Web Services in macOS Server, Linux and most versions of Unix are provided by Apache, an Open Source project that much of the Internet owes its origins to. Apache owes its name to the fact that it’s “a patchy” service. These patches are often mods, or modules. Configuring web services is as easy in macOS Server 5.2, running on Sierra (10.12), as it has ever been. To set up the default web portal, simply open the Server app, click on the Websites service and click on the ON button. After a time, the service will start. Once running, click on the View Server Website link at the bottom of the pane. Provided the…
-
-
Configure The VPN Service In macOS Server 5.2
macOS Server has long had a VPN service to allow client computers to connect to a network even when they’re out of the office. The server was once capable of running the two most commonly used VPN protocols: PPTP and L2TP. And while PPTP is still accessible via the command line, L2TP is now configured by default when you setup the server using the Server app. Setting Up The VPN Service In OS X Server To setup the VPN service, open the Server app and click on VPN in the Server app sidebar. The VPN Settings screen has a number of options available, as seen here. The VPN Host Name field is used…
-
Setup The Calendar Service In macOS Server 5.2
Configuring Calendar Server in macOS Server 5 (running on Sierra) is a fairly simple and straight forward process. The Calendar Server is a CalDAV Server, leveraging HTTP and HTTPS, running on ports 8008 and 8443 respectively. To enable the Calendar service in macOS Server 5.2, first open the Server application and click on Calendar in the SERVICES section of the sidebar. Once open, click on Enable invitations by email to enable email notifications of invitations in the Calendar Server. Provide the email address and then click on the Next button. At the Configure Server Email Address screen, provide the type of incoming mail service in use, provide the address of the mail server…
-
Using The Messages Service In macOS Server 5.2
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…
-
Use The Software Update Service In macOS Server 5.2
The software patching configuration built into most operating systems is configured so that all 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. OS X Server 5.2 (on Sierra), as with its macOS 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…
-
Configure The Adaptive Firewall In macOS Server 5.2
macOS Server 5.2 running on Sierra 10.12) has an adaptive firewall built in, or a firewall that controls incoming access based on clients attempting to abuse the server. The firewall automatically blocks incoming connections that it considers to be dangerous. For example, if a client attempts too many incorrect logins then a firewall rule restricts that user from attempting to communicate with the server for 15 minutes. If you’re troubleshooting and you accidentally tripped up one of these rules then it can be a bit frustrating. Which is why Apple gives us afctl, a tool that interacts with the adaptive firewall. The most basic task you can do with the firewall is…
-
Manage Users On macOS Server 5.2 On Sierra
There are a few ways to create users in macOS Server 5.2, running on Sierra. The first is using the Server app, the second is using using the Users & Groups System Preference pane and the third is using the command line. In this article we will look at creating users in the Server app. To do so, open the Server app and connect to your server. Then click on the Users entry in the ACCOUNTS list. The list of users is displayed, based on the directory domain(s) being browsed. A directory domain is a repository of account data, which can include local users, local network users and users in a shared directory…
-
Accessing macOS Server 5.2 Logs
macOS Sierra (10.12) running the Server app has a lot of scripts used for enabling services, setting states, changing hostnames and the like. Once upon a time there was a script for macOS Server 5.2 called serversetup. It was a beautiful but too simplistic kind of script. Today, much of that logic has been moved out into more granular scripts, kept in /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/System/Library/ServerSetup, used by the server to perform all kinds of tasks. These scripts are, like a lot of other things in OS X Server. Some of these include the configuration of amavisd, docecot and alerts. These scripts can also be used for migrating services and data. Sometimes the scripts are in…
-
statshares in Server 5.2 for macOS Sierra
I wrote about using the smbutil for DFS in Lion awhile back. I haven’t needed to write anything else as it hadn’t changed since. The statshares option has an -m option to look at a mount path for showing the path to the mount (e.g. if the mount is called krypted this should be something like /Volumes/krypted): smbutil statshares -m /Volumes/krypted When run, you see a list of all the attributes OS X tracks for that mount path, including the name of the server, the user ID (octal), how SMB negotiated an authentication, what version of SMB is running (e.g. SMB_1), the type of share and whether signing, extended security, Unix and…
-
Show The Software Update Service In Server 5.2 for macOS Sierra
By default, the Software Update Service, long a part of OS X Server, is hidden. This indicates the service is not likely to be long for this world. However, many an organization still likes to leverage cooling off periods for their Mac fleet. To see the service, once you’ve installed the Server app, open the Server app and then from the View menu, select Software Update. You’ll then see the Software Update service. If you click off of the service and close the app, it will be hidden again. If you enable the service, you will then see it each time you open the Server app. We’ll get into enabling the Software…