

I only ask because this job interview I have next Tuesday is that way where they have some windows and linux servers but all the desktop users are on mac. Even all the IT guys use power books. I guess just curious what you guys think of working in a place like that.

dynamik

Wear a beret and bring lattes to the job interview. You're guaranteed to get the job.

That would be my cup of tea (to stick with the drink theme), but it wouldn't be terrible if you're looking for experience either. A lot of the same systems administration concepts are going to be applicable regardless of platform.

xenodamus

I'd be a fish out of water...my iPhone is the closest thing to a mac I've ever used for more than 5 minutes....

nicklauscombs

loxleynew wrote: »

Anyone here work or has worked in a mac environment job where it is mainly mac and not windows or linux ect ect?

you see this a lot with school systems. i did an internship where 99% of the systems in use were macs.

tomahawkeer

loxleynew wrote: »

Anyone here work or has worked in a mac environment job where it is mainly mac and not windows or linux ect ect?

I only ask because this job interview I have next Tuesday is that way where they have some windows and linux servers but all the desktop users are on mac. Even all the IT guys use power books. I guess just curious what you guys think of working in a place like that.

Ohh boy where do I begin lol. I work a lot with MACs, but to say that the majority of our network is MACs just isn't true. We have about 25 MACs out of about 100 workstations. 0 Apple XServes, with the majority of our servers on Windows 2k / 2k3. As far as using a MAC to perform IT duties, its very possible, you can pretty much do anything on a MAC that you can a PC, just pay twice as much for them and have very little backwards compatability.

I personally, would more than likely never take a job that was 95%+ MACs on the network, but honestly, they would probably run a hell of a lot better than they do here, where I have to deal with every operating system from 8.6 to Snow leopard, and make them work together, on a PC / Microsoft based network. It would be interesting to just see a network that was mainly Apple based, just to see how everything ran together.

cablegod

Yep, sounds a lot like my environment. I run 2008R2 for AD, Exchange 2010, and a file/print server. 2 physical AD servers (2008R2), 4 physical 2008R2 DCE boxes running Hyper-V, Exchange 2010 is a Hyper-V VM, I have 2 more DC's on Hyper-V, and tons of app servers running on Hyper-V. All of my Oracle boxes run on linux, my client-facing helpdesk, wiki, etc, all run linux. 50% of the development team run Mac Pro machines,the other 50% are running Win7 Ultimate 64bit. QA/Support runs Win7 laptops & desktops, and a few 27" iMac's, and slew of Mac Book Pro's. I manage and support 'em all. Being multi-faceted pays big. I can easily say that I have far less issues reported by the folks running OS X. I run it at work and home too. They all have their place.

it_consultant

I would ask what motivated them to go with an all MAC environment. I have been in these environments before and noticed one prevailing trend. Mac's had problems, and they were far less well documented than windows problems.

A lot of Mac networks are that way because developers and graphic designers simply cannot live without the Mac's. I prefer to stay away from these networks because no matter what happens, its not a problem with the Mac...even if you have to bring it to the mac store because the hard drive failed and it is not field replaceable.

Not that Windows machines are perfect...but lets face it, semi-well built Windows machines behind a firewall and web filter are 99% as reliable as Macs plus they are cheaper and more compatible with the world.

Hyper-Me

Prepare for headaches.

System administration headaches (Open Directory, if they even use it, is weaksauce)

OS problems (so many variances, rarely documented well, random issues that never make sense. Each model has its own install discs that cant be used on other models, etc)

Hardware problems (When i worked for a school district our macs failed nearly 4 times as often as our Dells, and the repairs take hours instead of minutes.)

neuropol

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Prepare for headaches.

System administration headaches (Open Directory, if they even use it, is weaksauce)

OS problems (so many variances, rarely documented well, random issues that never make sense. Each model has its own install discs that cant be used on other models, etc)

Hardware problems (When i worked for a school district our macs failed nearly 4 times as often as our Dells, and the repairs take hours instead of minutes.)

I've supported several Mac only environments, and have had exactly the opposite experience. Of course, that was coming on 10 years ago. A friend of mine owns the business I used to work for, though, and his Mac clients are still his most trouble free.

Also, if you are supporting Macs you shouldn't be using the install discs. You should just use an OSX disc. That's the same as on the windows side.

tpatt100

Yeah the numerous macs we have owned over the years had either an OS9 or OSX disc and then the disc that pertained to that model for the additional software. My Dells are like that as well.

Hyper-Me

All i know is that installing from any other disc that came specifically with certain models (mostly the lampshapdes, eMacs, and early white iMac panels) would cause kernel panic at startup.

We were plagued with hardware issues, and not just older stuff. We had amazing DOA rates on many of the large orders we placed.

Oh and i forgot networking headaches since a lot of Apple junk uses Rendezvous/Bonjour zero config BS.

Mojo_666

loxleynew wrote: »

Anyone here work or has worked in a mac environment job where it is mainly mac and not windows or linux ect ect?

I only ask because this job interview I have next Tuesday is that way where they have some windows and linux servers but all the desktop users are on mac. Even all the IT guys use power books. I guess just curious what you guys think of working in a place like that.

I have heard about such jobs but I think it's just Mac propaganda, maybe you can get paid for poncing around in a wine bar?

I would have no objection to working in such places as such but I cannot help but feel it might limit your progress in someway whether it is justified or not.

Imagine if you turn up to find that they are all running XP on these macs.

loxleynew

Lol well I did the 2nd interview at the mac place and it sounded better. While most the clients are mac based at least they do use a lot of cisco gear and have all windows servers. Sure the integration might be a pain but at least it will give me more experience in the integration of macs and windows servers.

I do disagree with one thing but at my current job we only have about 20 macs. They seem far more stable than windows xp or maybe their users are just smarter lol. I'm not sure which.

cbigbrick

I worked in a mixed MAC\Windows environment for about 5 years. The Macs could only run OS 9.2 because of the proprietary software for DNA. I learned REALLY fast on the job. Wasn’t too bad once we got rid of a PC Workstation that was using DAVE. It was the file\print share for the MACs. Slow as molasses in the winter. Once we got the SAN up and working, things got a lot better and faster. We had over 80 analysts and most of them had both PC and MACS so that was A LOT of KVMs too. We did not have any Mac Servers. Only Windows 2003 with File and print sharing for Macintosh enbled. Once I got rid of MOST of the hubs and replaced them with network drops to the server room then to a Cisco Catalyst switch, things started to move mighty fast.

MacFixIt - CNET Reviews was my best resource for troubleshooting issues.

Just remember to ask what OS versions and programs they are using. Pick up a used MacBook Pro if you can.

Good Luck!