Getting started with Messages Server couldn’t really be easier. Messages Server in the macOS Server 5.2 version of the Server app uses the open source jabber project as their back-end code base. The jabber binary is located at /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/private/var/jabberd directory and the autobuddy binary is at /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/bin/jabber_autobuddy. The actual jabberd binary is also stored at /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/libexec/jabberd, where there are a couple of perl scripts used to migrate the service between various versions as well. Setting up the Messages service is simple. Open the Server app and click on Messages in the Server app sidebar.  Click on the Edit… button for the Permissions. Here, define which users and interfaces are allowed to…
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Challenges Sending Code Through Messages
Recently, I had a bit of a problem with some code I was sending back and forth through Messages. This was caused by smart quotes, which replace single and double quotation marks with directional quotation marks. This can cause a lot of problems. To disable smart quotes: defaults write com.apple.messageshelper.MessageController SOInputLineSettings -dict-add "automaticQuoteSubstitutionEnabled" -bool false
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Bushel: How To Block Phone Numbers On An iPhone
One of those funny calls we get every now and then is about how to block someone from calling or texting you. There are two main ways to go about this. The first is if someone is in your contacts. The second is if someone isn’t. Read More About How To Block Phone Numbers on the iPhone On The Bushel Blog
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Creating Groups in Mountain Lion Server
There are four ways to create groups in Mountain Lion Server. The first is using the Server app, the second is using Workgroup Manager, 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 group objects are stored locally when created in Server app. Once promoted to an Open Directory server, local groups must be created…
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Changes in Mountain Lion Server
Mountain Lion Server is now available on the OS X App Store and as with the last few updates there are some things missing that you might be expecting and depending on. First up, three major services are gone: Podcast Producer, RADIUS and dhcp. You can still do dhcp as you always did with OS X client as those features work on OS X Server, but the more granular controls available in OS X Server are now gone. The biggest impact of dhcp is probably in testing NetBoot services when there are network issues and you need to prove to network admins that it’s the network and not your server……
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Troubleshooting Mac OS X Kernels w/ dmesg
The first thing that loads in OS X is the kernel. The kernel is how users interface with hardware and sets the stage for interaction by probing for each driver that needs to be loaded and tracking what is found. The presence of everything about the system is tracked when the kernel loads as well as pertinent boot parameters. Even if you’re booting in verbose mode, most of this probably happens too fast to notice. You might be able to pause it, but you’re still trying to react to things too quickly in many cases. That’s where the dmesg command comes into play, which lets you review and control the…
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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…