Open Directory has never been this easy to setup for a basic environment as it is in macOS Server 5.4 (for macOS 10.13 running on High Sierra). As with almost any previous version of macOS Server and Open Directory, once you’ve installed the Server app, run the changeip command along with the -checkhostname option to verify that the IP, DNS and hostname match. If (and only if as it will fail if you try anyway) you get an indication of “Success.” I know, I know, you’ve been told that you didn’t have to do this kind of command line stuff any more… But really, you should – and if you don’t believe me, check out the contents of the attributes in the OD database… And besides, all you have to do is paste it in…
bash-3.2# sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/changeipchangeip -checkhostname
Which should respond as follows if all your DNS stuff is configured to match your host name:
dirserv:success = "success"
Initially, you no longer see Open Directory in the sidebar of the Server app. Simply click on the entry in View to see it. Then, to set up the Open Directory Master, click on the Open Directory service. From here, click on the ON button.
For the purposes of this example, we’re setting up an entirely new Open Directory environment. At the “Configure Network Users and Groups” screen, click on “Create a new Open Directory Domain” and click on the Next button.
Note: If you are restoring an archive of an existing Open Directory domain, you would select the bottom option from this list.
At the Directory Administrator screen, enter a username and password for the directory administrator account. The default account is sufficient, although it’s never a bad idea to use something a bit less generic.
Once you’ve entered the username and password, click on the Next button. Then we’re going to configure the SSL information.
At the Organization Information screen, enter a name for the organization in the Organization Name field and an Email Address to be used in the SSL certificate in the Admin Email Address field. Click on Next.
At the Confirm Settings screen, make sure these very few settings are OK with you and then click on the Set Up button to let slapconfig (the command that runs the OD setup in the background, kinda’ like a cooler dcpromo) do its thing. When the Open Directory master has been configured, there’s no need to reboot or anything, the indicator light for the Open Directory service should appear. If the promotion fails then look to the preflight options I wrote up awhile back.
Clicking on the minus (“-”) button while a server is highlighted runs a slapconfig -destroyldapserver on the server and destroys the Open Directory domain if it is the only server. All domain information is lost when this happens.
Next, let’s bind a client. Binding clients can be done in a few different ways. You can use a script, a Profile, the Users & Groups System Preference pane or build binding into the imaging process. For the purpose of this example, we’ll use the System Preference pane.
To get started, open up the System Preference pane and then click on Users & Groups. From here, click on Login Options and then unlock the lock in the lower left corner of the screen, providing a username and password when prompted.
Click on the Edit… button and then the plus sign (“+”).
Then, enter the name of the Open Directory Master (the field will expand with options when you enter the host name.
It’s probably best not to use the IP address at this point as the master will have an SSL certificate tied to the name. Click OK to accept the certificate (if it’s self-signed) and then the system should finish binding. Once bound, I like to use either id or dscl to verify that directory accounts are properly resolving before I try logging in as an Open Directory user.
Provided everything works that’s it.
Next, use dscl to browse users and verify that you can see items in Open Directory as well as your local database. The following will do so, using your hostname in place of mine, and with your password:
dscl -u diradmin -P <PASSWORD> /LDAPv3/macosserver.krypted.com -read /Users/diradmin
Once configured and tested, the devil is of course in the details. There is very little data worth having if it isn’t backed up. Notice that you can archive by clicking on the cog wheel icon in the Open Directory service pane, much like you could in Server Admin. Or, because this helps when it comes to automating backups (with a little expect), to run a backup from the command line, run the slapconfig command along with the -backupdb option followed by a path to a folder to back the data up to:
sudo slapconfig -backupdb /odbackups
The result will be a request for a password then a bunch of information about the backup:
bash-3.2# sudo slapconfig -backupdb /odbackups
2016-09-08 04:31:13 +0000 slapconfig -backupdb
Enter archive password:
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 1 Backing up LDAP database
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 popen: /usr/sbin/slapcat -l /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/backup.ldif, "r"
55ee6495 bdb_monitor_db_open: monitoring disabled; configure monitor database to enable
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 popen: /usr/sbin/slapcat -b cn=authdata -l /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/authdata.ldif, "r"
55ee6495 bdb_monitor_db_open: monitoring disabled; configure monitor database to enable
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 popen: /bin/cp /var/db/openldap/openldap-data/DB_CONFIG /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/DB_CONFIG, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 popen: /bin/cp /var/db/openldap/authdata//DB_CONFIG /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/authdata_DB_CONFIG, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 popen: /bin/cp -r /etc/openldap /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 popen: /bin/hostname > /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/hostname, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:17 +0000 popen: /usr/sbin/sso_util info -pr /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 > /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/local_odkrb5realm, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 popen: /usr/bin/tar czpf /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/krb5backup.tar.gz /var/db/krb5kdc/kdc.conf /var/db/krb5kdc/acl_file.* /var/db/krb5kdc/m_key.* /etc/krb5.keytab , "r"
tar: Removing leading '/' from member names
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 2 Backing up Kerberos database
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 popen: /bin/cp /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/config/KerberosKDC.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/KerberosKDC.plist, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 popen: /bin/cp /Library/Preferences/com.apple.openldap.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 3 Backing up configuration files
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 popen: /usr/bin/sw_vers > /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/version.txt, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 popen: /bin/cp -r /var/db/dslocal /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7/, "r"
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 Backed Up Keychain
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 4 Backing up CA certificates
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 5 Creating archive
2016-09-08 04:31:18 +0000 command: /usr/bin/hdiutil create -ov -plist -puppetstrings -layout UNIVERSAL CD -fs HFS+ -volname ldap_bk -srcfolder /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7 -format SPARSE -encryption AES-256 -stdinpass /odbackups
2016-09-08 04:31:25 +0000 Removed directory at path /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage1769HtaFE7.
2016-09-08 04:31:25 +0000 Removed file at path /var/run/slapconfig.lock.
To restore a database (such as from a previous version of the operating system where such an important option was actually present) use the following command (which just swaps backupdb with -restoredb)
sudo slapconfig -restoredb /odbackups
Both commands ask you for a password to encrypt and decrypt the disk image created by them.
