I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal ZFS was released by a team at Sun in November of 2004. The name stands for “Zettabyte File Systemâ€. ZFS is a 128-bit file system, so it can store 18 billion billion (18.4 × 1018) times more data than current 64-bit systems. We’re not going to sit here and do the math for that but you are more than welcome to figure out what the theoretical size is at that point – all we can say is that it’s friggin’ huge. Traditional file systems reside on single devices and require a volume manager to use more than one device to generate a logical or…
-
-
Mac OS X: New Trojan Discovered
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal Monday, October 29th, 2007 – Intego issued a security alert about a new Trojan Horse called OSX.RSPlug.A targeting the Mac. OSX.RSPlug.A changes the DNS (Domain Name Server) address that infected systems use to access web sites and installs a new task on infected systems to change the DNS server again if the end user changes it back to what it was before. This is similar to many attacks against the Windows Hosts files. However, if anyone is going to get this worm they have to authenticate as an administrative user for their system to get infected. OSX.RSPlug.A has been found on some pornographic Web…
-
Mac OS X 10.5: Advanced Networking Options
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal Slight change from how things were done in Tiger/Tiger Server, but all the old options are there if you look. The first change is that now there is a wizard that you can use to configure your network interface. Since this is on more advanced topics we’ll skip that but it’s worth noting. Another shift is that a network interface is now referred to as a Service. So when you go to add a interface you will associate it with a Service Name. If you remove a Service using the – icon in the list you can always readd it by clicking on the…
-
Mac OS X 10.5: Custom Installations
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal Installing Mac OS X is a fairly simple task to complete and can typically take up to an hour or more depending on the installation options you choose. However, you should review all of your options in the installer as many items are not needed unless you have a specific need for them. Installing any operating system involves choices, which we will reveal throughout this chapter. If you are reinstalling your operating system, just make sure to have a valid backup before you continue on with this chapter. The Installation Process Installing Mac OS X requires little of a user other than agreeging to…
-
Fun Times with the JAMF Binary
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal Casper is an incredibly useful tool for package deployment, maintaining records of the systems in your environment and policy management. But for those of you already using Casper (or considering it) you’ll be glad to know that you can use the jamf binary to do all kinds of fun stuff that can help with troubleshooting computers in your environment. For example: The following command will setup a hidden SSH user and restrict SSH access to be allowed by only that user: jamf createAccount -username casperadmin -realname "Casper Admin" -password capseradmin -home /Users/casperadmin -hiddenUser -admin -secureSSH This command can be used to display a popup…
-
Apple's New Certification Track
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal The Tiger Apple Certified Systems Administrator (ACSA) track allowed certification candidates to accomplish the ACSA by getting an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) and then obtaining 7 points. Points were obtained by taking a variety of exams whose point values were based on the number of days of the corresponding class. Apple has now posted the ACSA requirements for 10.5. There is no longer a point system, which was a unique approach in the IT industry for achieving certifications. Instead, for the Leopard ACSA, Apple has now trimmed down the number of courses that are provided and require that all exams be completed to…
-
UGA BYE Week
Bye weeks always make me sad. I’m writing a bunch of articles to post for the Leopard release though. So get ready for some reading!!!
-
Mac OS X: Namespace support?
Tiger does not have any namespace support in dsconfigad. So no multi-domain same account name functionality. Hint: Might be in Leopard (might not).
-
launchd: Movie About launchd
-
AppleScript Studio
It’s not just a great acronym. If you want to put GUI wrappers around shell scripts it’s probably the easiest thing to use…