AntonioRocco

Hi Does the problem happen if you disconnect the network cable first? Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi @ Mark Hi Mark! You should really be using launchd. It is still possible to use cron in 10.5. I don't think it's there anymore in 10.6 although the manual pages are. What a surprise. @ OP There is no real need to use a shutdown script as there are tools you can readily use that achieve the same thing without resorting to the command line. If you have OSX Server create a Computer Group and apply an appropriate Energy Saver Preference. Failing that the other options work equally as well. You can also do this locally by defining a setting in the Energy Preferences Pane. Alternatively you could use Automator or if none of this is to your taste you could use a 3rd-party application: Power Manager - Mac energy saving software Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Enable Parental Controls for that account and define the Simple Finder Control Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi "Logged in as a local admin, not a network user - the entry is empty" Not unusual in itself although I would have expected you to see something? It depends on how you're applying MCX. "Following that path, I see but 1 folder within relating to the 1 network user who uses the machine, i.e. me. Within 'my' folder, is a com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist file" From this it seems you're applying MCX to AD Users nested in an OD Group. I find SUS as a managed preference is better applied to a Computer Group. "There is also a com.apple.MCX.plist and complete.plist. This is all within the /Library/Managed Preferences/'network_user' folder on the main drive. There are no other files or folders in there" This is normal and what I would expect to see based on the information provided "Delete the Managed Preferences folder along with the network user folder therein?" Deleting the Managed Preferences folder from /Library is a good troubleshooting method when and if Managed Preferences get stuck or are not being applied properly. To fully clear the mcx_cache and in addition to deleting the Managed Preferences folder launch Terminal on the client and issue this command: sudo dscl . -delete /Config/mcx_cache It's a good idea to restart the client afterwards. You can do this remotely using ARD to a whole suite of mac clients if you wish. "No contents, just error message in Safari "unable to determine IP address from host name for server.domain:8088" This sounds like a DNS issue to me. If clients can't resolve server names to IP addresses on both pointers then it's time to check your DNS Service. "The downloads are seemingly hitting the server as they are all listed thereon, but the 'link' betwixt clients and server can't be made. The clients are configured to go via a proxy under network preferences, so will that affect the updates coming directly off the server in some way?" Yes. As already mentioned Apple's SUS struggles to work when a Proxy is involved. Not only do you have to negotiate the Proxy in the first place to simply download the updates but you have to make sure mac clients bypass the Proxy to access the server correctly. On a client Mac log in as the local admin select Server Preferences from the Apple Menu > Network > Advanced > Proxies. In the "Bypass proxy settings for these Hosts & Domains" field key in: *.local 169.254/16* 10.* *.yourdomain.com Where 10.* is the first IP Prefix of your local TCP/IP Range. Apply the changes and try again. You can apply the above settings using the networksetup command via ARD. Something like: sudo networksetup -setproxybypassdomains Ethernet *.local 169.254/16* 10.* *.yourdomain.com You may have to experiment with these settings. "Don't happen to have a link to this, please?" http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/System_Imaging_and_SW_Update_Admin_v10.5.pdf Page 85, fourth line down. The one that starts: To move the software update folder in Terminal (to save downloaded updates): $ mv /usr/share/swupd/html /new_storage_location Does this help? Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Are the clients actually getting the Preference? To verify what MCX Clients are receiving log-in on the affected client as the local admin. Select 'About This Mac' from the Apple Menu. In the resulting dialog box click on 'More Info'. In the Left Hand Contents Pane scroll down to the Software Section. You should see a 'Managed Client' entry. Inspect what's listed there. Alternatively navigate to /Library/Managed Preferences. Apart from other things you should see a com.apple.MCX.SoftwareUpdate.plist (can't quite remember the actual wording) or something similar. If you see none of these or if you do and it's still not working, remove the folder and restart. On the client can you launch a browser and key in the SUS url. Do you see the contents of the html folder? Yes you can simply delete what's in /usr/share/swupd/html. Stop the Service first and use the command line. Something like: sudo rm -R -v /fullpathtodownloadsfolder Don't delete the Parent folder. You can 'drag-drop' the folder into the Shell to provide the full path. The -v flag will list what's been deleted. You could also add the -i flag to prompt you for every deletion. This can get boring as there will be a lot of directories. Once you're done restart the Service and everything should start downloading again. Sometimes the sucatalog index file can't be created because of syncing problems with Apple's Updates Servers. This could be because of a problem with the Updates Servers or a problem with the Internet Connection or if you're trying to do this via a Proxy/Content Filter. Apple's SUS is not supported when behind a Proxy. Sometimes it even struggles behind an on-site transparent Proxy that in turn has to negotiate an LEA proxy upstream. A 'walkthrough' for symlinking is provided in the Admin Manual, page 85 Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi De-select the 'Merge with User's Dock' option. Leaving this selected means network users who log in get the local admin account's dock setting as well. The other possibility is the preference is being managed at different levels? For example a set of applications defined for the Dock at Group Level as well as Computer Level. If there is an application(s) defined at one level and a different application(s) at the other then these will combine and/or accumulate. If the Dock Setting allows Safari for the Group but denies it for the Computer the Computer setting will override the Group. Unlike AD the order of Preferences are User, Computer, Group. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Assuming DNS services are resolving correctly which version of the Server is it? For 10.4/10.5 Server the url is: >http://yourserver.domain.com:8088/< For 10.6 Server the url is: >http://yourserver.domain.com:8088/catalogs.sucatalog< 10.5 SUS can only 'serve' updates for 10.5 and 10.4 operating systems. In other words if some of your client computers are 10.6 they won't be able to receive any OS specific updates. They may get an error message along the lines of "no updates available" or "your computer is fully up-to-date". 10.6 SUS can 'serve' updates for 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6. Some updates common to 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 should be downloadable? For example iTunes etc. I've not had any experience with 10.6 Server yet so I'm not sure if this applicable? Regardless of which Server version it is downloads are stored in: /usr/share/swupd/html. To access /usr select the 'Go to Folder' option from the Go Menu and type in /usr. For want of a better description you're accessing the mac equivalent to Windows Registry. Although it's not really the same. Don't be tempted to 'fiddle' with any of these files using the Finder as you could upset the OS or even break it. Better to use a terminal editor such as pico or nano or vi etc. BSD directories and sub-directories are 'hidden' for good reason. If you find updates are filling up the boot drive you can create another directory elsewhere and use symlink (via the command line) to 'point' /usr/share/swupd/html to that directory. The Admin Manual does outline what you can do: http://support.apple.com/manuals/#serversandenterprisesoftware Don't panic if all you see are manuals for 10.6. Use the Search feature and you will find Admin manuals for earlier versions. Hope this helps? Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi First thing would be to check the minimum specs for the application itself: iLife ?08 system requirements Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi "Are there any known mac viruses about?" Regardless of what anyone tells you No. AFAIK there have been some mac specific viruses 'created' in laboratory environments only. There has been a slight increase in mac specific trojan horses and malware. From zero to possibly five or six in the last 1-2 years? To be honest I don't keep a track of them as they are easily removed and don't hang around for long. This does not mean to say you should not protect mac clients in a Windows environment. Viruses can sit inert on a mac client and transfer across a network or memory stick or by some other means to infect PC clients very easily. In education it makes sense to add mac clients to your AV strategy. You have no control over what students get up to away from school. I've yet to meet a teenager that is not using BitTorrent, Kazaa or Limewire or something else to download or share information with someone else? Couple this culture with a memory stick and easy access to macs and PCs at school and you could have a recipe for disaster. I know of one location where the recent conflicker virus was introduced this way. The good news is the AV strategy you have in place seems to be working. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi If I understand you correctly DNS should not even be configured on the Mac Server. Least-ways not if you want a 'classic' AD-OD Integration? You should be using the existing (and hopefully correctly configured) DNS Service in the AD environment. Of all the gazillions of TLDs that could have been used you got the one that is going to cause problems! In hindsight configuring the AD Domain to not use .local would have been preferable. It is possible to use .local although it can be hard work and ultimately will cause problems. DNS has to be even more 'perfect' than normal for it to work effectively. Why even go there in the first place? You do have other possibilities? If your network topology allows you could 'ring-fence' your Macs (including server) on a completely different subnet/VLAN - it can also be done without going that far. You only need provide access to the internet. That way you avoid rebuilding your AD. You would of course have to configure the Mac Server to provide an OD environment. This would include configuring DNS and (if you wanted it) DHCP - if on a separate LAN. Opting for a separate LAN would mean you wont have access to the AD. You would have to key in (or import from AD using Passenger or something similar) all Users and Groups - again. As well as arranging for enough storage for Student/Teacher Profiles. Not forgetting backup. In effect a separate environment that would need all the resources that an AD environment would need. I know of some locations that have opted for this 'solution'. You might be looking at making a tough decision? How long is it going to take and how expensive is it going to be to do this as opposed to reconfiguring DNS correctly for your AD Domain? Or you could simply ignore the whole thing and put up with it. Who knows it might not be too bad? Since 10.5.4 OSX is Unicast first rather than Multicast. It can also deal with domains based around .local much better than before. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi When you say you've changed the domain do you mean you've changed the zone name itself or are you just using the word metaphorically because you've gone from CC3 (a good decision) to Win2008? If you've changed anything to do with the DNS Service this can and does affect the macs in a major way. Especially true if you have a Mac Server in the mix. On the mac server launch terminal and issue this command: sudo changeip -checkhostname Post the result. For the mac clients it should not really matter. Simply 'unbind' from AD and 'unjoin' OD and rebind back again. Generally this would be AD first followed by OD. If they are being assigned IP addresses along with the relevant DNS Server addresses and domain name then they should be OK. Don't forget to configure mac clients and server to the appropriate network time server. Clearly if you've changed the environment with possibly different IP addresses then this aspect of Single Sign On can cause problems. Even a failure to log-in. Another area of focus is to make sure your Reverse DNS Zone is set to scavenge stale records every day or so. If you leave it at its default (7 days) this can display itself on the macs as poor performance. Especially when trying to find Home Profiles. On the mac platform Home Folder discovery is performed on the reverse pointer. Clearly if there are stale records assigned for IP addresses previously handed out to PCs then when the address is re-assigned to a mac client, the mac can become confused, as it will be trying to resolve its IP address to a hostname that is not itself. Do you understand this distinction? On a client what you can do is to disconnect the network cable, log-in as the local admin and launch Terminal. Issue these commands: sudo rm -R -v -i /Library/Preferences/DirectoryService At the prompts key in 'y' until you get back to the bash prompt. Now issue: sudo rm -R -v -i /Library/Preferences/edu.mit.Kerberos Again at the prompts key in 'y' until you get back to the bash prompt. Finally issue: sudo reboot now The mac will then restart itself. Whilst it's doing this reconnect the network cable. Log-in again as the local admin and launch Directory Utility. Click on the lock and authenticate. Select Show Advanced Settings. Click on Services. Select the Active Directory plug-in. Click the show advanced options disclosure triangle. De-select the force home folder creation on startup drive, enter the Domain Name and click Bind. You should know the rest from there? Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi If you're talking about the cost of upgrading to 10.6 then these should be useful? Apple Introduces Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard Mac OS X Server v10.6 Snow Leopard Unlimited Client License - Apple Store (U.K.) Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

@ kingswood Hello Paul I'm well thanks mate, I trust the same for you? All I can say is generally honesty is the best policy and sometimes the truth will hurt. Better to let the customer know what's ahead no matter how painful it is. Looking back over the list I find I'm (g), (h) and (i) as well!! Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Mark I agree with you regarding the differences between Often and Always and what can and can't be managed using either of those settings. The Sidebars plist is a case in point. However there is a method where you can deny this using the com.apple.Finder.plist. As to the what the macs can 'see' you could disable NetBIOS? I don't know how you can do this in a AD environment easily? Is it as simple as disabling the Master Browser option? In which case would you not have to do that for every PC Client in turn? Is there a command you can run that disables the 'conference?' Not sure what you mean about the SIMS share? Perhaps you need to speak with the people responsible for setting it up? It can't be easy for those of you in an environment where you don't really have full control over all aspects of the environment. I'll be seeing you next Friday I think Mark? Is that correct? Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hello Marci I have seen the post you're referring to. It's a post I've contributed to also. It's difficult to reproduce because there must be something else going on at those particular locations referred to in the post? A lot of people post without giving enough information. Mostly because they don't know what information they should give. Most if not all seasoned Apple Systems/Network Admins of my experience have not seen the problem. I've ran the update on a few servers just lately. All with differing network configurations and I've not seen the problem . . . yet. Bear in mind a lot of the people posting on the Apple Server Forum: (a) are relatively new to not only Leopard Server but servers in general (b) have posted before with other what turned out to be 'non-problems' © selected a configuration mode that is most likely not Advanced (d) are using the Server as a gateway and have got into a muddle because of a lack of understanding (e) have a poor understanding of TCP/IP, CIDR, Networking, Switches and Routing in general (f) have not bothered to read the relevant manuals (g) done something using the command line in the hope it might fix/improve something (h) click happy (i) panic Having said that I'm not saying there is not a problem as there does seem to be some sites which have had issues. It's a good idea to have given everyone a 'heads-up' regarding this. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Firstly we've got 6 imacs in our school and one server which I took a crash course on yesterday. Which crash course would that be? AFAIK the Support Essentials (for the client OS) is over 3 days. For the Server (Server Support Essentials) it's 4 days. Neither could be described as crash courses. I've set up software restrictions on the "Workgroup Manager" but having problems with RDP. Everytime it starts I get a restriction for the microsoft AU daemon? (Need fix on that) Do students need to use RDP? If Staff need to use it then simply create an OD Group and drop your AD staff group into it. From that point don't apply any MCX. Secondly i'd like to be able to deploy a wallpaper to all of the macs which is forced on every user when they log in. If you've done the appropriate courses you would be shown how to do this. However install the Server Admin tools on a Mac Client. Make sure you are logged in as the local admin and that the client has been firstly 'bound' to AD and then 'joined' to OD. Launch WorkGroup Manager. Navigate and authenticate to the LDAPv3 node. You will have to add this as by default only the primary directory server in the Search Order is added. Simply select 'Other' and it should be listed. On the client mac, right click or control click the desktop. You should see a sub-menu appear. Select Change Desktop Background. Select something suitable and apply it. Back to WorkGroup Manager. Select the OD Group you're interested in click on Preferences and click on the Details tab. This is the Preferences Manifest. Inspect the list. It should show you what you've already applied. Click the '+' icon and navigate to /Users/Home/nameoflocaladmin/Library/Preferences. Within there you should com.apple.Desktop.plist. Select it and apply one of the three perisistent settings. Once, Often or Always. Clearly if you want it so as no user can 'fiddle' with the desktop select Always. Apply the setting, quit out of WorkGroup Manager and test by logging in as a User within the Group. Thirdly i'd like to map the home drive when the user logs on to their windows share. Launch Workgroup Manager on the client Mac. Select the Group you're interested in. Select Preferences and select the Login Preference. Select the Items option and select Always. Now go back to the Finder and select Connect to Server from the Go Menu. Key in the IP address of the Server you're interested in which has the desired shares you want to be auto-mounting. Remember by default the Mac OS uses afp as its default Protocol. If these are Samba shares then precede the IP address with smb://IP address. When pompted supply an administrator name and password. Go the Finder Menu and select Preferences. Select General and enable the option that shows Connected Servers. You should now see a shiny blue icon on the desktop that is the desired share. Back to WorkGroup Manager. In the Items window simply drag the relevant share into the window. Select the option that says 'Mount this item with user's name and password'. Quit out of WorkGroup Manager and disconnect from the share by taking it to the trash. Test again with a trial login. We also have remote desktop to deploying software out. ARD can only 'push' out software in the .pkg or .mpkg format. If the Software you have has a proprietary installer application then you're out of luck. However some people have had success using PackageMaker. With the amount of macs you have a little exercise won't do you any harm. If you're contemplating deploying the Adobe Suite or FC Pro don't even bother. Besides there are better ways of deploying software to multiple clients. You could use the NetBoot Service on your Server and define a NetInstall nbi. A lot of applications for the Mac platform are standalone. This is useful as you can copy software using ARD to multiple macs. This only makes sense if the software has no license or serial number assocated with it. Also... Can i restrict what is displayed on the finder bar at the top as I do not wish to allow students to view system folders etc... Yes. Launch WorkGroup Manager and select the Group you're interested in. Click on Preferences. Select Finder, select Always and select the Use Simple Finder Option. You have to remember you're approaching mac-style GPOs from a Windows perspective. This is not a criticism just an observation. Clearly the two platforms are not the same. Therefore it does not make much sense in approaching the lock-down of the macs in the same way you do with PCs. Clearly there are some things you can do on one platform that you can't do on the other. Denying views of the network seems to be a big deal with Windows environments. In a mac environment it does not make sense to deny the network view. Provided the clients are secured with a locked down local admin name and password then whether the macs can 'see' them or not makes no difference. Besides this is a problem with the way the AD environment is configured and nothing to do with the macs as such. If I can advise you? DNS has to absolutely perfect. Try and get yourself on an approved Training Course. I would include the Staff as well as too often they are all too keen on teaching an application they know nothing about. Finally introducing macs into a Windows environment will find every flaw and weakness in that environment like nothing else. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Marci . . . also affects you if you're running aggregated or bonded links. Strange as I've ran the update on an XServe with a bonded link and I saw no problems. The problem shows itself if you've assigned two separate IP Addresses to both NICs. This can be a useful thing to do especially if you're monitoring a RAID for example. Until Apple get around to supplying a patch the workaround suggested in this link should help: Apple - Support - Discussions - Connect to server error message ... Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Alex Perhaps permissions and/or access are set differently for staff and students? As you drill down through the OUs permissions must be set to allow home folder creation. If Permissions are set to r/w for the parent OU and then at some stage restricted before it gets to the ultimate OU then this could explain what you're seeing? To test create a test User in the parent OU with the relevant path for the home profile defined in the same OU. Test with a login again. Do this for each successive OU drilling your way down to the ultimate one. Hopefully at some stage you'll find which OU is stalling the whole process. Alter permissions to suit. This is just my observation but I think Apple has 'designed' the AD plug-in making the assumption every AD environment follows Microsoft's standards. In my experience there are never any two ADs which are the same and I'm not even talking about an RM build. In which case how can the plug-in accommodate any 'bespoke' permissions you've applied as well as how you're organizing your OUs? None of what I've posted is meant as a criticism in any way. AFAIK it'a just the way it is. Clearly macs are not PCs. It's important therefore to understand this when contemplating integration. There are strengths and weaknesses in both platforms which can be utilized if approached correctly. The wonder is the two platforms can be made to 'work' in an LDAP environment at all? The fact that it can be made to work is (in my view) wholly due to Apple. I've yet to see Microsoft making any effort to accommodate disparate platforms in a similar way? Hope this helps? Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hello Alex Oh Dear!! That's even worse! All I can think of is perhaps there has been some misunderstanding somewhere? You could contemplate starting again? Ideally what should happen is: Absolutely make certain DNS is perfect. By this I mean everything resolves on both pointers. Make sure your DC does not have its loopback address listed as its primary DNS Server in the NIC Properties. It's important the DC can resolve itself on both pointers using nslookup. Create an appropriate (A) Record (with associated PTR Record) for the XServe. Avoid using .local for the TLD although in an AD environment and since 10.5.4 this is not such an issue. Don't do anything with the Mac Server just yet. Verify you can successfully bind a Mac Client to the AD first and use a standard student user account to access the home folder. Prior to doing this issue this command from Terminal on the test client: sudo dsconfigad -packetsign disable -packetencrypt disable It should report "Settings changed successfully". To verify they have issue this command: sudo dsconfigad -show The last two entries should list the two options as being disabled. Now being to 'bind' the client to AD. To 'reset' completely a client you already have prior to doing this issue these commands: sudo rm -R -v -i /Library/Preferences/DirectoryService You'll be prompted to provide y/n for each file within the Directory. Key in y (or yes) followed by a carriage return until you get the bash prompt again. Next issue this command: sudo rm -R -v -i /Library/Preferences/edu.mit.Kerberos You may get a message telling you the file can't be found. Don't worry and don't panic as typically the TGT (Ticket Granting Ticket) is removed once the client is unbound from the AD. Next issue this command: sudo reboot now The mac should now reboot. On successful log-in access the Sharing Preferences Pane via System Preferences. Define a suitable name within the relevant field. Next access the Date & Time Preference Pane and assign the IP address of your Network Time Server. Typically this will be your DC. Now launch Directory Utility. Click the lock and select "Show Advanced Options". Select the Active Directory plug-in and click the Pencil icon. Click the disclosure triangle by the side of the "Advanced Options". De-select the "create home on local startup disk". Add the Domain name in the relevant field. Click Bind and provide authentication details for an account that has authority for the AD Domain. What you should see is a 5-stage process. If the network environment (and DNS) is as it should be this should not take more than 30 seconds to 1 minute although I have seen it take longer. If you're still looking at it 10-15 minutes later then there is something seriously wrong somewhere. In which case I would start looking at your Switches (for negotiation issues such as spanning tree etc) as well as the physical structure of the network itself. Not forgetting to double-check any restrictive permissions/policies assigned on the AD itself as well as DNS (naturally). Hopefully this wont be the case and the 5-stage process completes normally. Navigate to /Library/Preferences and make sure the edu.mit.Kerberos file has been created. Inspect the contents of this file with TextEdit. Verify a generation ID has been created and that the Kerberos Realm is what it should be. Now log out the client and test by providing a student user's account details. You should at this point be logged in looking at a default desktop and dock and accessing the user's home folder as it exists on the AD. To see what happens next post again if the above instructions have been successful Hope this helps? Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Alex I'm sorry you're having problems. However if this is not working in the way you've described then either there is something seriously wrong with your AD network (possible but doubtful) or it's the way you've gone about doing the integration (more likely). At the top of this Forum there are some handy links to 'how-tos' and walk-throughs on how to integrate macs in an AD environment. Perhaps you should take a closer look at what they have to say? Failing that you could consider hiring a consultant/specialist to come in and do this for you? You could also look at Ross's site where there are handy video tutorials outlining how to go about doing this: HowToMac.co.uk | Bringing the future of Apple into education Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi Alex Perhaps you're slightly confused? In a classic AD-OD Integration Users homes are as defined in the Home Profile tab when selecting Properties for that User on your DC. Provided things are as they should be with your environment then when Users provided their account credentials they should be accessing their Home Folder wherever that is. Most applications will either present the 'Documents' container or the 'Desktop' container as the default save location when selecting 'Save' or 'Save As'. Perhaps you've 'forgotten' to deselect the option 'Force local home directory on startup disk' when binding mac clients to the DC using the Active Directory Plug-in in Directory Utility? De-selecting this option 'forces' mac clients to 'auto-mount' the Users' home profile as specified in AD. Not de-selecting the option means that every User who logs in client Macs will download their home profile locally when they first log-in. This has the potential of filling up the internal hard drive for every single mac client. Especially true if you have hundreds of users moving from mac to mac. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi No need for the script as the removal of /Library/Preferences/DirectoryService removes everything including the Search Policy listing. I would issue the command this way: sudo rm -R -i -v /Library/Preferences/DirectoryService This way you should get a y/n prompt. As far as I know there are no repercussions. It's a safer way as rm is a particularly dangerous command to use. For example there is an rm command that can be used that basically deletes the whole OS and BSD before your eyes. After a while the mac gives up the ghost and dies. If you're into that sort of thing it can be fun? Clearly I'm not going to give it here. Follow the above with: sudo reboot now On successful log in you should see the edu.mit.Kerberos file has been removed as well. This is true for 10.5 only as unbinding from the DC automatically removes this file. However sometimes it can stick around for no good reason in which case remove it either with a Terminal command or via the Finder. At this point I would also issue: sudo rm -R -i -v /Library/Managed\ Preferences This should remove the possibility of any 'rogue' MCX affecting the local admin account. If you want to totally 'reset' Network Settings (again useful for completely removing macs from a network environment) issue: sudo rm -R -i -v /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration Again it's advisable to restart after doing any of the above. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi DMcCoy "Well that is nice to know after apple sold me an education site license" I'm sorry to hear that. Asking the provider of the license the question should have given you an answer. "Apple and Adobe really have no idea what the education sector use computer for" You could look at that way I suppose? However you could also say the functionality you require is available if you're prepared to invest in the required infrastructure. A Fibre Channel Fabric (not cheap) and a proprietary SAN product such as Apple's XSAN product (again not cheap). I know you know this but it's all about making money after all. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

"iMovie '08 and iMovie '09 are designed to work across a network." This should have read: iMovie '08 and iMovie '09 are not designed to work across a network. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Hi iMovie '08 and iMovie '09 are designed to work across a network. In addition the applications are not officially supported by Apple in a networked home environment such as AD or OD. iMovie '06 did work but again is not officially supported. It is possible to install iMovie '06 on the latest iMacs and have it work (after a fashion) when the OS is Leopard. I doubt if iMovie '06 will work at all with the forthcoming Snow Leopard (10.6) release? We will have to wait and see. Even Final Cut is not officially supported in a networked home environment. However it can be made to work successfully. There is more information contained in this recent thread: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mac/35217-any-ideas-how-use-macs-video-editing.html In the industry itself video creation/editing and playback would not be entertained across a network unless the network was a wholly fibre fabric augmented with gigabit and utilizing a proprietary SAN product such as Apple's XSAN. Another approach is to ask yourself this question: "If my environment is all PCs how would I tackle the problem?" I'm guessing you would not bother and simply provide an external hard drive or an internal scratch disk to temporarily store the ingest and progress from there. Or create a single local generic 'Student' account and use that instead. Students can be trained how to do this as part of the class. You can specify their home directory to be mounted at log-in time. They can upload their work afterward. Antonio Rocco (ACSA)