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

    Bushel: The Device Enrollment Program (DEP) In Action

    Apple’s Device Enrollment Program (DEP for short) allows you to automatically setup devices with the settings you need on devices that your organization purchases. In Bushel, we give you the ability to link an Apple DEP account up with your Bushel account. This allows devices to add themselves automatically to your Bushel when the devices are activated. We tend to think this is the coolest thing since sliced bread and so we want to make sure you know how to use the feature. Setup Device Enrollment Program in Bushel To get started, log into your Bushel and click on Devices. Here, click the button for Device Enrollment Program. Download your…

  • Mac OS X

    MacTech 2015

    MacTech 2015 is coming in November 2015. Sign up now for the early discount and get a pretty sweet deal! Thank you for joining us for MacTech Conference 2014. The planning is underway for MacTech Conference 2015 and it is already shaping up to be the best conference yet. Because you have joined us before, you know the value that MacTech Conference brings to you, and the community. We’ve announced the 2015 dates — and now is your opportunity to sign up at the lowest price possible.  The “Special Early Discount” will be available only until November 30th.  Don’t wait: register now. MacTech Conference 2015: November 4-6, 2015 in Los Angeles. Like 2014, it…

  • iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  MobileMe,  Network Infrastructure

    Use libimobiledevice To View iOS Logs

    Xcode and other tools can be used to view logs on iOS devices. One of those other tools is libimobiledevice. I usually install libimobiledevice using homebrew, as there are a few dependencies that can be a little annoying. To install homebrew if you haven’t already, run the following command: ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" Once run, follow the prompts to complete the installation. Once homebrew is installed, run the following brew command to download the required components and then libimobiledevice: brew install -v --devel --fresh automake autoconf libtool wget libimobiledevice Then run ideviceinstaller: brew install -v --HEAD --fresh --build-from-source ideviceinstaller Once these are installed, you can plug in a paired…

  • iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Startup Profiles

    The profiles command in Yosemite (and Mavericks for that matter), can configure profiles to install at the next boot, rather than immediately. Use the -s to define a startup profile and take note that if it fails, the profile will attempt to install at each subsequent reboot until installed. To use the command, simply add a -s then the -F for the profile and the -f to automatically confirm, as follows (and I like to throw in a -v usually for good measure): profiles -s -F /Profiles/SuperAwesome.mobileconfig -f -v And that’s it. Nice and easy and you now have profiles that only activate when a computer is started up.

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

    qlmanage

    QuickLook scans file contents before you open those files. Usually this just lets you view a file quickly. But you can also use this same technology from the command line to bring about a change to the Finder without actually opening a file. To access QuickLook from the command line, use qlmanage. qlmanage -p ~/Desktop/MyTowel42.pdf While open, click the space bar to go back to your Terminal session. The most notable use case here is that when you use qlmanage you don’t run the risk of changing the date/time stamp of the files.

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

    Yosemite and statshares in smbutil

    The statshares option has an -m option to look at a mount path for showing the path to the mount (e.g. if the mount is called krypted this should be something like /Volumes/krypted): smbutil statshares -m /Volumes/krypted When run, you see a list of all the attributes OS X tracks for that mount path, including the name of the server, the user ID (octal), how SMB negotiated an authentication, what version of SMB is running (e.g. SMB_1), the type of share and whether signing, extended security, Unix and large files are supported. Additionally, if you’d like to see the attributes for all shares, use the -a option after statshares: smbutil…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Network Infrastructure

    Directory Utility in Yosemite. I’m not Dead Yet… Mapping Attributes 101

    The Directory Utility application has moved to /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications. Once open, you can use it to bind to directory services, change search policies and even dink around with NIS if you still rock the flannel with your ripped up jeans. But, the thing that I tend to do in Directory Utility the most is look at user and group attributes. To do so, open Directory Utility and click on the Directory Editor tab. In the bar directly below, you’ll see Viewing and In Node. The Viewing option is what type of object you’re going to look at. The In Node option shows the directory domain you’re viewing. Below, we show the local users in…

  • Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Upgrade to OS X Yosemite

    Installing OS X has never been easier than in Yosemite. In this article, we’ll look at upgrading a Mac from OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) to OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). The first thing you should do is clone your system. The second thing you should do is make sure you have a good backup. The third thing you should do is make sure you can swap back to the clone should you need to do so and that your data will remain functional on the backup. Once you’re sure that you have a fallback plan, let’s get started by downloading OS X Yosemite from the App Store. Once downloaded, you’ll see Install…

  • Articles and Books,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    Yosemite Server Guide/Page Live

    A blog is a great way to communicate information. But pedagogy, yo… Blogs are not great ways to teach in a guided manner. But they can be. So with a little Table of Contents, or a Guide of sorts, you can easily communicate in a fashion similar to a book. And this makes the third annual OS X Server Guide that I’m publishing in this manner; the guides for Mavericks and Mountain Lion are  still available. I doubt I’ll ever actually bother to take them down. I’ve been working on getting the annual guide up for a few weeks and while there are still some posts remaining, but it’s basically done (some articles…

  • iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Network Infrastructure,  Xsan

    Upgrading To OS X Server (4.0) on Yosemite

    Setting up OS X Server has never been easier. Neither has upgrading OS X Server. In this article, we’ll look at upgrading a Mac from OS X 10.8 or 10.9 running Server 2 or Server 3 to OS X 10.10 (Mavericks) running Server 4. The first thing you should do is clone your system. The second thing you should do is make sure you have a good backup. The third thing you should do is make sure you can swap back to the clone should you need to do so and that your data will remain functional on the backup. The fourth thing you should do is repeat all that…