[Ham-Mac] MAC OS config questions

[Scott Galbraith]

Okay, this is really not ham specific, but asking on here anyway 
because I've seen what a knowledgeable bunch we have here! (They say 
that flattery will get you more.)

I have an older mac (OS 10.3 series) that I have been running DNS and 
a nice mail server package on for years. Am getting ready to migrate 
my services (and my PC based web site) to a hosted server (HostGator) 
over the next week or so. I've used UNIX in the past - but way past - 
and have not used much terminal based stuff on the Mac over the past 
7-8 years, so my "skills" have become rusty and I find that I need to 
pull out the reference manuals almost every time I want to do 
something in the "admin arena".

I've not been successful (that I can remember) in getting superuser 
or root status within the Mac OS graphic desktop environment - have 
always gone to the terminal or console. Is su/root possible in the 
desktop environment so that you can see, access and edit files in 
that environment? I have nice apps that I have used to configure and 
manage DNS/mail over the years, so have had little need to go to CLI 
mode.  Is anyone aware of a good (free/cheap) utility for configuring 
things at root level - such as shutting down and-or disabling root 
services like DNS and mail after I migrate to the hosted server and 
don't need those running on my home Mac any more? (Man I hate it when 
get to point that I can't recall stuff that have not done for years - 
takes more time to look things up than it does to do them!)

73,
Scott
N3OK