The most customizable way to replace web services for macOS with another solution is to custom-build your own Apache or nginx. You can even get a GUI for Apache on the Mac. If you want a one-button installation, the closest thing is likely to be IIS running on a Windows Server. But there are other alternatives that let you keep the Mac hardware and run sites on a Mac without the macOS Server GUI. In this article we’ll look at moving forward with a tool that’s been around long enough for me to mention it in about a dozen books: MAMP. Before writing this article, I tried out all of…
-
-
Setup The Caching Service On macOS High Sierra
High Sierra sees the Caching service moved out of macOS Server and into the client macOS. This means administrators no longer need to run the Server app on caching servers. Given the fact that the Caching service only stores volatile data easily recreated by caching updates again, there’s no need to back the service up, and it doesn’t interact with users or groups, so it’s easily divested from the rest of the Server services. And the setup of the Caching service has never been easier. To do so, first open System Preferences and click on the Sharing System Preferences pane. From here, click on the checkbox for Content Caching to…
-
Manage The Software Update Service In macOS Server 5.4
The software patching configuration built into most operating systems is configured so all that a user has to do is open a box at home, join the network and start using the computer right away. As environments grow from homes to small offices and then small offices grow into enterprises, at some point software updates and patches need to be managed centrally. macOS heavily leverages the App Store. This allows administrators to pretty much be hands off when it comes to managing updates. But some environments need to control the flow of updates anyway. Apple has had this ability since the early days of OS X and in macOS, you…
-
macOS Server 5.4 (High Sierra)
Introduction Overview of services in macOS Before you upgrade to macOS Server 5.4 Install macOS Server 5.4 Convert to APFS Upgrade To macOS Server 5.4 Create macOS Bootable Installers Directory Services Create an Open Directory Master Open Directory Replica Promote An Open Directory Replica To A Master Manage Users using the Server app Manage Groups using the Server app Demote an Open Directory Server using the Server app Demote an Open Directory Server from the Command Line Navigating accountsd Services Moved to the Client OS File Sharing Caching Server Configure Server Services DNS DHCP Profile Manager NetInstall Contacts Calendar Messages VPN Mail Other Services Web Services and Apache Wikis and WebDAV Use wfsctl…
-
Use DNS To Improve Caching Service Discoverability
Clients discover the Apple Caching service bundled with macOS Server (and in the future macOS) automatically. You can create a text recored for _aaplcache._tcp on your DNS server. That would look _aaplcache._tcp 518400 IN TXT “prs=192.168.50.100” Name: _aaplcache._tcp with a type of TXT and a TTL of 518400 seconds. The prs is the address to be used and is set to a value using prs=192.168.50.100.
- Apple Configurator, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iPhone, JAMF, Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mass Deployment, precache
Tethered Caching of iOS Assets from macOS 10.12.4
There is a new service in macOS, called Tetherator. Tethered-caching is a script that allows you to easily and quickly interact with the tethered-caching service, which has a few kinda’ cool options. This is on a client, and really speeds up all that crazy provisioning stuff you do. It can also check for the presence of a macOS Caching Server and use that as a source for the cache. The tethered-caching script is located at /usr/bin/tethered-caching. Before you do anything with the service, check the status. That’s done with the -s option (there’s also a -v option to get verbose): tethered-caching -s The results before activated should be as follows:…
-
Use The Software Update Service In macOS Server 5.2
The software patching configuration built into most operating systems is configured so that all a user has to do is open a box at home, join the network and start using the computer right away. As environments grow from homes to small offices and then small offices grow into enterprises, at some point software updates and patches need to be managed centrally. OS X Server 5.2 (on Sierra), as with its macOS Server predecessors has a Software Update service. The service in the Server app is known as Software Update and from the command line is known as swupdate. The Software Update service, by default, stores each update in the /var/db/swupd…
-
macOS Server 5.2 (Sierra)
Overview of services in macOS Introduction Install OS X Server 5.2 Upgrade OS X to 10.12 (Sierra) Upgrade To OS X Server 5.2 Create Bootable Installers Directory Services Promote an Open Directory Master Open Directory Replica (10.11 article – waiting until OD issues fixed in 10.12 to complete) Promote An Open Directory Replica To A Master (10.11 article – waiting until OD issues fixed in 10.12 to complete) Manage Users using the Server app Manage Groups using the Server app Demote an Open Directory Server using the Server app Demote an Open Directory Server from the Command Line Navigating Through accountsd In macOS Sierra Configure Server Services Caching Server File Sharing DNS DHCP Profile Manager…
-
Automatically Cache Updates To Your OS X Server
A little while back, I did a little writeup on how the OS X Caching Server caches updates at https://krypted.com//mac-security/how-the-os-x-caching-server-caches-updates/. The goal was to reverse engineer parts of how it worked for a couple of different reasons. The first was to get updates for devices to cache to my caching server prior to 15 people coming in before it’s cached and having caching it down on their own. So here’s a little script I call precache. It’s a little script that can be used to cache available Apple updates into an OS X Server that is running the Caching Service. To use, run the script followed by the name of…
-
Automating The Server.app Setup Using A Script
There are a couple of parts to this article. The first is to describe the server command, stored in /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/server. The description of the command by Brad Chapman was so eloquently put on this JAMF Nation post that I’m just gonna’ paste it in here: So … I just installed Server 5.0.x tonight on my Mac Mini running Yosemite (10.10.5). There was a question that came up during JNUC about upgrading Server and having a way to accept the license agreement without going through the GUI. So for shits and giggles I tried: server setup It’s not documented. And lo and behold, I got the prompt to accept the license agreement just…