The first thing you’ll want to do on any server is setup the networking for the computer. To do this, open the System Preferences and click on Network. You usually want to use a wired Ethernet connection on a server, but in this case we’ll be using Wi-Fi. Here, click on the Wi-Fi interface and then click on the Advanced… button. At the setup screen for the interface, provide a good static IP address. Your network administrator can provide this fairly easily. Here, make sure you have an IP address and a subnet mask. Since we need to install the Server app from the Mac App Store, and that’s on the Internet,…
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Demote An Open Directory Server In OS X Server 5
OS X Server, Server 5, El Capitan Server can have problems with Open Directory. Sometimes, you just need to reset your directory service. You can demote and restore the server if needed. But buyer beware, you may end up screwing things up while the directory server is being demoted and you’re restoring a backup. Or if you haven’t built out the directory server, you may end up just demoting the server and starting over. In this article, we’ll look at demoting the server. To get started demoting the Open Directory master, first open the Server app and then click on Open Directory. From the Open Directory screen, click on the minus button…
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Promote an OS X Server 5 Open Directory Replica To An Open Directory Master
You’ve got Open Directory running and humming beautifully in OS X Server 5 (running on OS X Yosemite or OS X El Capitan). You show up to work and the hard drive has died on that perfectly configured Open Directory Master. Luckily, you have a replica and you have an archive of your Master. You can restore or you can promote your Replica to a Master. What to do? Well, I can’t tell you what you should do, but I can tell you that Apple has planned for this. Here, we’re going to look at promoting that Replica to a Master. Because after all, hard drives fail. Let’s look at…
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Apple Configurator 2
Apple Configurator 2 is now out and there are some really cool new features available to people deploying Apple Configurator. Apple Configurator 2 now supports feature called Blueprints. A Blueprint is a set of configuration options (such as profiles, apps, etc) that are easily applied to devices by applying a given Blueprint. So basically a canned set of options that can be configured on a device. For example, you can have a Blueprint called Training that have training apps and settings for a training room network and then you can have another Blueprint for Kiosks, that have different apps for a kiosk, one app for a kiosk, an SSID for a kiosk…
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Configure the Calendar Server In El Capitan Server
Configuring Calendar Server in OS X Server 5 (running on El Capitan or Yosemite) is a fairly simple and straight forward process. The Calendar Server is a CalDAV Server, leveraging HTTP and HTTPS, running on ports 8008 and 8443 respectively. To enable the Calendar service in OS X Server (Server 5), open the Server application and click on Calendar in the SERVICES section of the sidebar. Once open, click on Enable invitations by email to enable email notifications of invitations in the Calendar Server. Provide the email address and then click on the Next button. At the Configure Server Email Address screen, provide the type of incoming mail service in use, provide the…
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Upgrade the OS X Server App To OS X Server 5
OS X Server 5 is now available to be installed. To do so, first backup your server. Then, backup your server again, making sure you have a functional, bootable clone. Once you’re sure you have a solid backup of your server, open the App Store and search for Server. When you find the Server app, click on it. At the OS X Server screen, click on Install. The download will begin. Once complete, you’ll see a notice that the “Server app replacement detected.” Click OK. Then, open the Server app. When the Server app opens, you’ll be prompted to update the server. Click Continue. At the Licensing Agreement screen, click…
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Change Log Paths In OS X Server 5
The logs in Xcode Server (Server 5 for El Capitan and Yosemite) by default point to /Library/Server/XcodeLogs/credserver.log. This takes all of the output from xcscredd and xcscredhandler. If you’re doing a lot of debugging then logs can be pointed to another location, such as another drive. The path to the logs is defined in the /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/System/Library/LogConfiguration directory. The file to edit is a standard property list, XCSCredentialServer.plist: <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”> <plist version=”1.0″> <dict> <key>claimedFacilities</key> <array> <string>servermgrd</string> <string>servermgr-listener</string> <string>servermgr-notify</string> </array> <key>claimedSenders</key> <array> <string>servermgrd</string> <string>servermgr-listener</string> <string>servermgr-notify</string> </array> <key>logMaximumLevel</key> <string>debug</string> <key>logPath</key> <string>/Library/Server/Logs/servermgrd.log</string> </dict> </plist> Once open, look for a key called logPath. Change that to the…
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Clear nvram
OS X has the ability to delete all of the firmware variables you’ve created. This can get helpful if you’ve got a bunch of things that you’ve done to a system and want to remove them all. If you run nvkram followed by a -p option you’ll see all of the configured firmware variables: nvram -p If you run it with a -d you’ll delete the given variables that you define (e.g. boot-args): nvram -d boot-args But, if you run the -c you’ll wipe them all: nvram -c
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Configure The Mail Service in OS X Server 5
Mail is one of the hardest services to manage. Actually, mail is pretty simple in and of itself: there’s protocols people use to access their mail (such as IMAP and POP), protocols used to communicate between mail servers and send mail (SMTP, SMTPS) and then there’s a database of mail and user information. In OS X Server 5 for El Capitan and Yosemite, all of these are represented by a single ON button, so it really couldn’t be easier. But then there’s the ecoysystem and the evil spammers. As a systems administrator of a large number of mail servers, I firmly believe that there is a special kind of hell where…
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Setup FTP in OS X Server 5 for El Capitan and Yosemite
OS X Server 5 (for El Capitan and Yosemite) sees little change with the FTP Service. Instead of sharing out each directory the new incantation of the FTP service allows administrators to share a single directory out. This directory can be any share that has previously been configured in the File Sharing service or a website configured in the Websites service. To setup FTP, first open the Server app and then click on the FTP service. Once open, use the Share: drop-down list to select a share that already exists (output of sharing -l basically) and click on one of the shares or Custom to create a new share for FTP.…