Apple OS X Servers run a command and control daemon on port 311 which uses XML to send and receive commands and report status. This is the native protocol used by Apple's own Server Manager application and talks over HTTPS. Using this library it's possible to get status updates from a server and send commands to restart services etc.

This code can be run from Linux (theoretically any OS with Python 2.5), Mac OS X and it should run with Windows also. It can talk to server versions of Panther, Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard (Older Versions May Work But I Have No Access To Them). Snow Leopard is still in development but a development build from Feb/March has worked perfectly.