Archive for October, 2004

Running a large network of macs in a secure environment leads to regular password changes on the local administrator account. Doing this in a 10.3 environment is quite a simple endeavor, but for those with some older 10.2.x machines around, it can be quite frustrating. Read on for an expect script for running on 10.3.x and a bash script to be used on 10.2.x machines.

A quick and dirty guide to setting up a Mac OS X Server and MCX

This guide to deploying your server for the first time includes setting up managed preferences and working a bit with Mac Manager.

Update – Corey had to move his server so an updated version of the pdf is now hosted on AFP548.

Is there a way to add your own time server to the pop-up menu in the Date & Time preference pane?

I’ve tried entering the IP or DNS name into the preference pane, but it won’t remember it in the menu (when you select a different server it forgets the name of my own server).

Alexander

From the Terminal, type:

defaults write com.apple.Terminal FocusFollowsMouse -string YES

Quit and restart the Terminal and enjoy!

This change is only for your account – and is not machine wide – so if you’re using someone else’s machine with a networked home directory, this preference should follow you.

I know all you Linux/X11 users who are going to love this one! If you don’t like it, though, just re-do the command with NO at the end instead of YES.

If you want to use the same feature in the X11 interface, simply use the following line in the X11 command window:

defaults write com.apple.x11 wm_ffm true

To turn it off here, replace the true with false

Get your server to deliver mail to local accounts without running an SMTP server.

If you’re used to previous version of OSX, you might be dismayed when 10.3 server doesn’t act like you thought it should.

The MacEnterprise.org (formerly MacOSXLabs.org) group will be presenting a Wireless Security Webcast on Tuesday, October 26 at 1:00 pm EDT. Tommy Hann, a Senior Consulting Engineer at Apple, will be presenting on wireless security standards and how to leverage them in Panther.

For the case study we have Terry Simons from the University of Utah presenting on his experience in deploying an 802.1X network on his campus, including authentication and other commonly overlooked issues.

For more information on how to watch this WebCast, please visit the MacEnterprise.org website:

http://macenterprise.org/

Note that the broadcast ID needed to view the webcast has changed to ‘macenterprise‘!!

Learn how to image a virgin install of OS X Server.

If you are looking to roll out a number of server installs from a disk image, or you just want to be able to roll-back your test server quickly, read on.

Monday’s Security Upate provides a fix to a critical vulnerability that allows malicious parties to trivially obtain administrative passwords.

In other words, it would behoove you to run this update sooner rather than later, or make sure you use a VPN when admining your server.

A package installer for the Silva CMS system on OSX.

The package maker is looking to get feedback from people running OS X Server on how the package installer works.

If you are interested in an easy to deploy Content Management System, this may be for you.

Your mail log entries might jump a few hours every so often if Postfix doesn’t know what time zone you’re in

Read this tip to find out how to correct this.