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

    Delete nvram

    A nifty little new option that came in OS X 10.9 Mavericks and stays in Yosemite is the ability to delete all of the firmware variables you’ve created. This can get helpful if you’ve got a bunch of things that you’ve done to a system and want to remove them all. If you run nvkram followed by a -p option you’ll see all of the configured firmware variables: nvram -p If you run it with a -d you’ll delete the given variables that you define (e.g. boot-args): nvram -d boot-args But, if you run the -c you’ll wipe them all: nvram -c

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

    Cascading Software Update Service Updates In Yosemite Server

    The swupd.plist file used to daisy chain multiple servers so they act as a cascade of software update servers. The new path for the property list is /Library/Server/Software Update/Config/swupd.plist. Here, the metaIndexURL key is sill the location that points to an internal Software Update Server that the server you are editing should look to for updates. The default server is http://swscan.apple.com/content/meta/mirror-config-1.plist. To set a server to look at another internal server for software updates, edit the metaIndexURL key in the /Library/Server/Software Update/Config/swupd.plist file to include the path to the new server. The path should always have /content/meta/mirror-config-1.plist after the FQDN of the host name. So if your internal software update…

  • Mac OS X Server,  Xsan

    Yosemite Server: Configure Clients In Xsan 4 Environments

    Yosemite brings Xsan 4, which brings a new way to add clients to an Xsan. Xsan Admin is gone. From now on, instead of scanning the network using Xsan Admin. we’ll be adding clients using a Configuration Profile. This is actually a much more similar process to adding Xsan clients to a StorNext environment than it is to adding clients to Metadata Controllers running Xsan 3 and below. But instead of making a fsnameservers file, we’re plugging that information into a profile, which will do that work on the client on our behalf. To make the Xsan configuration profile, we’re going to use Profile Manager. To get started, open the Profile…

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

    Encrypt OS X Yosemite Server

    Encrypting a volume in OS X Yosemite couldn’t be easier. In this article, we will look at three ways to encrypt OS X Yosemite volumes. The reason there are three ways is that booted volumes and non-booted volumes have different methods for enabling encryption. Encrypting Attached Storage For non-boot volumes, just control-click or right-click on them and then click on Encrypt “VOLUMENAME” where the name of the volume is in quotes. When prompted, provide an encryption password for the volume, verify that password and if you so choose, provide a hint. Once the encryption process has begun, the entry previously clicked on says Encrypting “VOLUMENAME” where the name of the…

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

    Yosemite Server And Logs

    OS X Yosemite running the Server app has a lot of scripts used for enabling services, setting states, changing hostnames and the like. Once upon a time there was a script for OS X Server called server setup. It was a beautiful but too simplistic kind of script. Today, much of that logic has been moved out into more granular scripts, kept in /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/System/Library/ServerSetup, used by the server to perform all kinds of tasks. These scripts are, like a lot of other things in Yosemite Server. Some of these include the configuration of amavisd, docecot and alerts. These scripts can also be used for migrating services and data. Sometimes the…

  • Bushel

    Use Markeup To Annotate Images In Yosemite

    In our efforts to make you love your awesome Apple devices more and more, we thought we’d give you a great tip about the latest Mac Operating System release: Yosemite. Markup is a cool new feature in OS X that provides for quick and simple annotation and editing of images. This is done inline with your mail so you don’t have to fire up Preview or a third party app and edit things while you’re working. It doesn’t do everything but it’s simple to use and very handy (I think I annotate more than ever before!) While you’ll still want advanced graphics program for heavy editing, Markup makes it extremely…

  • Mac Security

    Need A Password? There’s An App For That!

    Remember this comic: Regrettably, password policies don’t allow for a few random words at most organization, so a special character, a capital letter and a number are basically required in most passwords these days. However, if you need a quick and dirty generator that includes a phrase and those additional characters, consider MyPhrase from Björn Albers. It’s simple to use, fast and easy. Good luck out there!

  • Uncategorized

    FitBit Badge List

    In case you might be new to the platform, I published a page at https://krypted.com//utilities/fitbit-badge-list/ of all the FitBit badges I’ve seen so far.  Note, I also updated my Nike badge list at https://krypted.com//utilities/nike-and-nikefuel-badge-list/.

  • Mac OS X Server

    Demoting An Open Directory Server In Yosemite Server

    The command to create and tear down an Open Directory environment is slapconfig. When you disable Open Directory from the Server app you aren’t actually removing users. To do so, you’d use slapconfig along with the -destroyldapserver. When run, you get a little insight into what’s happening behind the scenes. This results in the following: bash-3.2# slapconfig -destroyldapserver The logs are as follows: 2014-09-18 14:42:02 +0000 slapconfig -destroyldapserver 2014-09-18 14:42:02 +0000 CopyReplicaArray: ldap_search_ext_s failed 2014-09-18 14:42:02 +0000 Error retrieving replica array 2014-09-18 14:42:02 +0000 Deleting Cert Authority related data 2014-09-18 14:42:03 +0000 Removed directory at path /var/root/Library/Application Support/Certificate Authority/Take Control Books Open Directory Certification Authority. 2014-09-18 14:42:03 +0000 command: /usr/sbin/xscertadmin…