The PhenixbluE » Mac OS

MAC: Display Sleep Issues

Phenix — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:04:51 +0000

Because I normally leave my machines running 24/7, i try to set the displays to sleep after 3 minutes (to save some power, prevent burn in, etc.). In my current home office setup I have 2 iMacs side by side. Lately I’ve noticed one of them has the display go to sleep, and stay asleep, while the other does not. The iMac’s screen will go to sleep, but in about 15-20 seconds it will come back on and continue in a cycle like this. It’s very annoying at night, when all lights are turned off, not to mention WHY!!! I verified the 2 iMacs power save settings and screen saver settings were identical. I of course perused Google, and other sites for a solution to no avail. I finally pieced together info from here and there and have found a solution. Apparently it lies in your Sharing settings within System Preferences.

If you reside on a public network, or even on a network with several other macs, and you have “Remote Management” set to allow “All Users” you can end up getting some unwanted users trying to connect to your machine. Once I configured “Remote Management” to only allow specific users to access the machine, the annoying cycle was stopped. If I had to guess, this has to do with a heartbeat coming from bonjour enabled clients.

-Phenix

Snow Leopard First Impressions

Phenix — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:59:42 +0000

So I finally decided to backup one of my iMacs and proceed with a clean install of Snow Leopard (I’ve heavily used the box for Development and Testing, so it needed to be wiped). Here are some of my initial thoughts on the install process:

I don’t like the fact that the “Erase and Install” and “Archive and Install” options are completely gone (not sure of this is only on the $29 upgrade disc or not).
You are able to do a full install with the upgrade disc!!!
- You must select “Disk Utility” from the toolbar while booted from the disc and erase your HD for an erase and install
Installation did not seem any faster as an upgrade or full install (yes, I did both, only by accident though!).
First boot/registration/login, all the same as before
Tinkering around the OS after first boot seemed really snappy (maybe just because it was a clean install all together).
Everything else seems to be the same (for the most part)

I have run into a couple issues with applications so far:

SynergyKM – has not been updated yet. The team has posted that they are working on it though.
- Opening the SynergyKM preference Pane in “System Preferences” forces a restart of SysPrefs every time
- The “Show Synergy status i the MenuBar” option does not work
- Outside of that, the overall functionality is intact!
Logmein.com – only needs minor updates
- I experienced a funky issue with the Logmein MenuBar icon (seems to be ok after reboot)

The only other problems I’ve seen have to do with Directory Management (Specifically Open Directory)

I personally dislike the removal of the Directory Utility from /Applications/Utilities/.
I encountered a strange problem with mobile home accounts (not sure if this is a Snow Leopard issue, or 10.5 Server issue, but I didn’t have the problem prior to upgrading.
- After setting up an Admin account and binding to my OD server, I was unable to login to the machine with a valid OD user.
- The login box would attempt to connect, and then shake (checked with several different accounts that were all previously working in Leopard).
- I had to restrict network user logins to one account
- After a reboot, I was able to successfully login as the specific OD mobile user and change settings to allow any network user to login
  - All seems well now, i was able to successfully login as other network users
I also noticed a problem with granting an OD mobile user local admin rights
- after granting local admin rights I am unable to manage mobile home sync settings on the client machine.
- I’ve seen a few other people that speak of similar issues prior to Snow Leopard, but have not had contact with the, yet to confirm

All in all, the updates to the client version of the OS could have come as an update rather than a new OS version. Nothing significantly different that I’ve encountered yet. I look forward to everyone else’s opinions and comments!

-Phenix

DHCP Lease…..Whooops!

Phenix — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:00:32 +0000

So, if you’re like me and you love to mess around with all kinds of computer related things, you may have run into this scenario before:

You find some cool piece of software, and you spend a week or so fiddling around with it, but then you decide you like it, and later decide to use it. Well, instead of scrapping everything you’ve been working with and starting over from scratch you just go ahead working with what you’ve got.

Sound familiar? If so, and your software of choice happens to be the DHCP service on OSX 10.5 Server, this post is definitely for you. I went through Server Admin and setup my subnets, static maps, and logging levels. The one thing I forgot to change was the Lease Time. I left it configured to issue leases for a week. No biggie for most folks (including myself) since you’re probably not going to be maxing out your leased IP’s anytime soon. But if you’re like me, it annoys you to have to wait for several leases to expire, and you see duplicate leases for devices in your clients table. Here’s a quick easy fix to clear out all the leases and start fresh (since the option isn’t available via Server Admin):

1. Stop the dhcp server either through Server Admin, or from aTerminal:

% sudo serveradmin stop dhcp

2. delete the file /var/db/dhcpd_leases. You will need root access. Terminal command:

% sudo rm -f /var/db/dhcpd_leases

3. Restart dhcp via server admin or from Terminal:

% sudo serveradmin start dhcp

A very simple Apple Script can be developed to do this (if you have recurring needs). Contact me if you would like it,

-Phenix

Server Migration

Phenix — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:41:29 +0000

This Friday, July 24 2009, at approximately 5:00pm will take the server that hosts this site, and all other sites (*.thephenixblue.com, *.phenixblue.com, *.jmsearcy.com, *.vsumug.com, *.vsumug.org, *.vsusinfonia.org, *.firehouseink.com, *.ceramicsdiva.com, *.thewebroot.com) will go offline. During the offline period all sites will be migrated to new server hardware, as well as additional upgrades to Apache, PHP, and MySQL. The current server is identical in hardware, but resides on Mac OS X 10.5 client alongside other applications and services. The new server uses Mac OS X 10.5 Server, and is a dedicated box that will have no console interaction other than System Administration. During the migration I will also be pruning some older directories no longer used and striving for a cleaner and leaner setup! The entire migration will hopefully only take a few hours (transfer WWWROOT & MySQL DB’s, reassign permissions, account creation, create Virtual Hosts & Directories, and update DNS). The DNS changes may take up to 24 hours to propegate (normally only 1-4 hours). That’s the ideal work flow……pending any unforseen doom! I will keep everyone up to date via twitter (@jmsearcy). Thanks in advance for your patients patience!

New Server Specs:

20″ Aluminum iMac
2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB DDR2 (667Mhz) RAM
250GB SATA HD
Gigabit Ethernet
128 Mb ATI Radeon 2400HD Graphics
8Mb/s High Speed Cable Internet
Sitting on a desk next to the kitchen!

If you don’t like the fact that I use an iMac for a web server send me money for an xserve!

If you don’t like the fact that that I hosts sites off of an 8Mb/s connection, send monet for OC3!

If you don’t like the fact that my server is on a desk next to my kitchen, send money for a Data Center!

-Phenix

Aqua Connect Terminal Server

Phenix — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:00:53 +0000

Any Sys Admin over a Windows Terminal Server would be able to tell you how great a Terminal Services (TS) environment can be regarding Application Management, OS patches, Group Policy, etc. Having served suitable time as such, I can personally attest to the increased efficiency of centralized management. You need to install Photoshop for 50 users, install it once on the server, and adjust Group Policy settings to allow those 50 specific users to have access to it, and upon next logon, POW!!! If my memory serves me correctly, Microsoft has offered Terminal Services since the Server 2000 platform. I’ve also spent some time working with Sun’s spin on TS via the SunRay server package, and the SunRay thin clients. Sun’s solution can be used to deploy independent Solaris OS Desktops to connecting users, and with a little more effort, Linux and Windows Desktop Sessions as well. Having used these TS solutions, my brain began to churn over the unlimited possibilities in a business or education environment. A college could easily setup labs of thin clients with smaller footprints, a cheaper price tag, and still offer to benefit of Windows, Solaris, and Linux in one sitting! What’s missing form this puzzle you say? Apple’s Mac OS, DUH! Until about 2 years ago, I had never seen someone take advantage of the TS concept on the Mac OS platform. Being a Mac fanboy I was severely disappointed. As I scathed the internet I did finally come across a package by the name of Aqua Connect Terminal Server. I originally viewed a webcast demo of Aqua Connect over at MacEnterprise, and it absolutely blew me away!!! There were no groundbreaking features that other TS packages didn’t have, but the sight of multiple Mac OS desktop sessions was beautiful. Over the past couple of years Aqua Connect has really evolved the product into what looks like an extremely solid Enterprise level application. They are now at version 3.0, and have added a very nice admin utility, and support for more protocols. As it stands now, it looks like the RDP, VNC, and X11 protocols are supported (others on the way), and they’ve extended hardware support to cover Apple, PC, Thin Client, Mobile Phones, laptops, and a few other platforms. At this point Aqua Connect is touting about 120 concurrent users sessions for an xserve (a few dozen on a MBP as per the webcast demo!!!), and around 98% application compatibility. They do not have support for local USB devices (though there are some work arounds for Printers and scanners). They also state that it’s easily integrated into Apple Directory Services, Microsoft Active Directory, and Open LDAP. All in all, this package looks Kick-Ass. I’m currently waiting on an evaluation version that i will hopefully be able to test on both Mac OS X Server 10.4 and 10.5. I’ll try to devote my up and coming free time to testing Aqua Connect TS, and letting you guys know if its the real deal! Anyone interested, I would highly suggest you check out the latest webcast (.mp4 format) from MacEnterprise and read the documentation at Aqua Connect’s site to see it for yourself.

-Phenix