• Apple Configurator,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

    Scripting The OS X Caching Server To Cache Updates

    The Caching Server in OS X is a little bit of a black box. But, it’s not all that complicated, compared to some things in the IT world. I’d previously written about command line management of the service itself here. When you enable the caching service, the server registers itself as a valid Caching Server. Nearby devices then lookup the closest update server with Apple and register with that update server using a GUID: /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin settings caching:ServerGUID Then, each time the device looks for an update, it does so against http://mesu.apple.com/assets/com_apple_MobileAsset_SoftwareUpdate/com_apple_MobileAsset_SoftwareUpdate.xml using the device model. Noticed this with this line in my proxy logs: "GET http://mesu.apple.com/assets/com_apple_MobileAsset_SoftwareUpdate/com_apple_MobileAsset_SoftwareUpdate.xml HTTP/1.1" 200 - "-"…

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

    mysql command switches

    Mysql command options: –auto-rehash Enable or disable automatic rehashing –auto-vertical-output Automatically display output of commands vertically rather than horizontally –batch Do not write to the history file –binary I use this when I have large results timing out due to blobs being in there –bind-address Specify a network interface when connecting to the server –character-sets-dir Indicate a custom directory where character sets are installed –column-names Output column names when running queries –column-type-info Show metadata –comments Enable or disable commenting when sending statements to the server –compress Compresses data sent to/from client and server –connect_timeout Seconds of inactivity before a timeout –database The database to connect to –debug Write debugging log; supported only if MySQL was built with debugging support –debug-check Print debugging information…

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

    Create Classes In Profile Manager For The Classroom App

    Creating a classroom is a pretty straight forward process in Profile Manager. To do so, open the Profile Manager web interface and click on Classes in the sidebar. For your first class, click Add Class (for future ones, click the plus sign (+). At the New Class screen, click into New Class in the title bar and provide a name for the class. Optionally, provide a description, as well. Click on the Save button to save the class. Then click on the Instructors tab and use the plus sign towards the bottom of the screen and then choose the user or group you’d like to add as the Instructor for the class.…

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

    Software Update Server Reset Script

    Any time I need to get a bunch of cruft out of Software Update Server on OS X Server, I just reset it real quick. To do so, simply remove /Library/Server/Software Update. But first, it’s important to stop the service, and once removed, set the port back up (which isn’t done automatically), and then start the service (swupdate). As this has become somewhat routine, I made a micro-script of it here.

  • Articles and Books

    My first article in Entrepreneur: Business Lessons Learned From Superheroes

    My first article on Entrepreneur is out! This is a piece on lessons about running a business that I learned from… Superheroes. So continuing the overarching theme of linking business, technology, and what we in those realms are actually interested in! These articles evolve once they go to the publisher, which is fun for me to watch as well. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. As usual, a sample, and a photo (many of these are for my own library, btw). “Batman v Superman” set a record in late March for the biggest superhero movie international opening ever (negative reviews aside, as parodied in the “Sad Affleck” video that’s closing in on 20 million hits as…

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

    Huffington Post Article: 20 Cool Things You Can Do With Box.com

    My latest Huffington Post article, Twenty Cool Things You Can Do with Box is online here. It begins: If you are looking for a secure and uncomplicated and file sharing service, you will find box.com to be a wonderful way to share files from any device. Today, it is easier than ever for businesses to operate globally regardless of how large or small they are. This is because of the digital age that makes works products easy to share or transfer. Here are twenty cool things that you can do with box.com. For more, click here.  

  • iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Network Infrastructure,  personal

    Contributing To The New MacAdmins Podcast: Episode 1 is out!

    When I was speaking at MacADUK, I asked Tom Bridge about starting a podcast. He’s got a great voice, and I thought he’d be a great co-host. Before we were able to get to that when we got home, Adam Codega, independently of the conversation I’d had with Tom, dropped a note on Twitter to see who else might be interested in doing a Podcast. A few people responded that they’d be interested in also jumping in on a new Podcast. Over the next few weeks, decisions were made that the podcast would be hosted as a part of MacAdmins.org, the format, the hosting location, and lots of other really cool stuff.…

  • Apps,  cloud,  iPhone,  Mac OS X

    10 Cool Things You Might Not Know You Can Do With Dropbox Article On Huffington Post

    My latest Huffington Post article is up; this one on 10 Cool Things You Might Not Know You Can Do With Dropbox. A sample of the article: You lіvе in an аgе whеn you wаnt (and ѕоmеtіmеѕ nееd) tо access іnfоrmаtіоn аt аll tіmеѕ. Thіѕ іnсludеѕ yоur оwn dаtа аnd fіlеѕ — text dосumеntѕ, рhоtоgrарhѕ, vіdеоѕ, music and mоrе. Thаt’ѕ whу ѕеrvісеѕ lіkе Drорbоx is so popular wіth thе соnnесtеd gеnеrаtіоn. Free оf сhаrgе (wіth a раіd uрgrаdе орtіоn), Dropbox lеtѕ уоu uрlоаd уоur files tо fоldеrѕ ассеѕѕіblе аnуwhеrе thеrе’ѕ аn Intеrnеt connection. It еlіmіnаtеѕ thе hаѕѕlе of еmаіlіng уоurѕеlf attachments аnd runnіng іntо size limits. People can use Dropbox…

  • SQL

    Index Those SQL Tables

    If you have growing sets of data, one of the best ways to speed up database performance is to make sure each column in larger tables is indexed. You can easily index a column following this syntax (using the name of your table in the place of tablename and the name of your column in the place of columnname): ALTER TABLE tablename ADD INDEX (columnname); So if you have a table called Customers and the following columns (as in the case of my Customers database from the previous exercises): ID Site Contact Address City Zip Country You would index them all as follows: ALTER TABLE Customers ADD INDEX (ID); ALTER…