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

    Ask serveradmin If an Open Directory Certificate Authority is Available

    The serveradmin command has an option to run commands. I’ve talked about these in past articles, for doing tasks like asking how many concurrent NFS connections are open on a host. Well, here’s another, and it’s a simple command. Here, we’re going to look at whether the Open Directory server has a CA. To do so, we’ll use the serveradmin command, along with the command verb. Then, we’ll add the certs option, followed by command= and then the payload of the command. In this case that’s isODCAPresent: sudo serveradmin command certs:command = isODCAPresent This is a simple, informational command, similar to the web:command of getSites or the mail:command of getConnectedUsers.…

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

    Bypass the Application Downloaded From the Internet Warning in OS X

    ___ “is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?” is a warning dialog that appears when you open an application that you downloaded from the Internet. When you install those software titles with automation, you can clear the attribute that causes the prompt, so you don’t get a lot of confusion from end users. TO do so, use the xattr command, using -d to delete the com.apple.quarantine attribute. Here, we’re going to do so recursively, using the -r option and finally defining the application: sudo xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine /Applications/iExplorer.app

  • Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    More Command Line Service Control In OS X

    The serverctl command can be used to start and stop services in OS X Server. Use serverctl with a list verb to show a list of services: serverctl list Grab a service (without the quotes) and feed it back into serverctl with the enable option and a service= option to identify the service: serverctl enable service=com.apple.servermgrd.xcode Or disable, using the disable verb: serverctl disable service=com.apple.servermgrd.xcode

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mass Deployment,  Ubuntu,  Unix

    Kill Processes With Open Handles on PIDs

    You can kill a process using the kill command. You can use lsof with -n to see the processes that have connections to a file. So, here, you can see lsof showing all files with an open connection: lsof -n You can also use the-c option to constrain output to a specific string. The kill command can then use the lsof command to kill all those processes, as follows: kill -HUP $(lsof -n -c /tty/i -t) Free your files…

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

    Sell Some Bushel

    So one of the projects I’m very involved in is a simple, new Apple Device Management (or MDM really) solution, called Bushel. By default, we give people 3 devices for free. If you’re in a position to refer people to Bushel, you can also use links that you send to people that will get you even more free devices (up to 10). But some people want to sell things and earn commissions from them. And we fully support that. So you can become a Bushel affiliate and earn commissions from any referrals you send us. To sign up to become a Bushel affiliate at http://www.bushel.com/affiliates. There, you can find links…

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

    Mavericks Server: Enable APNS Debug Logging

    Troubleshooting push notification communications between OS X Server and Apple’s Push Notification can be a challenge. Especially with Profile Manager. One great tip I’ve learned over the years is that the APNS daemon, apsd, has a debug mode. To enable APNS debug logging, run these commands: defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.apsd APSLogLevel -int 7 defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.apsd APSWriteLogs -bool TRUE killall apsd Then use tail -f to watch the apsd.log file at /Library/Logs/apsd.log. Be wary, as this can fill up your system. So to disable, use these commands: defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.apsd APSWriteLogs -bool FALSE defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.apsd APSLogLevel killall apsd

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

    Make Bushel’s Open Enrollment URL Easier To Use

    Many choose a pretty long company name when signing up for Bushel. The Open Enrollment link is generated based on the shortened version of this company name. This link can then be supplied to your users to make it quick and easy for them to enroll (or add) devices into your Bushel. Some end up with a company name that’s difficult to tell others or difficult for others to type. Many of our customers would also like a link on their site that customers can be pointed to. There are a few ways of achieving shorter, easier, or custom links. We’ll go through two, but there are a lot of other strategies you…

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

    Use Verbose Logging With Profile Manager

    Verbose logging can help you isolate a number of problems with Profile Manager. Turn on verbose logging by writing a debugOutput key with a value of 3 into /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ProfileManager.plist using the defaults command: defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ProfileManager debugOutput 3 Once set, restart the daemon using killall: killall -u _devicemgr To disable, just write the key with a blank value: defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ProfileManager debugOutput Then restart the daemon again: killall -u _devicemgr