OS X Server is in maintenance mode. That much was clear when Mavericks Server came out a year ago with just a handful of welcome-but-minor tweaks and improvements. The software hasn’t grown stagnant, really—certainly not to the extent of something like Apple Remote Desktop, which only gets updated when it’s time to support a new OS X version. But now OS X Server is changing very little from version to version, and since the untimely death of the Mac Mini Server, Apple isn't even selling any kind of server-oriented hardware.

Still, the Yosemite version of OS X Server changes enough to be worth revisiting. As with our pieces on Mavericks and Mountain Lion, this article should be thought of as less of a review and more of a guided tour through everything you can do with OS X Server. We’ll pay the most attention to the new stuff, but we’ll also detail each and every one of OS X Server’s services, explaining what it does, how to use it, and where to find more information about it. In cases where nothing has changed, we have re-used portions of last year's review with updated screenshots and links.

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Listing image by Aurich Lawson