• Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Apple Remote Desktop: Setting up a Task Server

    April 14, 2008

    Step 1 In order to enable a system to be used as a Task Server, open Remote Desktop, click on the Remote Desktop menu item and click on Preferences.  Then click on the Task Server tab and click on Use Task Server on this Computer.  Then check the box for Allow Remote Connections to this Server.     Step 2 To utilize the task server that you have just setup, go to one of the computers that will use Remote Desktop for management and open Remote Desktop, click on the Remote Desktop menu item and click on Preferences.  Then click on the Task Server tab and click on Use Remote…

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

    Mac OS X Server 10.5: Managed Preferences Update

    November 17, 2007

    I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal If you’re familiar with Managed Preferences in Tiger then you’re basically already familiar with Managed Preferences in Leopard Server. But there are some great new features that Apple has provided us with by popular demand. These include the following: Applications There are now more features to the Applications Managed Preference. You can allow or disallow applications by selecting them individually or a folder. This means that you can allow access to applications located in the /Applications folder but disallow all applications located in the /Applications/Utilities folder. There are also now controls for allowing specific widgets and disabling Front Row. Finder There are new options…

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  • Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Mac OS X: Alex.SpeechVoice

    July 5, 2007

    Have you noticed how big Mac OS X has gotten?  Wonder why?  Well, for the most part Apple does a good job with compression and file management.  But things like iDVD, Garage Band, etc are taking their toll.  Then there are printer drivers and fonts.  And then there is this gem: Alex.SpeechVoice.  In the /System/Library/Speech/Voices/Alex.SpeechVoice/Contents/Resources is a file called PCMWave.  This file is 692MB.  If you don’t plan on using the Alex voice then trash it to reduce the size of your image considerably.

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  • Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Mac OS X: Continuing to Reduce Image Sizes

    March 5, 2007

    We discussed reducing your image size by about 700MB in this article: Mac OS X: Alex.SpeechVoice But if you’re building your image from a host that has already fired up once then there’s likely to be a 2GB or 4GB file called sleepimage in /var/vm.  This file is recreated on startup if it’s not present and needed.  This will allow you to reduce image sizes by 2GB to 4GB.  If you want to get rid of the file permanently on your imaging station you can run the following command: pmset hibernatemode 0 Since you’ll likely want systems to use this feature run the command on your imaged clients with a…

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