• Mac OS X Server,  Synology

    Install Directory Services on a Synology

    People who have managed Open Directory and will be moving to Synology will note that directory services really aren’t nearly as complicated was we’ve made them out to be for years. This is because Apple was protecting us from doing silly things to break our implementations. It was also because Apple bundled a number of seemingly disparate technologies into ldap. It’s worth mentioning that LDAP on a Synology is LDAP. We’re not federating services, we’re not kerberizing services, we’re not augmenting schemas, etc. We can leverage the directory service to provide attributes though, and have that central phone book of user and group memberships we’ve come to depend on directory…

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

    Creating Users In Yosemite Server

    There are three ways to create users in Yosemite Server (the Server app running on Yosemite if you’re so bored you feel the need to try and correct me). The first is using the Server app, the second is using the Users & Groups System Preference pane and the third is using the command line. In this article we will look at creating users in the Server app. To do so, open the Server app and connect to your server. Then click on the Users entry in the ACCOUNTS list. The list of users is displayed, based on the directory domain(s) being browsed. A directory domain is a repository of…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Setting Up And Using Web Services in OS X Mountain Lion Server

    Configuring web services is as easy in OS X Mountain Lion Server (10.8) as it has ever been. To set up the default web portal, simply open the Server app, click on the Websites service and click on the ON button. After a time, the service will start. Once running, click on the View Server Website link at the bottom of the pane. Provided the stock OS X Server page loads, you are ready to use OS X Server as a web server. Before we setup custom sites, there are a few things you should know. The first is, the server is no longer really designed to remove the default…

  • Mac OS X Server

    Cleaning Up Podcast Producer

    THIS CAN BE A VERY DANGEROUS COMMAND, USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. I’ve been seeing Podcast Producer deployed into a number of different types of environments. One of these is into school environments with quarterly turnover cycles. In these environments, all blog posts over a certain number of days old should be deleted routinely (namely when the quarter changes). Because in some environments, there can be hundreds, if not thousands, of posts, removing old content is cumbersome at best. Never fear, the find command can look at just items that have aged a certain number of days. This is accomplished using the -mtime options. The find command can also…