Managed dock items and more

[chinesewhispers]

We have a new OSX SL server, which we are starting to integrate our Macs into the network with.

 

I have got the Macs bound to AD and OD, and can log in as AD users without problem. I am also able to manage most of the desired items from the SL server.

 

Couple of things:

 

1. We are managing the dock items, and seem able to mostly control the items to the left of the divide, but I'd like to have more control over the items to the right. I'd like the folders to show as folders, rather than as a stack.

 

2. To get the dock to be 'manageable' we had to hack around a bit. Here's what we did:

- Managed the dock items within workgroup manager, but this merged the items with the default dock items.

- Enabled root account, emptied the dock, added a shortcut to a Windows network share that all users use, copied the root dock plist to the user template (if you want to know paths just ask).

- Log in as user and the dock displays just the icons assigned by workgroup manager, (but it adds the time machine icon?)

Question - is there a better way to do this?

 

3. How can I hide the sidebar/all sidebar items on all the Macs?

 

How should DNS be set up of the SL server? It appears to be working without it, but does it need it? SL server points to DNS on the AD DNS server, as do the Mac clients. Mac clients were bound to OD using IP.

 

OSX Server - 10.6.2

OSX Clients - 10.5.8

 

There'll be more things...

 

Thanks

Edited February 8, 2010 by chinesewhispers
More Qs added

[dayzd]

The best/easiest way I've found to set most preferences is to have a test account set up, make all the changes you need (dock size/items, application preferences, Finder views etc), then import the plist preference files into Workgroup Manager. With that as your starting block it's far easier to tweak some of the more minor bits -although I still ended up doing a lot of Googling (for example, setting default filetypes for Office Mac is a different key name for each app! ).

 

2. To get the dock to be 'manageable' we had to hack around a bit. Here's what we did:

- Managed the dock items within workgroup manager, but this merged the items with the default dock items.

- Enabled root account, emptied the dock, added a shortcut to a Windows network share that all users use, copied the root dock plist to the user template (if you want to know paths just ask).

- Log in as user and the dock displays just the icons assigned by workgroup manager, (but it adds the time machine icon?)

Question - is there a better way to do this?

 

There's a tickbox in WGM on the 'Dock Items' part of the user account section for merging controlled settings with the user's Dock. Untick it, and the dock will only include what you prescribe in WGM (assuming it's currently ticked - I think it is by default).

 

3. How can I hide the sidebar/all sidebar items on all the Macs?

Settings for this hide in com.apple.sidebarlists.plist but you may also want to change some of the Finder preferences regarding what to show in the sidebar, using com.apple.finder.plist.

 

I can probably dig out examples for the sidebar if you like -we've locked it down to virtually nothing except the pupils' Home directory and their Desktops (No saved searches, no network [although it's still obtainable via a certain route I've not been able to block]).