Time Machine Client Backups on Leopard Server

One of the best things about my job is that my company often buys the newest and best things for me to work with. One of the most recent purchases we’ve made is an Apple Xserve running Leopard Server. One of the reasons I was looking forward to getting my hands on this machine was so I could run Time Machine Backups onto it. Here are two big issues I’ve run into so far:

1. Users whose home directories live on the server can’t use Time Machine to access their backups 

Since the files live on the server, you have to log into the server to enter the Time Machine outer space interface. My solution to this right now is to create Mobile Accounts for users on their primary machines.

2.  I got the message ”No Mac OS X System Backups Found” when attempting a full restore

While trying to do a test Restore from Time Machine Backup from the OS X Installation Disc, I found that none of the image files had any backups listed. My solution to this was to go back into Time Machine Preferences and remove the “System” folder from my excluded backup locations, which seemed to do the trick.