• Apple Configurator,  Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Using Apple Configurator 2 Blueprints to Manage iOS Devices

    Blueprints are a new option in Apple Configurator 2. Blueprints allow you setup a template of settings, options, apps, and restore data, and then apply those Blueprints on iOS devices. For example, if you have 1,000 iOS devices, you can create a Blueprint with a restore item, an enrollment profile, a default wallpaper, skip all of the activation steps, install 4 apps, and then enabling encrypted backups. The Blueprint will provide all of these features to any device that the Blueprint is applied to. But then why not call it a group? Why call it a Blueprint? Because the word template is boring. And you’re not dynamically making changes to devices over…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Use Time Machine Server In Mavericks Server To Backup Macs

    The Time Machine service in Mountain Lion Server hasn’t changed much from the service in Lion Server. To enable the Time Machine service, open the Server app, click on Time Machine in the SERVICES sidebar. If the service hasn’t been enabled to date, the ON/OFF switch will be in the OFF position and no “Backup destination” will be shown in the Settings pane. Click on the ON button to see the New Destination screen, used to configure a list of volumes as a destinations for Time Machine backups. The selection volume should be large enough to have space for all of the users that can potentially use the Time Machine…

  • Consulting

    Checking your Backups

    The other day I had a client call wanting to restore four files from a Bakbone backup server I installed almost two years ago.  Now, I was skeptical but elated to see all but one of the files were able to be restored.  It just so happened that the client had deleted the original folder specified in the script and created a new folder without altering the scripts.  There were failure reports in the logs that the source was not acceptable for about 4 months prior to the call.  The lost file really only cost the client about 2 hours worth of re-editing but I still felt bad about the…