• Mac OS X Server

    Setup An Open Directory Master In macOS Server 5.2 On Sierra (10.12)

    Open Directory has never been this easy to setup for a basic environment as it is in macOS Server 5.2 (for macOS 10.12 on Sierra). It’s also never been so annoyingly simple to use that to do anything cool requires a bunch of command line foo. And never has removing replicas been so difficult. No offense to the developers, but this whole idea that the screens and concepts that were being continually refined for a decade just need to be thrown out seems to have led to a few babies thrown out along with that OD bathwater. Features mean buttons. Buttons make things a tad bit more complicated to use than…

  • Mac OS X Server

    Promote an OS X Server 5 Open Directory Replica To An Open Directory Master

    You’ve got Open Directory running and humming beautifully in OS X Server 5 (running on OS X Yosemite or OS X El Capitan). You show up to work and the hard drive has died on that perfectly configured Open Directory Master. Luckily, you have a replica and you have an archive of your Master. You can restore or you can promote your Replica to a Master. What to do? Well, I can’t tell you what you should do, but I can tell you that Apple has planned for this. Here, we’re going to look at promoting that Replica to a Master. Because after all, hard drives fail. Let’s look at…

  • Mac OS X Server

    Manage Groups In Mavericks Server

    There are a number of ways to create groups in OS X Mavericks Server (Server 3). The first is using the Server app, the second is using Workgroup Manager (which could be running on an older operating system and connecting to the Mavericks Server in question), the third is using the Users & Groups System Preference pane and the fourth is using the command line. In this article we will look at creating groups in the Server app. Once a server has been an Open Directory Master all user and group accounts created will be in the Local Network Group when created in Server app. Before that, all user and…

  • Mac OS X Server

    Promote A Replica To A Master In Mavericks Server

    You’ve got Open Directory running and humming beautifully in Mavericks Server (Server 10.9). You show up to work and the hard drive has died on that perfectly configured Open Directory Master. Luckily, you have a replica and you have an archive of your Master. You can restore or you can promote your Replica to a Master. What to do? Well, I can’t tell you what you should do, but I can tell you that Apple has planned for this. Here, we’re going to look at promoting that Replica to a Master. Because after all, hard drives fail. Let’s look at what all this looks like. Create An Open Directory Archive…