Mac Clients Connect to Windows Servers

By building on many of the same open-source applications used in Linux distributions, Apple has made it substantially easier to incorporate computers running Mac OS X into Windows-based networks. This means traditionally Mac-centric departments, such as publishing, graphic arts, and video production, can more easily use their preferred OS platform without losing access to important network services such as e-mail and file-and-print servers. However, deploying non-Windows clients, including Macs, is not without hassle-many functions work automatically but some require third-party software or changes to the corporate network.

For a discussion of why IT administrators might consider the Mac in some circumstances, see the sidebar “Is It Worth the Bother?“.

Connectivity with Limits

The Mac OS, like all modern OSs, includes the full complement of standard networking protocols, such as TCP/IP (including IPv6), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System (DNS), and 802.11 wireless networking, including both the Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption standards. This means that Macs can be used in Windows networks, either wired or wirelessly, and all of the basic TCP/IP connectivity functions will just work. However, the Mac suffers from some of the same limitations that Linux and other non-Windows clients do when connecting to Windows-based servers. For example, although a Windows DHCP server assigns network addresses for Mac OS clients, in its default configuration the Windows server does not automatically create corresponding entries in the DNS database (as it does for Windows clients). A similar problem occurs when a Linux client requests an address. As a result, other computers on the network can’t access a Mac or Linux client by name but must use its IP address instead.