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

    Build and Reverse MD5 Hashes Programatically

    An MD5 hash encodes a string into a 128-bit fingerprint in a one-way transaction that nets the same result no matter what computer you’re using to generate hashes. I know it’s hard to imagine, but the md5 command will create a hash. There are a few ways people go about doing such things. The easiest way I’ve found is to echo the string into md5, most easily done using a command such as the following, which simply echoes out the word test to the md5 command on a Mac: echo -n test | md5 And the output is a simple hash: 098f6bcd4621d373cade4e832627b4f6 The reason I use the -n is because…

  • Mac OS X

    Video on Setting Up a Munki Repo

    (Allister Banks Guest Post:) As part of my presentations at LOPSA-East(the pdf slides of this one is here) earlier this year, I wanted to demonstrate how quickly you can get a proof-of-concept of Munki running on a recent Mac OS without Server. I had always used Greg Neagle’s awesome intro articles for MacTech(especially part 2,) which were  created back in 10.6 days(simpler times, amirite?) This video takes you through the setup of a Munki repo, and goes on to demonstrate not only basic Munki interaction and functionality, but if you setup MunkiWebAdmin and the reporting scripts on your clients in addition, it does a quick tour of that interface. Setting Up a…

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

    Clear ASL Logs Following Upgrades

    I’ve had a couple of servers that after upgrading to 10.9 I’ve noticed were pretty slow to open up Terminal. To fix, I just cleared the ASL logs. To do so, just rm the contents of /var/log/asl. Here, I back them up first: cp -r /var/log/asl/ /Users/krypted/Desktop/asl/ rm -f /var/log/asl/*.asl If you end up not needing them you can just delete the asl directory from your Desktop.

  • Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Debugging and Deploying iBooks

    Just got to do my first troubleshooting for the iBooks app in OS X. Wasn’t a ton of info, so went digging for the debug menu that has become a staple of so many Apple apps. And it turns out that it was there. Looking at the plist for iBooksX prefs: defaults read com.apple.iBooksX This shows that we can go ahead and deploy a key to suppress the welcome screen (nice little deployment note made there) and a few other things. But what I was looking for is that BKShowDebugMenu key { BKAlreadyDisplayedWelcomeExperience = 1; "BKBookshelfCategoryManager~012384" = 1; BKBookshelfViewControllerFilterAction = 5; BKBookshelfViewControllerSortAction = 1; BKShowDebugMenu = 0; BKSimulateCrashDuringMigration = 0;…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac Security

    View Power Consuming Apps In Mavericks

    Mavericks allows you to look at power hungry apps, so you can keep track of what’s draining your batter. To do so, click no the battery icon in the menu bar and then look in the Apps Using Significant Energy section. If you’re concerned about an aggregate of apps using too much energy, hold down the option key when you click on the icon. When you do so, the Condition will be listed; hopefully as Normal.

  • Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Mavericks & Show Hidden Files

    I noticed this because part of my postflight imaging task for my lab systems is to show all files, but in Mavericks, the com.apple.finder defaults domain is case sensitive. So if you have com.apple.Finder you’ll need to edit it in such a workflow. So, for example, if you need to see hidden files, use the following commands: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean true killall Finder The problem with seeing hidden files is that you see a lot of stuff that you really probably don’t want to see. So to get back to a state where you don’t have to see all of the invisible files, use the following commands: defaults…

  • Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Create Mavericks Installation Media

    A bootable installer is one of the fastest ways to install Mavericks. Rather than copy the installer to a local drive you can run it right off a USB disk (or Thunderbolt if you dare). Such a little USB drive would be similar to the sticks that came with the older MacBook Air, when we were all still sitting around wondering how you would ever install the OS on a computer with no optical media or Ethernet otherwise. Luckily, Apple loves us. To make a bootable USB/flash drive of Mavericks like the one that used to come with the MacBook Air, first name the USB drive. I’ll use mavinstall for…

  • Mac OS X

    Install OS X Mavericks

    Installing Mavericks is a straight forward process. The following models can be upgraded to Mavericks: iMac: Mid-2007 and up Mac mini: Models from early 2009 and up Mac Pro: Models from 2008 and up MacBook: Late 2008 and up MacBook Air: Models from 2008 and up MacBook Pro: Models from Mid 2007 and up Xserve: Models from early 2009 and up Installing OS X has never been easier. In this article, we’ll look at upgrading a Mac from OS X 10.8 to OS X 10.9 (Mavericks). The first thing you should do is clone your system. The second thing you should do is make sure you have a good backup. The third…

  • Mac OS X Server

    Manage Groups In Mavericks Server

    There are a number of ways to create groups in OS X Mavericks Server (Server 3). The first is using the Server app, the second is using Workgroup Manager (which could be running on an older operating system and connecting to the Mavericks Server in question), 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…