• Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Network Infrastructure,  sites,  Ubuntu,  Unix

    Manage Apex Domains In OS X

    September 23, 2014

    OS X Server supports running a traditional bind implementation of DNS. You can define a record for most any name, including google.com, www.google.com, www.www.google.com, etc. You can use this to redirect subdomains. In this example, we’ll create an A Record to point www.google.com to 127.0.0.1 without breaking other google.com subdomains. To get started, let’s use the DNS service in the Server app to create test.www.google.com. The reason for this is that OS X will then create a zone file for www.google.com. If we created www.google.com instead, then OS X would automatically create google.com, which would break the other subdomains. To do so, open Server app and click on the DNS Service. Then…

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

    Find The Search Base In OS X Server

    August 27, 2013

    Once upon a time, Server Admin was a tool that allowed Admins of OS X Server to look at settings for an OS X Server using a graphical tool. As Server Admin is no longer being used, we frequently find there are certain settings we need to find in the replacement Server app that just aren’t in graphical tools any longer. One of the settings that you need when integrating other systems is the search base. This defines the location that searches start when queries against the directory tree are run. When other systems are integrated into Open Directory they need to use this to be able to enumerate information…

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  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Xsan

    Installing Final Cut Server on Lion & Mountain Lion Server

    September 6, 2012

    Thanks to Allan Sanderson for the following submission, which outlines how to install Final Cut Server in Lion and Mountain Lion Server. In Server.app ————- Websites: Check “Enable PHP web applications” Install Java ———— Open /Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences.app You’ll be prompted by Software Update service to install Java, click “Continue”, provide admin credentials when promopted. Install Final Cut Server ———————— Run Final Cut Server installer. Then run Software Update to get ProApplications 2010-02 & Final Cut Server v1.5.2 updates. Check Configuration ——————- 1) Check fcsvr user has been created: dscl /Local/Default -search /Users RecordName fcsvr Output should look something like this: fcsvr RecordName = ( fcsvr ) 2) Check “fcsvr” user’s…

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  • Mac OS X Server,  Uncategorized

    Creating Groups in Mountain Lion Server

    September 2, 2012

    There are four ways to create groups in Mountain Lion Server. The first is using the Server app, the second is using Workgroup Manager, the third is using the Users & Groups System Preference pane and the fourth is using the command line. In this article we will look at creating groups in the Server app. Once a server has been an Open Directory Master all user and group accounts created will be in the Local Network Group when created in Server app. Before that, all user and group objects are stored locally when created in Server app. Once promoted to an Open Directory server, local groups must be created…

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  • Mac OS X

    Signing Installation Packages

    August 31, 2012

    In OS X, installers are known as packages. The trend in OS X is to sign anything going onto a computer so that it can then be installed without concern that the product is not authentic. The productsign command provides the ability to sign packages in much the same way that the codesign command can be used on apps. For example, let’s say that we wanted to sign a package called Alpha.pkg in /tmp with Apple DeveloperID 31415926535897932384626 and have it result in a new package, Omega.pkg in the same directory. The command would be as follows: productsign --sign 'Developer ID Installer: 31415926535897932384626' '/temp/Alpha.pkg' '/temp/Omega.pkg' You can also timestamp the…

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  • Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

    A Guide To Using Mountain Lion Server (OS X 10.8)

    August 28, 2012

    I’ve been doing a number of postings on how to use various features of the latest version of OS X Server. Given that WordPress is pretty much a reverse chronological listing of articles I’ve written, I thought I’d put together a listing of the pages that I’ve done for OS X Server 10.8 (Mountain Lion Server) in order to offer a more pedagogically aligned way of reading these posts. As such, here is the Table of Contents for these posts: Introduction What Changed 10 Impactful Changes Upgrading from Lion Upgrading from Snow Leopard Managing the Server Configuring Alerts Using Web Modules Enable Push Notifications Configuring Time and Time Services Setting Up…

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  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    10 Features I Miss From Mountain Lion & Mountain Lion Server

    August 23, 2012

    Apple’s not going to slow down innovation just to make me happy. I get that. But what have I noticed most about the differences between Mountain Lion and Mountain Lion Server and their predecessors, and maybe what to do to get some of them back? Podcast Producer: I am going to just put it out there. I liked Podcast Producer. I hope it shows back up in the future, even though I’m controlling my expectations. As someone who deals with a lot of video, there are a number of features that were really helpful to me, with or without Xgrid. I’ve replaced the command line aspects with tools such as…

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

    Configuring Time In OS X Mountain Lion & OS X Mountain Lion Server

    August 18, 2012

    Time is a very important aspect of OS X Server, as it has been since the early days. Time is so important that if you see network time server, NTP or 5 minutes as the answer on an Apple exam, you should just pick that one, as it’s invariably correct. The traditional way to configure time zones and Network Time Servers is to use systemsetup command. Before you set a time zone, run the following to see a list of all available time zones, use the -listtimezones option in systemsetup: sudo systemsetup -listtimezones To set the time zone, pick one and use the -settimezone option in systemsetup: sudo systemsetup -settimezone…

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  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Getting Negative Mode Back In OS X Mountain Lion

    August 17, 2012

    You’re out surfing in the morning before work and you return to your car, put all your crap away and just want to sit on the beach for an hour getting caught up on work. You bust out your laptop and it’s just a little too bright with the rays of the morning sun not only causing the fan of your computer to kick into high gear but also causing you not to be able to see the screen. Do you get up and leave? Do you sacrifice the sound of the morning waves and the breeze of the ocean air? Well, the fans are going to run when it’s…

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