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Take Control of Sharing Files in Leopard
Share files the smart way with networking guru Glenn Fleishman!
This detail-packed book, completely updated for Leopard, makes file sharing easy, whether it's between two Macs on a local network, among a mixed-platform office workgroup, or between far-flung computers on the Internet. You'll get help with selecting and configuring the right hardware and software for your needs and budget, learn about the pros and cons of different file-sharing options, find specific steps for setting up each major option (with special instructions to help you avoid problems and security risks), and learn how to connect to file servers from a variety of major operating systems.
More Info
Contents & Intro
FAQ
Read this book to learn the answers to questions like:
Which technique should I use to share my files?
How do I set up my Mac as a file server?
What types of security should I set up? Do I need a firewall?
Should I use Samba or AFP as my file-sharing service?
How can I restrict what users can do after they log in?
How can my Windows-using colleagues access my shared files?
How do I share iPhoto photos? What about songs from iTunes?
What's the best way to connect to a file server from my Mac?
I heard that FTP works better in Leopard. How do I set it up, and what if I want to use SFTP?
Book Info
89 pages
Version 1.0
Published 26-Oct-07
2.7 MB download
Free 20-page PDF sample with Table of Contents, Introduction, Quick Start, and section starts.
About the Author
Glenn Fleishman is editor of the daily Web log Wi-Fi Networking News, a contributing editor for TidBITS, the Practical Mac columnist for The Seattle Times, and a regular contributor to The Economist,
Macworld, Popular Science, and The New York Times.
This book helps you share documents among computers and over the Internet safely, using the file-sharing options available in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. This book was written by Glenn Fleishman, edited by Tonya Engst, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.
Introduction
In the late 1980s, when only a few million academics and governmental types had easy access to a very slow Internet and even most business users couldn't afford pricey Ethernet gear, we hoi polloi had two ways to share files: sneakernet and snail mail. The algorithm for sneakernet was to insert a floppy disk, copy files to the floppy, eject the floppy, walk (in sneakers) across the room, insert the floppy, and copy files from the floppy. A little tedious, but it got the job done.
For distances beyond the reach of sneakernet, the algorithm changed. Instead of walking across the room, you inserted the floppy in a padded envelope and walked it to the post office or called FedEx.
Even today, sneakernet and snail mail are useful for transferring huge quantities of data—imagine the gigabits you can "transmit" when you send a bunch of hard drives by overnight mail or walk a DVD-R across a room—but most people share files through multiple accounts on the same computer, over local area networks comprised of wired Ethernet and wireless Wi-Fi links, or over the Internet using dial-up modems, broadband connections, and high-speed dedicated lines.
In Take Control of Sharing Files in Leopard, I help you identify the right computer setup for exchanging files among users in your situation, with a particular emphasis on users working on networked computers. I focus on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard as the hub of these activities, but the principles are the same on all platforms, and many specifics are identical or quite similar in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
I also explain how to connect to a Mac running Leopard from Windows XP and Vista and from Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.4.
Note: To keep this book focused on file sharing, we broke out two related topics into full-length titles of their own:
In updating this book from Tiger to Leopard, I thought that I would make a number of changes along with new screen captures, and that was the case. What I didn't expect is that Apple would fundamentally change and dramatically improve how it handled file sharing.
That led to a large decrease in the page count of this edition, as workarounds to avoid roadblocks placed by Apple that took 1-10 pages in the Panther and Tiger editions, and often involved editing text configuration files, could simply be removed. Even so, you'll find this edition just as useful as the previous one. All the utility is still in the book—you should simply have less frustration in achieving the desired results.
As one small example, in previous editions of the book, I had several pages that explained how to enable and control guest (password-free) access to AFP and Samba (Window style) file service. In this edition, there's a brief entry on turning on file sharing for the default Guest account that's new in Leopard and a look at how to enable or disable broad access to particular folders.
Perversely, Apple did make it harder to modify settings manually for file services. Mac OS X now rewrites underlying configuration files based on settings you choose in the Leopard interface, overwriting any changes you make. In Tiger and earlier releases, configuration files were generally static, and you could edit those files to make changes. With Leopard's new dynamic files, your options are fewer. As a result, this book focuses on changes you make through the Mac OS X interface instead of in underlying text files.
Quick Start
This book contains many details, not all of which may be relevant to your situation. You do not need to read every word before sharing files, but you should be familiar with the overall process first.
Prepare to share files:
Before you think about the big world of sharing files on a network, you may wish to review techniques for sharing files among users on a single Macintosh. See Share Files on the Same Mac.
Learn how file sharing is different from using disks to copy files from computer to computer or using email attachments to move files around. See What Is File Sharing?.
Review reasons to share files, and see which match your situation. See Reasons for File Sharing.
Decide on the hardware or online service that you'll use as your file sharing server; see What You Need to Serve Files .
Determine which file sharing method makes sense for your goals, budget, and expertise. Learn about Apple Filing Protocol, FTP, Pando, and others. See Decide on a File-Sharing Method .
Take steps to manage security risks by becoming informed about what you expose when you share files over the Internet. See Avoid File-Sharing Risks.
Start sharing files:
Decide which folders and volumes to share, set up accounts for users, and choose their access privileges for viewing, storing, and modifying items. Learn about Apple Filing Protocol, Samba, FTP, and Web particulars for sharing files. See Share Files.
Start sharing photos and music from iTunes and iPhoto; see Share Digital Media Files.
Access shared files:
Access shared files from Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. See Access Shared Files.
Does this book cover file sharing via Back to My Mac?
No, it doesn't, since Back to My Mac is merely a way of finding another computer with which to share files (once you've made the connection, sharing files works just as it does via a local network). If you'd like more help with Back to My Mac, check out Glenn's latest book, Take Control of Back to My Mac.
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