Archive for May, 2013

One of the issues Mac admins have with OS X’s Configuration Profiles system is that using OS X Server to build a Profile allows only subset of the management “scope” that is provided using MCX / Managed Preferences. Specifically, any configuration profiles made with Profile Manager are the equivalent of […]

Here are some notes from my recent sessions at PSU MacAdmins: More Munki Tricks Slides Examples   Practical Python for Mac Admins Slides Bonus Material   It was a fantastic year at PSU MacAdmins and I look forward to next year. Nate WalckNate is a Systems Reliability Engineer at Dropbox, […]

These are some resources from my Security session at PSU MacAdmins 2013: Slides – PSU MacAdmins 2013 Security Web resources: Managing OS X – Payload Free Package template Matt’s Mac Blog – Making use of the /etc/authorization file in Lion / 10.7.x Scripts: This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be […]

Last Fall, a discussion arose on the MacEnterprise list about deployment terminology, with the term “thin imaging” coming in as the winner for variety of (conflicting) definitions. (You can read the thread from the beginning or jump on when the discussion turns to terminology.) I was starting to prepare my […]

Apple has pushed some changes to XProtect.  Rich Trouton has the details over on his blog. Nate WalckNate is a Systems Reliability Engineer at Dropbox, Inc in San Francisco, CA. He runs afp548.com along with Sam Keeley and is one of the founding members of the ##osx-server IRC channel on […]

Working with Open Directory can be a great experience…until it isn’t.  When your database goes up in flames (or perhaps if), it can be frustrating and maddening.  Charles Edge has an article posted on what to do when your OD database decides to spontaneously corrupt itself. Nate WalckNate is a Systems Reliability Engineer at Dropbox, […]

A new Office 2011 update was released as of 5/7/2013.  This update requires only Office 2011 14.1.0, so it can be applied to a wide range of product versions.  More info over on the Microsoft KB article. Nate WalckNate is a Systems Reliability Engineer at Dropbox, Inc in San Francisco, […]

Has anyone else seen this issue?  It has only been reproduced on Thunderbolt-equipped Macs while attached to Cinema Displays (Either Mini-Display Port or Thunderbolt).  If you are able to test this on both Thunderbolt and Non-Thunderbolt Macs as well as Cinema and Third party displays, please leave the results of […]

Charles Edge has an article posted about testing memory on Apple computers from the command line.  If you have wanted to run a quick and easy memtest without booting to diagnostic media, then this is the answer you have been looking for. Nate WalckNate is a Systems Reliability Engineer at Dropbox, […]

After some undocumented options were found in the asr tool, Greg Neagle started digging around some other commands to see if he could find any other hidden options. The result of this interest has lead to some methods for finding hidden options in any command, although his specific example involves softwareupdate. […]