In OS X Lion, user libraries (~/Library) are hidden. If you want to make it visible, use chflags. To use chflags to hide a file, simply type chflags followed by hidden and then the folder. For example, let’s say you wanted to hide your ~/Library folder before you compiled a new copy of an operating system. Just run the following to hide it (or re-hide it once you provde you can unhide it): chflags hidden ~/Library And then let’s say you wanted to unhide it ’cause you realized that it’s one of those folders best left visible: chflags nohidden ~/Library You can also use the SetFile command (both are located…
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Using DFS in OS X Lion
DFS stands for Distributed File Sharing. DFS is most commonly used to virtualize the way with which storage is presented to users. Once virtualized, mounts are able to replicate to one another or be moved between servers without impacting the end user experience. While many who have never used DFS will wonder why enterprises actually care about it, those of us who have used it extensively will be stoked that this new feature has been incorporated into OS X Lion. Using DFS in OS X is similar to using DFS in Windows, simply connect to a share and the work on the back end to locate where the share is…
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The OS X Application Layer Firewall Part 3: Lion
In a couple of previous articles I looked at automating the Application Layer Firewall in OS X. These are pretty common articles that get back-linked to the site, so I decided to update them earlier, rather than later, in the Lion release. The tools to automate firewall events from the command line are still stored in /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall. And you will still use socketfilterfw there for much of the heavy lifting. However, now there are much more helpful and functional options in socketfilterfw that will allow you to more easily script the firewall. Some tricks I’ve picked up with alf scripting: Configure the firewall fully before turning it on (especially if…
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Big Changes in Lion Server
OK, by now I’m sure everyone has heard that OS X Server is a download off the App Store. For a whoppin’ $50 you get the OS that was once called “Open Source Made Easy” until someone at Apple realized that GPLv3 might mean that Open Source doesn’t always mean “free as in beer”. Wait, did I say that out loud? Point is, there are bigger changes here than just moving the server to the App Store. There are also some pretty big changes to the GUI of OS X Server. The first and most obvious is the LoginWindow, which is different in OS X in general. It obviously looks…
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RAMdisk on MacBook Air
I can’t remember where I picked up how to get a RAM Disk mounted in OS X, but it’s a great way to get some unbelievable speeds on your Mac for those minor IO intensive processes that don’t need persistent data. It should be mentioned that the contents of RAM disks are erased, once ejected, but the speed of processes while they’re running can be pretty phenomenal on systems with fast RAM. The best example is a MacBook Air, where the memory is surface-mounted QFP and so really fast. Let’s say you have 4GB of memory and you want to run a process that isn’t going to take more than a…
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Lion: Configuring Out of Office Responses in Mail
Out of Office responses to incoming email are an incredibly useful thing to have with any mail server. In Microsoft Exchange, these are sent by the server on behalf of each user when the user has enabled them. Out of Office messages can be configured using the Exchange web portal or using a standard mail client, which has up until now, usually be Outlook. In Lion, Apple has built in an Out of Office setting in Mail.app. To configure an Out of Office message using Mail in Mac OS X 10.7, first configure the Mail client to communicate with the Exchange server. Then open Mail.app from /Applications. Right-click on the name…
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S/MIME in OS X Isn't Just For Tin Hat Wearing Nerds Anymore
S/MIME, or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions is the de facto standard for encrypting and signing mail. You can encrypt mail to keep prying eyes off of it. Signing though, is much more common as it addresses the issue of non-repudiation in many organizations, or giving people a way to make sure that the email that they think you sent really came from you. It was also available in GPG plug-ins for mail, back in the day. But S/MIME used to really be for people who thought the government was out to get them, work for government agencies, just liked to be kinda’ nerdy or actually had something to hide. But…
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Reset the Admin or Root Password in Mac OS X
Forgot the admin password in Mac OS X? Well, Apple let’s you boot computers into what is known as Single User Mode. To boot a Mac into Single User Mode, boot the machine holding down Command-S. Once the system boots up, you should see a command prompt. Here, run fsck: fsck -fy Then mount the file system: mount -uw / Then reset the password using the passed command passwd <username> For example, if the user is root: passwd root When prompted, provide the desired administrative password.