The next chapter of my next book is again available free for TidBits readers at http://tidbits.com/article/14799: This article is a pre-release chapter in the upcoming “Take Control of OS X Server,” by Charles Edge, scheduled for public release later in 2014. Apart from “Chapter 1: Introducing OS X Server,” and “Chapter 2: Choosing Server Hardware,” these chapters are available only to TidBITS members; see “‘Take Control of OS X Server’ Streaming in TidBITS” for details. Hope you enjoy! And thanks again to Adam and Tanya for their awesome editorial!
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Obtain Old Versions of OS X Server
With Yosemite in beta, it’s worth mentioning that older versions of OS X Server are still available on the app store, if you just know where to look. You can access and purchase other versions using these links: Server 4: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-server/id883878097?mt=12 Server 3: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-server-3.2.2/id714547929?mt=12 Server 2: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-server-2.2.5/id537441259?mt=12 Server 1: If you already own OS X Lion Server from the app store then you can still access it under Purchases.
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MacIT Presentation
I enjoy going to MacIT so much. Paul Kent ran a great little conference in Monterrey one year and I am so glad that I started going to Macworld around that time. I missed it last year while trying to trim back on the travel and am pretty stoked I got to get there again this year. Special thanks to everyone I saw and was able to hang out with. Considering there isn’t a single person I didn’t want to hang out with, sorry if I didn’t see you or get to spend any time. Thanks to Duncan and Kevin White for making time to do the podcasts (hopefully the…
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Install OS X Server
Installing Mavericks Server is about as easy as installing Keynote. First, open the Mac App Store and search for OS X Server. Then, click the button to buy the software, or if you’ve already purchased the software click on the Install button. The Server app downloads to your /Applications directory which you can watch happen by watching the status in LaunchPad. Once the download is finished, click on the Server app in LaunchPad or open the Server app to start the initial configuration wizard. When you first click on the Server app, you will be prompted to setup your server. Click Continue. Agree to the licensing agreement by clicking Agree.…
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Install Your Shiny New VPP Token For Profile Manager
Apple began rolling out new features with the new Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) program this week. There are lots of good things to know, here. First, the old way should still work. You’re not loosing the stuff you already invested in such as Configurator with those codes you might have used last year with supervision. However, you will need an MDM solution (Profile Manager, Casper, Absolute, FileWave, etc) to use the new tools. Also, the new token options are for one to one (1:1) environments. This isn’t for multi-tenant environments. You can only use these codes and options for iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 and above. But this article isn’t…
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Manage Profiles From The Command Line In OS X 10.9
You can export profiles from Apple Configurator or Profile Manager (or some of the 3rd party MDM tools). You can then install profiles by just opening them and installing. Once profiles are installed on a Mac, mdmclient, a binary located in /usr/libexec will process changes such as wiping a system that has been FileVaulted (note you need to FileVault if you want to wipe an OS X Lion client computer). /System/Library/LaunchDaemons and /System/Library/LaunchAgents has a mdmclient daemon and agent respectively that start it up automatically. To script profile deployment, administrators can add and remove configuration profiles using the new /usr/bin/profiles command. To see all profiles, aggregated, use the profiles command…
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The Official Apple Mavericks Server 3 Documentation
I’ve written plenty about Mavericks Server 3 here on https://krypted.com/ but way more effort went into the official documentation. There’s lots of nuggets here at: http://help.apple.com/advancedserveradmin/mac/3.0/ Enjoy!
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Provide VPN Services Using Mavericks Server
OS X Server has long had a VPN service that can be run. The server is capable of running the two most commonly used VPN protocols: PPTP and L2TP. The L2TP protocol is always in use, but the server can run both concurrently. You should use L2TP when at all possible. Sure, “All the great themes have been used up and turned into theme parks.” But security is a theme that it never hurts to keep in the forefront of your mind. If you were thinking of exposing the other services in Mavericks Server to the Internet without having users connect to a VPN service then you should think again,…
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Configure the Mail Service in Mavericks Server
Mail is one of the hardest services to manage. Actually, mail is pretty simple in and of itself: there’s protocols people use to access their mail (such as IMAP and POP), protocols used to communicate between mail servers and send mail (SMTP, SMTPS) and then there’s a database of mail and user information. In Mavericks Server, all of these are represented by a single ON button, so it really couldn’t be easier. But then there’s the ecoysystem and the evil spammers. As a systems administrator of a large number of mail servers, I firmly believe that there is a special kind of hell where only spam is served at every…
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Configure the Software Update Service on Mavericks Server
The software patching configuration built into most operating systems is configured so all that a user has to do is open a box at home, join the network and start using the computer right away. As environments grow from homes to small offices and then small offices grow into enterprises, at some point software updates and patches need to be managed centrally. Mavericks Server (OS X Server 3), as with its OS X Server predecessors has a Software Update service. The service in the Server app is known as Software Update and from the command line is known as swupdate. The Software Update service, by default, stores each update in the /var/db/swupd directory.…