HodgeHi

My list consists of Re-build of Domain controllers Rebuild of OS X Servers Rebuild of 25 imacs Rebuild of 36 new imacs Rebuild of 15 laptops rebuild of 10 mac minis configuration of 5 switches configuration of new IP Range Re-create user accounts re-create user home dirs re-create GPOs install and test wireless WDS system install StudyWiz move all machines to new school 10 minutes away cable up all patch panels and switches re-configure mail server re-configure imaps connection re-create new website for new school. in 4 weeks Oh and only me!

Do you have any links to these? I would be greatly interested on how it has developed since the last time i saw.

I think that depends on 2 things. 1, Most admins don't like extending schemas in case of any problems. I think that in Server 2000 schema changes were non-reversible so if you messed it up then you were stuck with the changes and they got replicated across the domain/forest. With server 2003 AD this is not the case and schema changes can be reversed. I'm sure i read that somewhere. So it depends on how comfortable with this you are. 2, Cost. The AD schema extension doesn't cost a bean apart from your time, whereas the XServe does cost. It costs a fair bit. But what you do get is the ability to utilise some of the services that come with the server software. For example, if you currently do not have a mail server then you could utilise the mail service, which also has no CAL costs associated to it meaning as many accounts as you want. You maybe could utilise the Jabber service to provide your users with the ability to use IM internally and also keep a log of conversations, thus securing and adhering to policies. You may also wish to utilise the Apache service to host a shared calendar or even a wiki. The wiki server isn't the best version but it is indeed very simple to use. We went for the Xserve here as we could utilise most if not all of the services. Also you get the ability to netboot/netinstall. If you have quite a few machines or are looking to expand on the number of macs you have then this could be very useful.

Hello, I am trying to extract a list if the users inside an AD group using the dscl command in OS X terminal. So far i can get to the groups using the command: dscl /Active\ Directory/All\ Domains/Groups/ Now i hit the problem. If i try to list the Staff\ Group and then read the PrimaryGroupID and use $1,$2 > filename.txt, it doesn't read any data or it throws an error. How can i get to the group Staff\ Group to read the attributes and extract the list of users in the group? Thanks for your help.

You could also extend the AD schema if you are that way inclined. This then allows you to use the WGM tools to configure your Policies for your users and OS X clients and save them directly into your AD Schema. This method is also free

Too bad i don't know any of them that well either. Learning isn't just the hardest part, it's the knowing what to search for to get the job done. How would one run terminal commands such as chown and chmod using php?

Yeah. That's what I am after. I found a thread on the apple discussions that went through the process of exporting the output to a file so now I can export the contents, along with a comma into a csv file. Is this the best way to do this? The next problem I have is Reading the csv file back into an array in terminal so I can then process one line at a time. This "should" then allow me to wrap the method into a GUI, but that's much later on

Hello, I am perhaps the worlds worst scripter, but to erradicate the fear that is creating a working script i have decided to have a crack at something i have been meaning to do for some time. I have an OS X Server that is connected to a AD for user authentication. Their home dirs are stored on our XRAID. During the User creation process i would like to be able to run a script that creates the User home dir, copies a ready-made user template into the users' home dir and then chowns the folder and its contents for that user. To start i have looked at getting a list of the users from the AD and also their corresponding UIDs. I have used the following command to get this data: dscl /Active\ Directory/All\ Domains list /Users UniqueID This gives a two column output; the first column is the usernames and the second column is the UID. Now my question how can i just extract the second column to use its' data. At first i though grep or perhaps an awk command? But how would i tell it to start at the second column? Hope you guys can help. Thanks, Mark

I think it needs XCode for the compile and make commands though.

This tutorial doesn't mention needing XCode installed to upgrade... Bombich.com: Remote Backup of Mac OS X Using rsync

How do you publish these? With so much focus on the environment these days do you print them out and distribute them? I have thought about the pro's and con's of each distribution method (printed/CD/DVDs) and have still come to the conclusion that the best method is printed but am reluctant to print off a whole load just for them to sit in a corner.

The RIS server was working fine last time i used it. The systems themselves have been re-imaged many times before and i have recently built a new image for these machines and deployed it to around 10 of them. I haven't tried another client since I haven't got one handy. I'm not too fussed about the RIS server since all our machines will be macs in the next 2 months. I will have to try formatting the drive with a CD. Thanks.

I thought the same potentially it being a virus. The only thing though was it is the only machine in the entire school that has this issue. As far as i am aware the firewalls are turned off at group policy level. It is a Windows XP pro box running service pack 2. I can't get to the event viewer since it happens in safe mode before the login process. I think i turned the boot sector protection on in the BIOS. Would this not protect against a boot sector virus? Also SAV has been installed on these machines for quite some time. The RIS installation crashes as soon as it has finished the process of installing the first set of initial drivers. Just before it starts the formatting.

Hello, I have started to look into an error that appeared out of the blue. The error is attached: Now the problem with this is that each time i try to research the error most of the sites that i need are blocked by our RM proxy. Also it doesn't give me the name of the component that has failed. I decided that the easiest way to sort this is to just RIS the machine and so i boot from the network and select the image i usually use for these machines and low and behold i get a stop message. I have chosen different images and am greeted with the same stop screen each time. If i click on the Ok button on the error message the machine just reboots. Any ideas what the problem is here or anyone come across it before? TIA

It really depends on how much control you want over these machines i think. The reason i say this is because not all applications come through Software Update. For example Microsoft Office use their own updating tool (it did in 2004 version, not sure about 2008) which means i think that the user would need admin rights to update this software anyway. As for the software update, i have just tested the process to see if any changes have happened since i tried it last... In ARD use the command softwareupdate -i -a This runs as Root. I am not sure if this tool needs a logged in user. I don't think that it does but if it does then you can log them in remotely using ARD anyway. If you keep the same configuration (and if you use Net-Restore to image them all then you will ) you can set up a group in ARD and then choose Unix tool and type in: osascript -e 'tell application "System Events"' -e 'keystroke "admin username"' -e 'keystroke tab' -e 'delay 0.5' -e 'keystroke "admin password"' -e 'delay 0.5' -e 'keystroke tab' -e 'keystroke return' -e 'end tell' This will log each machine in as the admin user all at the same time. Hope this helps.

I think you need to look at why you purchased the iPod in the first place. If these reasons still stand then maybe look at alternatives that give you the same plus points. Myself i liked the fact that i could have a 60GB drive with me that stored a backup of my photos and also my music and ultimately could be placed into disk mode and store all of my applications needed to do my job. I use iTunes on a mac so not really sure if the same iTunes bloat is apparent on that platform as i haven't used the Windows version. My iPod died, but since i already had the iPhone 3G i had some of the points i mentioned already (photos backup, music backup) but the one thing it lacked was disk mode. So i purchased an external drive instead. The only thing i miss is being able to connect the iPod to the car radio. I need to get an FM transmitter.

Are there any display drivers available to install?

Central Location Of Teaching Services

Hello all, I came across this PDF today, dated April 2009 so is quite recent. I haven't read it yet so not too sure if it is worth the read but i post it here for the sake of interest: Best_Practices_Active_Directory.pdf Upon reading this PDF, there isn't much in there. But saying that there are a couple of nuggets. One of them is the fact that since 10.5.4 you can now use the .local namespace for your AD domain and os x will send use unicast first before using multicast across the network. Have a flick through. There maybe more bits of useful info.

Fair enough.

Windows can read and write to OS X partitions with a little bit of software: MacDrive OS X can also read and write to NTFS partitions with a little bit of software: Macfuse and NTFS 3-G. You only need to download NTFS-3G though as it has Macfuse bundled with it.

Try resetting the PRAM.

Customising the User template

You may need to check your logs to see when they are being archived and at what time periods. You may also want to check to make sure that they are not left in debug mode. You can use server admin to do this. Also if the Users' home dirs are on the same disk and you have network-based connections all of their cache files and browsing files will be stored on there if you don't re-direct them to a tmp folder on the local client when they log in. The folder you mentioned earlier was the folder location for the software update server. This is where the software update service downloads its updates to. Also remember that some files/folders are hidden and owned by root which means that you may need to resort to the terminal to delete/remove them. Using the sudo command will allow you to run commands as a super user (Root). I'm not sure that the path can be changed for the swupd. I vaguely remember reading something about this but can't remember the outcome. Sorry.

I don't think it makes any odds anyway. IIRC the contracts were renewed when existing iphone owners took out their 3g contracts. Now, that was around 1 year ago and were for 12 months. If that is the case then the existing iphone 3g contracts cannot be cancelled for another 6 months. It states on o2's website that the contract can only be upgraded on the last month unless this changes in the near future. I like my iphone but may not be getting the next one. I don't like the fact that they are charging for tethering. Makes no sense since they give you unlimited bandwidth on the phone itself