curl -L http://bit.ly/10hA8iC | bash Tip of the ‘ole hat to Erin for April fools fun for that one…
These days, new services get introduced in OS X Server during point releases. OS X now has a Software Caching server built to make updates faster. This doesn’t replace Apple’s Software Update Server mind you, it supplements. And, it’s very cool technology. “What makes it so cool” you might ask, given that Software Update Server has been around for awhile. Namely, the way that clients perform software update service location and distribution with absolutely no need (or ability) for centralized administration. Let’s say that you have 200 users with Mac Minis and an update is released. That’s 200 of the same update those devices are going to download over your…
Profile Manager first appeared in OS X Lion Server as the Apple-provided tool for managing Apple devices, including Mobile Device Management (MDM) for iOS based devices as well as Profile management for OS X based computers, including MacBooks, MacBook Airs, Mac Minis, Mac Pros and iMacs running Mac OS X 10.7 and up. In OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has added a number of new features to Profile Manager, most notably the ability to push certain types of apps to mobile devices. In this article, we’re going to look at setting up Profile Manager from scratch. If you’re upgrading to OS X Mountain Lion Server (10.8 Server) from OS X…
OS X Server has long had a VPN service that can be run. The server is capable of running the two most commonly used VPN protocols: PPTP and L2TP. The L2TP protocol is always in use, but the server can run both concurrently. You should use L2TP when at all possible. Sure, “All the great themes have been used up and turned into theme parks.” But security is a theme that it never hurts to keep in the forefront of your mind. If you were thinking of exposing the other services in Mountain Lion Server to the Internet without having users connect to a VPN service then you should think…
Setting up iSCSI to work with ESX is usually a pretty straight forward affair. But like with many things, change can be hard. But sometimes things get moved to different subnets or storage gets replaced. To configure a vSphere client to connect, select a virtual machine and then click on it and click on the Configuration tab. From there, click on Storage Adapters using the Hardware panel. From the Hardware Panel, click on an initiator and then click on Properties and then click on Configure. Then provide the new name or IP. Make sure that the name is unique and then if needed provide an iSCSI alias. Then change the IP settings…
Mac OS X Server uses the slapconfig command to promote Open Directory Masters and Replicas. In Lion, there is less and less dependency on slapconfig as not all of the aspects of an Open Directory environment are known throughout the system when performing LDAP operations through the command line (e.g. using -createldapmasterandadmin or -create. For example, if you use the tried and true -destroyldapserver option, the Server.app will no longer be able to promote a new Master and you’ll need to use Server Admin to create and then destroy that Master again in order for Server.app to be OK with your configuration changes. But there are things we’ll still want…
The default, self-signed certificate that comes on a SonicWALL causes alerts during a Nessus scan. This is because the device uses a certificate that comes on the device and isn’t signed by a valid CA. Chances are, there are limits around who can load the SonicWALL web interface in the first place. But, if you don’t want Nessus to continue alerting, or if you just want to use a certificate signed by a valid CA because it’s a good security practice, you might want to add a new certificate. The first step is to generate a new CSR. To do so, open the SonicWALL web interface and then click on…
Any time I think of something you’re not supposed to do with network architecture, I always think of Good Morning Vietnam. When Robin Williams says: “Don’t go near there!” But Betty! “Don’t go near there…get away from the river! Stay away from there!” One of the things you’re not supposed to do on networks is have conflicting DNS information. One example is to use a www record on one DNS server and a different one on another DNS server. This introduces a potential problem when some users end up with one DNS server and others end up with another. IP, DNS and other conflicts are usually a bad thing. Another…