• cloud,  iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mass Deployment,  MobileMe

    iWork Public Beta Goes Bye-Bye Today :: Last Call

    I’m sure you’ve heard by now. But just in case you hadn’t logged into iWork.com in awhile or let the to-do lapse, it’s just worth a reminder that iWork Public Beta, the site that you could upload Pages, Numbers and Keynotes to, is being deprecated. The end comes on today. In other words, if you have documents up on the site, you should download them immediately or you won’t be able to come August. Apple has even provided a document explaining how. The service that was being provided by the iWork public beta is replaced by iCloud. Using iCloud, you can sync your documents between all of your devices. When…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Network Infrastructure

    Installing the Mountain Lion Server VPN Server

    OS X Server has long had a VPN service that can be run. The server is capable of running the two most commonly used VPN protocols: PPTP and L2TP. The L2TP protocol is always in use, but the server can run both concurrently. You should use L2TP when at all possible. Sure, “All the great themes have been used up and turned into theme parks.” But security is a theme that it never hurts to keep in the forefront of your mind. If you were thinking of exposing the other services in Mountain Lion Server to the Internet without having users connect to a VPN service then you should think…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

    Setting Up The Mail Service in Mountain Lion Server

    Mail is one of the hardest services to manage. Actually, mail is pretty simple in and of itself: there’s protocols people use to access their mail (such as IMAP and POP), protocols used to communicate between mail servers and send mail (SMTP, SMTPS)  and then there’s a database of mail and user information. In Mount Lion Server, all of these are represented by a single ON button, so it really couldn’t be easier. But then there’s the ecoysystem and the evil spammers. As a systems administrator of a large number of mail servers, I firmly believe that there is a special kind of hell where only spam is served at…

  • Articles and Books,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  public speaking

    Macworld Call for Speakers Now Open

    I won’t be able to make it to Macworld this year for a number of reasons, most notably that the scheduling gods (unrelated to the Norse pantheon, but similar to that of the Greeks) have me booked on a job that week. However, it’s an event that I wholeheartedly believe in. I think the more of these types of conferences there are, the better off we, as a community, are. My absence is not without my desire to be there, that is for sure. For those who haven’t been involved in the community of Mac Engineers, but who have a compelling narrative to tell, I’d recommend submitting a presentation. As…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Microsoft Exchange Server

    Configuring Calendar Server in Mountain Lion Server

    Configuring Calendar Server in Mountain Lion Server is a fairly simple and straight forward process. The Calendar Server is a CalDAV Server, leveraging HTTP and HTTPS, running on ports 8008 and 8443 respectively. To enable the Calendar service in Mountain Lion Server, open the Server application and click on Calendar in the SERVICES section of the sidebar. Once open, click on Edit to enable email notifications of invitations in the Calendar Server. Provide the email address and then click on the Next button. At the Configure Server Email Address screen, provide the type of incoming mail service in use, provide the address of the mail server and then the port…

  • certifications,  iPhone

    iOS Development Test Now Available

    I’ve been involved with Brainbench for some time. There is now a new iOS development test available at http://www.brainbench.com/xml/bb/common/testcenter/taketest.xml?testId=2973. Also, we’re currently working on a Mountain Lion test and could use some reviewers if anyone is interested.  Let me know if you’d like to be involved with that.

  • Mac OS X

    Showing iTunes Track & Song Titles In The Dock

    When I’m writing, I like to listen to music in the background. When writing, I also like to have everything minimized so I can quickly grab a screenshot of the desktop where needed. This means that when I run into a track that doesn’t work with whatever I’m writing that I would need to unminimize iTunes, click the next button and then re-minimize iTunes. Awhile back I found a better way but can’t remember where for attribution. So, part of my default user template and imaging framework now includes setting the iTunes Dock icon to show the track that I’m playing so I can easily go to the next song,…

  • iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

    What Happens When An iPhone Overheats

    I know I’ve mentioned before that when the temperature drops below -10 the heat from my hands is sometimes not enough to keep my phone working and that it can stop running. Officially, the iPhone needs to run between -4º to 113º F. I learned this the hard way (I tend to learn most things the hard way, I like to think of it as a trait, or something like that) when I left my phone sitting in my car. Not only does it get cold as all getout in Minneapolis, but it can get pretty hot as well. And as with any location in mid-summer, if you leave your…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    Upgrading to Mountain Lion Server

    Now that we’ve looked at what you get and what you don’t get in Mountain Lion Server, let’s take a little while to look at what the upgrade path itself looks like. Before we start, let’s just say that upgrading to Mountain Lion Server is probably one of the fastest, easiest and most boring upgrades you’ll ever get to do. And I say this more to the credit of the engineers that made the process so simple. Apparently there are bonuses to your Server just being an app. There is a catch, some of the services are gone. Another catch, you’re gonna’ need to have a system that meets the…

  • Articles and Books,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  sites

    More Visitors Than Ever

    The past 3 days have netted between 15,000 and 20,000 unique visitors per day, with each day seeing a bit more traffic than the previous. Given that most of my readers are at work (according to the stats at least), I’m guessing that will slow down as usual come Saturday. But that’s still 2 of the 3 top days ever for krypted.com, so thanks for caring and I hope you’re enjoying the articles! Bandwidth overages for https://krypted.com/ are one of those things I find myself always happy to pay! 🙂