Local MCX without OS X server

[bango]

hi

in our environment we do not have a OS X server but wish to deploy Local MCX to the Macs so we have a bit of control/management on these devices. i have been able to use the following to set the preference i want to apply to our test Mac, e.g. [i]sudo dscl . -mcxset /Computers/localhost com.apple.driver.AppleIRController DeviceEnabled always 0[/i]
the result is shown in System Profiler under the Managed Client section, but doesn’t “apply”. i’ve rebooted, the OS has the latest update. … not sure what else i need to do.
I would like to create a script with dscl commands (that configures all Macs in a “standard” way, which will run when the image is deployed but not looking so good. i have created a script with defaults write commands (to customise the image) but would like to use the dscl method.
any help would be nice.
thanks

[Greg Neagle]

Here are some resources for Local MCX:

http://apress.com/book/view/9781430229377

MCX, dslocal, and Leopard

You can’t add MCX info to the built-in localhost computer object; you’ll need to create another computer object.

-Greg

[bango]

thanks for your feedback..

i created a new local dscl space named /Local/MCX and added it to the search policy in directory services. rebooted the mac…i don’t know the correct syntax to use to apply a pref, e.g [i]sudo dscl . -mcxset /Local/MCX com.apple.dock no-glass always -boolean true[/i]
when i run this command i get an error -14987 message.

[Allister Banks]

Hey bango,

It might be helpful to use a pre-rolled package to see an example, proof-of-concept package where localmcx settings have been tested to work. My project on github outlines this, and the process becomes gui-accessible(via workgroup manager) and drag-droppable to expand once you get it working. The link is here: [url]https://github.com/arubdesu/One-Stop-LocalMCX[/url]
Let us know if things still don’t make sense, Greg literally (co-)wrote the book on it. You just need to get the managed pref applied to the domain you are aiming for, which will then land in plist form in the applicable localMCX directory.

Allister

[bango]

thanks for pointing the site out – i had seen it before but forgot about it – there are some helpful scripts in the pkg files.
my issue is that we dont have a server therefore workgroup manager – everything will be done using commands, e.g. dscl
i just dont know the syntax to “get into” the non-default local dir to apply the settings to the computer, .e.g /Local/MCX . [i]sudo dscl . -mcxset [b]/Local/MCX[/b]??? com.apple.Safari …[/i].
thanks again

[Allister Banks]

Hey bango,

Greg has blog posts about how to use workgroup manager(which is a free download with the Server Admin Tools) on that local node, and how to navigate to it. Further references are in MacTech magazine. I don’t use mcxset, even though Ed Marczak and Greg describe how to use it in their book, but it seems you don’t have the local machine you’re wanting preferences managed for setup because you might have not made a localmachine.plist record with en0 set yet. Pardon if I’m not too clear at the moment, but hope that gets you on the right track.

Allister

[bango]

awesome! all good now. thanks a lot Allister 🙂

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