The directory services options in macOS has quietly been going through some slow changes over the past couple of years. Many of the tools we use to manage accounts look similar on the outside but sometimes work a little differently under the hood. Account information is still stored in the /var/db/dslocal/nodes directory. Here, the local directory service pulls files from within directories recursively when accountsd loads. You can still create a second instance of the local directory service by copying the Default directory. For example, here we’ll copy the Default directory node to a directory node called NEW: sudo cp -prnv /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default /var/db/dslocal/nodes/NEW If you killall accountsd then wait (this is…
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Cascading Software Update Service Updates In Yosemite Server
The swupd.plist file used to daisy chain multiple servers so they act as a cascade of software update servers. The new path for the property list is /Library/Server/Software Update/Config/swupd.plist. Here, the metaIndexURL key is sill the location that points to an internal Software Update Server that the server you are editing should look to for updates. The default server is http://swscan.apple.com/content/meta/mirror-config-1.plist. To set a server to look at another internal server for software updates, edit the metaIndexURL key in the /Library/Server/Software Update/Config/swupd.plist file to include the path to the new server. The path should always have /content/meta/mirror-config-1.plist after the FQDN of the host name. So if your internal software update…
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Obtain Information About OS X Server Using serverinfo in Mavericks Server
OS X Mavericks Server (Server 3) comes with the /usr/sbin/serverinfo command (introduced in Mountain Lion Server). The serverinfo command is useful when programmatically obtaining information about the very basic state of an Apple Server. The first option indicates whether the Server app has been downloaded from the app store, which is the –software option: serverinfo --software When used, this option reports the following if the Server.app can be found: This system has server software installed. Or if the software cannot be found, the following is indicated: This system does NOT have server software installed. The –productname option determines the name of the software app: serverinfo --productname If you change the…
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More Information About DHCP Leases in OS X
You can obtain a pretty decent amount of information about leases your OS X computer gets just by looking in the Network System Preference pane, for each interface. However, you can get a little lot more information, as with most things, from the command line. First, we’re going to take a look at en0 on our host and see what the MAC address is: ifconfig en0 ether Now, we can look in the /var/db/dhcpclient/leases directory to see a list of all of the leases we have running on our system. Based on the MAC address of our computer, we should see a file there that starts with the name of…
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Changing Metadata Networks From The Command Line In Xsan
Awhile back Apple published an article on switching the network interface used in Xsan for Metadata networks. The article provides the following steps: Use Xsan Admin to stop the volumes (see below). In Xsan Admin select Overview. In the lower right corner, click the gear icon and choose “Edit SAN properties”. Select the Metadata Network that you want to use. Click Save. Restart the volumes. Note: If all controllers and clients are not on the same subnet on each network, the Save button will be dimmed. Adjust the clients and controllers so they are on the same subnets. This typically works great; except the fact that the article has been…
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Programatic Screen Sharing
You can remotely start ARD with kickstart, which I have previously covered at length. But Screen Sharing is a bit of a different little beast. To start up Screen Sharing, you can just use the following command: echo -n enabled > /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ScreenSharing.launchd I still prefer kickstart, but this method functions when you need something quick and easy. To then disable Screen Sharing, you can just toss the launchd item: rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ScreenSharing.launchd Once you have Screen Sharing started, you can then open the Screen Sharing application from a client by using the open command, followed by the protocol, which would be vnc and then the IP address. As with FTP you…
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New PlistCheck Application
PlistCheck is a very small, very fast application that checks preferences (aka – property lists) to make sure that they are properly formatted. There are a few other tools out there that do this and it’s easier to just use the command line, but if you are not command line savvy (or working with someone who isn’t) then you can use this tool to check property lists (preferences) rather than using the command line to do so. Click here to Download PlistCheck PlistCheck will be made available on the Apps page as well.
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Address Book File Locations
Address Book.app stores its preferences in the following property list files in ~/Library/Preferences: com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist com.apple.AddressBook.plist The Address Book data itself is stored in ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook, Here you will find: The SQL Lite database (*.abcddb). Any images associated with addresses are located in the Images folder in that directory Any contacts synchronized (ie – from Address Book services of Mac OS X Server to the local computer are synchronized into the Sources directory (into the .abcddb file located there) Any metadata associated with the contacts in the Metadata directory The MailRecents-v4 file, which contains a cache of the most recently used email addresses A Configuration.plist property list that has the settings for…
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Podcast Producer Command Line
At the end of the day, Podcast Producer is a fairly straight forward solution. You have a nice little GUI application that users can use to publish Audio, Video, Screencasts or files to an rss feed. Using that rss feed you can then integrate that data with a number of other solutions, including those I’ve discussed over the last few days. You can also use Podcast Producer to remotely fire up bound cameras and begin Podcast Producer workflows, which means you don’t even need to be at a conference, in a shareholders meeting or in a classroom to capture video from cameras. But the real power and flexibility to Podcast…