Macintosh-Admin

I’ve been having a lot of trouble unraring several larger (5+GB) files with TheUnarchiver and RARExpander GUI applications so I generally always just moved the rar’d files over to my Linux machine and run unrar on there and then move it back over, obviously one step to many!

Fortunately you can easily install the unrar application on your server or even just normal OS X client. Visit the RARLab website and go into their downloads section. There is one download which is Command Line Only and made for Mac OS X. Download that and then uncompress it. You should have a new folder called ‘rar’. While in command line navigate into that folder and run:

sudo install -c -o yourusername unrar /bin

This will install the binaries needed into the correct places. Now since my normal everyday account isn’t an account with administrator privileges I first had switch to one that was and then ran that command. Once completed (the install should take a few seconds if that) you can test it out by running:

unrar

If you’re shown a list of options then it worked!

I’m not really sure as to why GUI applications have trouble unraring large sized files, but unrar seems to be able to handle them just fine!

Here’s a quick and easy way to restore a Subversion backup you may have made. Quickly, this is how you make the dump:

sudo svnadmin dump /path/to/reponame > /tmp/reponame.dump

if you want to restore that backup, type in:

sudo svnadmin load /path/to/reponame < /tmp/repo1.dump

Source.

Shirt Pocket has released version 2.6 of SuperDuper!, probably the most robust and simplest Mac application for creating bootable backups, bringing full Snow Leopard support to the table. Additional new features include:

• Backup on connect
• Eject after copy
• Sparse bundle support

I’ve personally been waiting for “backup on connect” & “eject after copy” for a while. If you’re going to try Snow Leopard Server anytime soon, I highly suggest using SuperDuper! to create a fully bootable backup of your Leopard Server installation before doing so.

[Via Dan Benjamin]

Recently I’ve decided to dedicate one of my Mac OS X Server boxes to be a Subversion server. Now Subversion itself is great and there’s already a few GUI applications for OS X (Versions.app and Coda for example) that can help you view your Subversion repository quite easily. But what if you don’t have a wonderful application like Versions or Coda, or you’re on Windows or Linux for that matter?

Trac is an excellent answer and solution to that question. Trac is a web based front-end to subversion and much more (I only use it for viewing and comparing code changes visually). Straight from the Trac website:

Trac is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects. Trac uses a minimalistic approach to web-based software project management. Our mission is to help developers write great software while staying out of the way. Trac should impose as little as possible on a team’s established development process and policies.

It provides an interface to Subversion (or other version control systems), an integrated Wiki and convenient reporting facilities. Trac allows wiki markup in issue descriptions and commit messages, creating links and seamless references between bugs, tasks, changesets, files and wiki pages. A timeline shows all current and past project events in order, making the acquisition of an overview of the project and tracking progress very easy. The roadmap shows the road ahead, listing the upcoming milestones.

So how about getting it installed in OS X? It’s really really simple!

First, check to see which version of Python you have installed. You can do this by:

python --version

You should be okay, but just make sure you have at least version 2.3. I had version 2.5 which most people will have.

Next, download a copy of setuptools. You can visit this page:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools#downloads

and snag ’setuptools-0.6c9-py2.5.egg’. Although depending on which version of Python you get, make sure you get the right setuptool installer. Now, mine downloaded as setuptools-0.6c9-py2.5.egg.sh, I just removed the ‘.sh’ bit so it was just ’setuptools-0.6c9-py2.5.egg’. Now, run this script as you would a shell script:

sudo sh ./setuptools-0.6c9-py2.5.egg

This will install a really fantastic thing called ‘easy_install’. Now, to actually install Trac, type in:

sudo easy_install Trac

BAM! You’re pretty much done if no error messages come up. A really good thing to see is ‘installed tracd to /usr/local/bin/’. Make sure you run the command with sudo since it’ll be install some pieces into areas normally restricted to non-admin accounts.

Once completed you can make yourself a Trac environment by typing in:

sudo trac_admin /path/to/trac/project initenv
ex. sudo trac_admin /usr/local/trac/myproject initenv

This will add a new Trac project to your server. To start up the Trac server use:

sudo tracd -p 81 /usr/local/trac/myproject

You can now open a web browser and browse to http://127.0.0.1:81 and you should see your project listed!

Now let me breakdown that command to startup tracd. ‘tracd’ is the server binary, so you obviously need that, the -p 81 means it’ll run on port 81, I chose 81 since my webserver is using port 80 already and then I give the path to the project I want hosted. Do note, you can list multiple project paths, I have about 7-8 listed in my startup command.

By default tracd will only listen on your local loopback IP address (127.0.0.1) which is nice if you only need to access it locally but I am 2000 miles from my server so I need to access it externally. This can easily be accomplished by using the ‘–hostname=’ parameter.

This should pretty much cover a basic Trac install on OS X Server. Beyond this, you can create a LaunchDaemon for tracd so that it starts when your server starts and something very important is authentication and permissions. I haven’t gone into detail on either of those items in this article, but if anyone is interested, I’d be more then willing to share that information! I highly recommend checking out the Trac website as well!

I’m surprised that Mac OS X 10.3 Panther support lasted this long in Topicdesk.com’s mailbfr (Mail Backup/Fix/Restore) utility, but version 1.0.6 is now out and will be the last to support it. Changes include:

• Minor bug fix and clean up
• This is the last release supporting Mac OS X Server 10.3 Panther

Also of interest: version 1.1 will be the first to support Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, so keep your eyes open for that.

[Via Topicdesk Newsletters]

I missed that Apple Remote Desktop had been updated to admin version 3.3 and client version 3.3.1 last Thursday, August 20^th. Changes for this version include:

• Improves support for accessing client computers and task servers behind NAT (Network Address Translation) routers.
• Includes Task Server and Directory Server scanners, for finding client computers known by your task server and clients in computer groups on a directory server.
• New “Reporting” tab in client computer Info window, to set a single reporting policy for the client computer, shared by all Remote Desktop administrator computers.
• New “Administrators” tab in client computer Info window, to display and control which admin computers and task servers are associated with each client computer.
• Client settings configurable by Managed Preferences in Workgroup Manager.
• Support for finding and adding client computers via wide-area Bonjour.
• Resolves an issue using Lock Screen or Curtain mode on a client computer that’s at the login window.
• Improves stability when running Remote Desktop Admin on a Task Server.
• Resolves an issue that could cause build_hd_index files to become very large.
• Improves compatibility with the Application Firewall.
• Change Client Settings task now works when the Remote Desktop administrator has an Active Directory account.
• Improves client stability when Sharing Screen.
• Scheduled UNIX Commands stay scheduled.
• When controlling a remote client, function keys and key combinations for actions such as Force Quit, Log Out, and the Application Switcher are now all sent to the remote computer.
• Improves screen sharing performance with RealVNC.
• Improves performance of encrypted file copies.
• Improves performance of encrypted screen sharing connections

I’ll be rolling the update out shortly and am looking forward to the compatibility improvements with regard to the firewall as I’m constantly plagued by issues in that area. Let us know how the update has worked out for you.

It’s official, Apple has announced that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server will be available this Friday, August 28^th. Pricing on Unlimited-Client is now $499 and 10-Client appears to have gone the way of the Dodo.

Now that the ship-date has been set, you won’t be able to get it free with a new enrollment to the Apple Maintenance Program for Mac OS X Server, as mentioned regarding pre-ordering, but if you already have an AMP enrollment then you should get the upgrade shipped to you. Of course, if you purchased a qualifying Xserve on or after June 8^th then you can get it for $9.95 via the Up-to-Date Program.

Apple released Security Update 2009-004 yesterday to fix an issue with the DNS Service:

By sending a maliciously crafted update message to the BIND DNS server, a remote attacker may be able to interrupt the BIND service. The issue affects servers which are masters for one or more zones, regardless of whether they accept updates[...] This update addresses the issue by properly rejecting messages with a record of type ‘ANY’ where an assertion would previously have been raised.

BIND is disabled by default in Mac OS X & Server, but if you’ve got the DNS Service enabled you’ll want to apply this update. Grab it for Leopard or Tiger Server (Universal) or pick it up via Software Update. It’s also available for Mac OS X client.

[Via Topicdesk]

Another small fix to Topicdesk.com’s excellent mailbfr (Mail Backup/Fix/Restore) utility:

Bug fix to correct start/stop behaviour in 10.3.

I don’t see this one as necessary unless you’re still running Panther Server.

[Via Twitter]

Amazon has Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Server, which is set to ship sometime in September, available for pre-order for $499.

Of course, there are actually three ways to get Snow Leopard Server:

• $499.00 through the aforementioned pre-order
• $9.99 through Apple’s Mac OS X Up-to-Date Program if you purchased a qualifying Xserve on June 8^th or later
• Free^* through the Apple Maintenance Program (AMP) if purchased before the official announcement of Snow Leopard Server’s shipping date

* – AMP itself costs either $499 or $999 for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Server 10-Client or Unlimited Client enrollments, respectively, but provides all OS updates (including major updates such as Snow Leopard Server) for 36 months.