"Connect to Server" query

[brahma]

Hi all!!

 

I am quite new to Macs and am learning as I go - so far with some great help from this forum. Thanks all so far.

 

I dont think we are using OS X Server to its full potential yet. Our students currently login to their EMAC with a generic userid and then use "Connect to Server" to access their personal drive on the server.

 

I am rolling out some new IMAC's and would like to use "Simple Finder" and "Parental Control" to control what my students are allowed to access (until I get up to speed with OS X Server). Unfortunately, I have lost the "Go" menu and that means I can't run "Connect to Server" to access my server. Is there a way around this if I want to use Simple Finder, or is there a better way?

 

Many thanks,

[tim.dalton]

Not 100% sure but I think simple finder may only take away the menu item, not the ability to connect to servers.

 

Try using the keyboard shortcut to do the same thing (cmd-k) to see if it still works. If it does you could then just drop a shortcut to the server onto the desktop.

 

There's probably a way to poke at the user interface in simple finder to enable the Go menu, but it would be a bit of a hack. I'd suggest the way forward is to get playing with workgroup manager & lock down your computers/accounts that way, simple finder is incredibly restricting,

 

Let me know if you need anything else,

 

Tim

[brahma]

Hi Tim.

 

Thanks for that - I think you're probably right - I think I need to do it properley and htat means using workgroup manager. Inicidentally, I tried cmd-k and it didn't work!!

 

Can you give me any tips on using Workgroup Manager.

 

Many thanks,

 

Andy

[rolfea]

Workgroup Manager isn't extremely hard to use, I have limited knowledge about Macs and have been using it for for about 6 months without to many problems.

 

The only difficulty is adding permissions for programs not included on iLife, we needed to call in an expert to show us how to fix it.

The easiest way we he taught us to do it was to download something called Server Tools from Apple which installs on a client machine.

 

Then to add a permission for a program use Workgroup manager from the Server Tools, drag the application icon from applications into the allow list on the preferences on the client machine.

 

We added all the preferences to groups of users, teachers and students. Then just add all the users to one of these groups in the workgroup manager to control the preferences for the users.

 

This is only the way I know, there could be an easier way which I'm not aware of, or which could be explained a lot easier without showing it.

[tim.dalton]

Hi Andy,

 

It is really easy to use, I would just sit down and have a play with a couple of test users.

 

Having it installed on a machine that's setup with the same software as your clients helps for some things, but you can control just about everything running it on the server.

 

If you are only down in Dorset I'm sure I or one of the other guys here would consider a day trip if you find you can't get the hang of it.

 

Tim