• Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Mac OS X Server: Customizing Menu Items with Open Directory MCX

    Recently I had a scenario where I wanted to disable all of the menu items using an MCX for some NetBoot clients. To do so, I ended up building a custom MCX. To do so, first open Workgroup Manager and click on the group in question. Then click on Preferences and then the Details tab. Next, click on the + sign and browse to /System/Library/CoreServices/ManagedClient.app. Next click on Menu Extras and click on the pencil. Here drop down the Always disclosure triangle and click on the New Key button. From here, name the key with menu item in question (or create multiple keys) and set the Type to Boolean and the Value…

  • Active Directory,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Xsan

    Mac OS X: adplugin and AD DNS

    Let’s say you bind a Mac to AD.  Let’s say you have two NICs in there.  Now let’s say you get entries for both NICs in DNS.  How do you fix that?  Well, go ahead and create an ipfw rule to block traffic on port 54 for the second NIC.  You aren’t using it for that anyway if you’re using Xsan, which seems to be the big place we’re seeing this issue…  File a bug report if you don’t like the ipfw workaround but don’t hold your breath… UPDATE: Apple actually posted a fix for this: To set Mac OS X Server version 10.5 to only register a single network…

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

    Mac OS X 10.5: NetInfo (or the lack thereof)

    As many will already be aware, there’s no NetInfo in Leopard. So where are those pesky account settings stored? Well, local user account settings are now stored in plist files. The plist files are stored in the /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users directory for users or /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/groups folder for groups. Password hashes are stored in the /var/db/shadow/hash folder. Inside each plist file for user accounts you can augment (or create) attributes required in order to perform certain actions. So, for example, if you want to change the location of your home folder you can open the users plist file and search for the home key and edit it’s contents.

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Mac OS X: VNC vs. VNC

    The Sharing System Preference has Screen Sharing and Remote Management.  Both control VNC.  You can’t use one while using the other.  So what’s the difference.  Well, Screen Sharing, the new application in 10.5 doesn’t require that you purchase a copy of ARD if you only want to be able to control the screens of other Macs.  If you enable Screen Sharing then your Mac will show up in the SideBar of other systems in your environment.  Remote Management still works the same way it did in 10.4.

  • Active Directory,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Mac OS X: dirt

    dirt is a new utility in Leopard that can be used to test Directory Services.  You can use dirt to test authentication for LDAP or Active Directory.   The -u flag uses the username from the node you are testing against, in the above example it is the Active Directory username.  dirt tests whether an account exists in any node and can be used with the following structure: dirt -u username -n This would result in the following output if the account is located in Active Directory: User username was found in: /Active Directory/domainname The -p flag can also be used to test passwords.  You can also specify the node in Directory…

  • Mac OS X

    Mac OS X: Automatically Open Expanded Viewing

    The open and save dialogs can automatically have the expanded view opened by default rather than having you need to open it manually each time you go to open or save a file. To enable this setting, use the following command: defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool TRUE