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Installing ‘unrar’ on Mac OS X Server

by on 31. Aug, 2009 in Tips & Tricks, Tutorials/Guides

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!

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Restore a Subversion Dump

by on 28. Aug, 2009 in Tips & Tricks

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.

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Installing Trac in Mac OS X Leopard Server

by on 27. Aug, 2009 in Articles, Tutorials/Guides

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!

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Xserve G5 For Sale – Used

by on 01. Aug, 2009 in General

Found this floating around in my Inbox this morning:

G5 xserve 2Ghz 3GB RAM, 80GB/500GB,
Rack mount APC 1500VA
Anthro 12U rack with 2 tap rails

Asking $1000, call Scott at Calais Design (Eight Zero Two-999-8914) and you’re more then welcome to say we referred you.

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Mac OS X 10.5.5 Update Fixes Disk Utility

by on 11. Feb, 2009 in General

We previously wrote about some RAID rebuilding issues we were having and that the way around it was to reboot your computer into the OS X Installer disks, open up Terminal and enter in a string of commands.

Fortunately Apple has fixed an issue within the Disk Utility application that allows it to work as intended. Now you can simply drag new disks into a RAID set and click on the Rebuild button and it’ll work properly!

I just tried it out this weekend and it successfully rebuilt a degraded mirror RAID set!

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Removing an OpenFire Install

by on 29. Dec, 2008 in Tips & Tricks

After playing with OpenFire for some time, I decided to go back to the default jabberd install on OS X Leopard
Server. Unfortunately, the application doesn’t seem to come with an un-installer nor are there directions in the documentation.

A quick search on the Ignite Software forums turned up these directions for removing OpenFire from your system:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/openfire
sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/Openfire.prefPane
sudo rm -rf /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.jivesoftware.openfire.plist
sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/Openfire.pkg

Thanks Todd Getz!

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MySQL Binary Logging

by on 27. Nov, 2008 in General, Tips & Tricks

Last week one of our database servers notified me that the main OS drive had less then 5% storage space. I loaded up one of my favorite tools, Grand Perspective to see what was taking up so much space. Sure enough, I had about 5-6GBs of space left, and there were about 20-25 files each 1-2GBs in-size. Each file was a log file for MySQL. These were each binary log files.

Following the same article on the MySQL website, I found out that it was possible to delete the log files without screwing anything up. Running the PURGE BINARY LOGS did so. Now it is possible to set log sizes, but since I really have no use for them I just stopped the logging all together.

You can do this by editing the following file:

/etc/my.cnf

Locate the following lines and then comment it out.

# Replication Master Server (default)
# binary logging is required for replication
#log-bin=mysql-bin

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard: Brief Overview

by on 03. Oct, 2008 in General

The next edition of Mac OS X Server, dubbed “Mac OS X Snow Leopard”, will include a few major enhancements and additions. I for one am hoping the Address Book server & the iCal server will become more group-ware based. The iCal server right now is, and I lightly say, TERRIBLE. It’s definitely a step in the right direction but I think it’s implemented poorly. How about you, what new feature in Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server are you most looking forward too?

iCal Server 2
iCal Server, a calendaring and scheduling service based on open standards, was the first commercial CalDAV calendar server. Snow Leopard Server follows up with the next major release of iCal Server, which includes group and shared calendars, push notifications, the ability to send email invitations to non-iCal Server users, and a browser-based application that lets users access their calendars on the web when they’re away from their Mac.

Collaboration
Leopard Server provided businesses with the power of online group collaboration through the use of wikis, blogs, mailing lists, and RSS feeds. Snow Leopard Server furthers collaboration with wiki and blog templates optimized for viewing on iPhone; content searching across multiple wikis; and attachment viewing in Quick Look. It also introduces My Page, which gives users one convenient place to access their web applications, receive notifications, and view activity streams.

Remote Access
Secure remote access to your business network has never been more critical than in today’s ncreasingly mobile world. Snow Leopard Server delivers push notifications to mobile users outside your firewall, and a proxy service gives them secure remote access to email, address book contacts, calendars, and select internal websites.

Multicore
More cores, not faster clock speeds, drive performance increases in today’s processors. Snow Leopard Server brings unrivaled support for multicore processors with “Grand Central,” a new set of built-in technologies that makes all of Mac OS X Server multicore aware and optimizes it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems.

ZFS
For business-critical server deployments, Snow Leopard Server adds read and write support for the high-performance, 128-bit ZFS file system, which includes advanced features such as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots.

Podcast Producer 2
Podcast Producer 2, an end-to-end solution for encoding, publishing, and distributing high-quality podcasts, features an intuitive new workflow editor that leads you through all the key steps involved in creating a successful podcast. This includes everything from selecting videos, transitions, titles, and effects to adding watermarks and overlays to specifying encoding formats and target destinations — wiki, blog, iTunes U, Podcast Library — for your finished podcast. Support for dual-video source capture lets users record both a presenter and a presentation screen, allowing a picture-in-picture style ideal for podcasting lectures. Podcast Producer now includes Podcast Library, which lets you host locally stored podcasts and make them available for subscription by category via automatically generated Atom web feeds.

Mail Server
Mac OS X Server’s open standards-based mail service is the ideal server for small businesses or companies looking to bring email in-house. Snow Leopard Server dramatically increases its performance and scalability with an overhauled engine designed to handle thousands of simultaneous connections. Mail services have been enhanced to include server-side email rules and vacation messages.

Address Book Server
Introducing the first open standards-based Address Book Server, Snow Leopard Server makes it easier than ever to share contacts across multiple computers. Based on the emerging CardDAV specification, which uses WebDAV to exchange vCards, Address Book Server lets users share personal and group contacts across multiple computers and remotely access contact information without the schema limitations and security issues associated with LDAP.

64-bit
To accommodate the enormous amounts of memory being added to today’s servers, Snow Leopard Server uses 64-bit kernel technology to support breakthrough amounts of RAM — up to a theoretical 16TB, or 500 times what is possible today. More RAM makes server applications run faster and dramatically improves the total number of simultaneous network connections that can be made.

OpenCL
Another powerful Snow Leopard technology, OpenCL (Open Computing Language), makes it possible for developers to efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked up in the graphics processing unit (GPU). With GPUs approaching processing speeds of a trillion operations a second, they’re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL takes that power and redirects it for use in high-performance computing applications like genomics, video encoding, signal processing, and simulations of physical and financial models.

[Via Apple]

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard: RAM

by on 08. Sep, 2008 in General

Snow Leopard’s across-the-board leap to 64-bits, from the kernel to all of its bundled apps, will do more than just make more memory available. It will also have a significant positive impact on performance system wide, even more than the same jump to 64-bits in Windows Vista. Here’s why.

Source: AppleInsider.com

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OS X Leopard Server Forwarding DNS to OpenDNS.com

by on 12. Jul, 2008 in Articles, Tips & Tricks

Just recently I had a consulting appointment with a school that needed to use a proxy server in order to block students from inappropriate websites. Previous to my visit they were using a tangerine iBook with OS9 and some piece of software that did the proxy work. After some thought we came up with the idea of using OS X Server (since they also were running that) as the proxy server. It was much more up to date and it seemed like it would be pretty easy to transfer the list from the iBook’s proxy software to OS X Server. Unfortunately, I have a feeling the list was so huge that it kept crashing the Web service, so it was back to the drawing board.

We finally decided to use OpenDNS and after some initial testing it all seemed to work fine. We assigned all the student computers static IPs and setup the DNS using the OS X Leopards IP and then OpenDNS. We included the the servers IP first because it allowed the clients to find the server for network home directory use and then I assumed it would use OpenDNS second (for all other queries).

Unfortunately, while we could login to the network home directories, OpenDNS and blocking in-appropriate websites failed to work. Puzzled, I searched for a way to allow us to use the server for initial DNS, but anything else had to pass through OpenDNS. A quick search through the knowledge base turned up this article. Basically you just had to add a few lines into one of the DNS configuration files. Really simple. When I restarted the DNS service, nothing worked. I believe that is because the article linked above is for OS X Server Tiger and previous versions. After looking around in the DNS service settings (via the Server Admin tool) I found a box called, ‘DNS Forwarding’. I simply plugged in the OpenDNS IP addresses and removed all but the servers IP from the client DNS servers.

Restarted the DNS service and rebooted the client machine for good luck and attempted to login to the network home directory. It worked! Next I tried loading a site on my OpenDNS blacklist and it too was blocked. It worked just as I had wanted it too.

DNS Forwarding in my understanding works like so:

  1. The client machine use the server’s IP for it’s main DNS server.
  2. In my case the server contains one DNS entry (well two if you count the reverse DNS record). The one record is of itself. That way the clients know of the server.
  3. Anything that isn’t in the servers DNS list gets sent to the entries in your DNS Forward records. In this case it was OpenDNS so pretty much every request except one’s for the server were forwarded to OpenDNS.

Hopefully this article can help people out who use in-house DNS and are also looking for a way to send other DNS queries to other outside services such as their ISPs DNS servers or even OpenDNS.

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