What's New

Wireless Security WebCast Description Posted
The description of the Wireless Security Webcast on Tuesday, October 26 has been posted.

Webcast Broadcast ID Change
The broadcast ID required to view live webcasts has changed to macenterprise.

08.10.04

FileWave WebCast Case Study Added
Brent Hayward of the Urbandale, Iowa Community School District will be doing a case study for the FileWave WebCast.

08.06.04

Apple Remote Desktop 2 WebCast Posted
The Apple Remote Desktop 2 WebCast is now available for on-demand viewing.

08.02.04

FileWave WebCast Description Posted
The description of the FileWave WebCast on Tuesday, August 17 has been posted.

07.13.04

Apple Remote Desktop 2 WebCast Description Posted
The description of the Apple Remote Desktop 2 WebCast on Tuesday, July 20 has been posted.

06.26.04

PSU BIC and Apple Xsan WebCasts
Two recent WebCasts were added to the archive available for on-demand viewing:

• PSU Blast Image Config
• Apple Xsan

Note: We had a problem with the low-quality downloadable version. As a result, both contain the high-quality video and are 120 MB in size. (Don't try that over dialup!) We expect to replace the downloadable movies with normal sized movies (30 MB) the week of June 28th.

06.21.04

Mac OS X Application Management White Paper
Richard Glaser, University of Utah; and Philip Rinehart, Yale University; macosxlabs.org steering committee members have written an extensive white paper on Mac OS X Application Management. Topics include: licensing models, security considerations, reviewing & tracking of installations, missing Mac OS X applications & features, distribution tools, and deployment & distribution solutions.

The white paper is available for immediate download:

http://www.macosxlabs.org/osx_app_mgmt-best_practices.pdf.

06.21.04

XSan WebCast Slides Posted
The slides from the XSan WebCast have been posted.

06.21.04

RsyncX 2.1 WebCast Slides Posted
The slides from the RsyncX 2.1 WebCast have been posted.

06.21.04

WebCast - Apple Remote Desktop Update
The next webcast on Tuesday, July 20 will cover an update to Apple Remote Desktop.

06.03.04

WebCast - Apple XSan
The next webcast on Thursday, June 17 will cover Apple's XSan.

04.05.11

WWDC 2004 - QuickTime in the Enterprise
Dave Schroeder of University of Wisconsin at Madison, a macosxlabs project tech lead, will be presenting an QuickTime session on "QuickTime in the Enterprise" at WWDC 2004. For update-to-date information see the QuickTime and Digital Media schedule.

05.05.04

RsyncX 2.1 WebCast Available
The on-demand version of our April WebCast on RsyncX 2.1 is now available.

04.05.03

WWDC 2004 - Best Practices for App Distribution
Richard Glaser of University of Utah and Philip Rinehart of Yale University, two macosxlabs project steering members, will be presenting an Enterprise IT session on "Best Practices for Application Distribution" at Apple's WWDC 2004 in San Francisco, CA. For update-to-date information see the Enterprise IT schedule.

04.26.04

WebCast - PSU Blast Image Config
The next webcast on Monday, May 24 will cover PSU Blast Image Config 2.0.

04.26.04

Active Directory Integration WebCast Slides
The slides from this webcast are now available for download.

04.08.04

Active Directory Integration WebCast Q & A
Michael Bartosh, Philip Rinehart and Jason Prell have answered questions from the Active Directory Integrationwebcast that were not covered at that time.

03.30.04

iCal Update
Our iCal was updated to include the RsyncX 2.0 WebCast event on April 20.

03.24.04

Active Directory Integration WebCast
The March WebCast on integrating Mac OS X 10.3 with Active Directory has been posted for on-demand viewing.

03.23.04

RsyncX 2.0 WebCast Details Posted
We've posted the description for the upcoming WebCast on RsyncX 2.0.

03.22.04

Novell LDIF Example for 10.3 Posted
The 10.3/Novell LDIF example file was posted. This is the LDIF file that was mentioned during our 10.3 and Novell Integration WebCast.

03.12.04

Scripting Primer webcast Q & A now online
Philip Rinehart and Kevin Boyd have answered questions from the Scripting Primer webcast that were not covered at that time.

03.11.04

Updated Script Archive
Updated updateByHostPrefs 4.1, which is a perl script login hook for Mac OS X that renames files in a user's Library/Preferences/ByHost/ folder with the MAC address of the host being logged into.

Added certgen 0.5, which is an shell script that creates certificate or self-signed CA to be used with radmind.

03.09.04

Novell eDirectory Integration WebCast
February's WebCast on integrating Mac OS X into a Novell eDirectory environment has been posted for on-demand viewing.

03.08.04

CornellComputerNamer Script
This is a startup script that assigns a DNS name to each Mac OS X box based upon its asset tag. A Mac with asset tag 300495 would get DNS name mac300495.med.cornell.edu and computer name mac300495.

02.28.04

New Documentation Pages
The documentation pages have been re-organized into separate topics, additional documentation added, and a collaborative environment that allows the public to easily contribute documentation to the project.

02.23.04

Next WebCast Details
We've posted the details on our next WebCast, "Mac OS X 10.3 Active Directory Integration."

02.13.04

Radmind Features WebCast Posted
January's WebCast on New Radmind Features has been added to the archive of those available for on-demand viewing.

02.13.04

AUC Presentation Slides
Slides have been added from a presentation given at the Australian University Consortium's Digital Voyages Conference in September, 2003.

01.26.04

Next WebCast Details
We've posted the details on our next WebCast, "Novell eDirectory Integration."

01.22.04

Next WebCast Topic
We've posted the topic of our next WebCast, Novell eDirectory Integration. Further details on what the WebCast will cover are coming. We've also posted the WebCast topics planned for March and April.

01.16.04

Next WebCast Details
We've posted the details on our next WebCast, "New Radmind Features." Notice that the date of the webcast has been changed to Wednesday, January 21.

01.16.04

Script Archive - ComputerName & PrintConfig
Two scripts contributed from University of Iowa. One ComputerName sets computer name on based on mac address on startup. The other sets print configuration based on individual lab printers.

01.11.04

Presentation Slides - Mastering Radmind & RsyncX
The slides from the MacWORLD SF 2004 session Mastering Radmind & RsyncX are available for download.

12.05.03

File System Mgmt - Mastering Radmind & RsyncX

NOTE - Date & time change...
Come attend a presentation at MacWORLD SF 2004, on Mac OS X File System maintenance with two members of the macosxlabs project, Kevin Boyd of University of Michigan; and Richard Glaser of University of Utah.

Here is a chance to get an in-depth look at tools, tips, and techniques for managing files in OSX. We will focus on two lab management tools - Radmind and RsyncX. These tools can be used in a variety of scenarios: Initial installs of loadsets onto machines; protecting the integrity of loadsets in a lab or enterprise environment; deploying applications across the network to multiple machines; managing user backups of personal files either locally or across the network. Questions will be fielded as they arise - this is an opportunity to share your thoughts and experiences in this area as well.

12.03.03

11.14.03

11.07.03

11.06.03

macosxlabs T-Shirts Available, Again
After working out some legal issues the back graphic the macosxlabs products are available again. Including T-Shirts, mugs, mouse pads, lunchbox's and baseball caps are available at Cafe Shops.

Note: We don't make any money off the sale of the merchandise. This is a non-profit project.

10.30.03

O'Reilly Macintosh OS X Conference
View a presentation and resources from the "Migration to Mac OS - A Case Study of Higher Education". Three important participants in the Mac OS X Labs project shared their expertise in three critical deployment and management issues:

10.25.03

Blast Away -- Is OS X Really Secure?
Come attend a presentation at MacWORLD SF 2004, on Mac OS X Security with a member of the macosxlabs project, Philip Rinehart of Yale University; and Jeff "Wolverine" Greene of University of Colorado at Boulder.

With the advent of many attacks against Windows machines, is Macintosh OS X really secure? In this session, we will examine the default security of an OS X machine. Is it resistant to network attacks, and what types of local exploits can be used to compromise a machine? An overview, and demonstration of techniques to make an OS X box more secure, and how to do basic forensic analysis will be presented. Attendees will learn: What OS X (including Panther) is vulnerable to, and how to I fix it; Why physical security is important and what forensic tools are available to analyze a compromised machine.

10.25.03

File System Mgmt - Mastering Radmind & RsyncX
Come attend a presentation at MacWORLD SF 2004, on Mac OS X File System maintenance with two members of the macosxlabs project, Kevin Boyd of University of Michigan; and Richard Glaser of University of Utah.

Here is a chance to get an in-depth look at tools, tips, and techniques for managing files in OSX. We will focus on two lab management tools - Radmind and RsyncX. These tools can be used in a variety of scenarios: Initial installs of loadsets onto machines; protecting the integrity of loadsets in a lab or enterprise environment; deploying applications across the network to multiple machines; managing user backups of personal files either locally or across the network. Questions will be fielded as they arise - this is an opportunity to share your thoughts and experiences in this area as well.

10.15.03

10.13.03

10.10.03

macosxlabs T-Shirts Available
macosxlabs T-Shirts, mugs, mouse pads, lunchbox's and baseball caps are available at Cafe Shops.

09.16.03

Updated Encrypting Home Directories
Updated the mounting scripting included with the documentation on Encrypting Home Directories in Mac OS X 10.2.

Changed..

Dev=`cat DevFile`; rm DevFile

To..

Dev=`tail -1 DevFile | awk '{ print $1 }'`; rm DevFile

Otherwise the script will hang if the disk image is larger than a certain limit.

09.11.03

09.05.03

08.20.03

07.17.03

07.12.03

06.21.03

06.19.03

06.18.03

06.06.03

06.17.03

The case study will cover Mac OS X client security in a lab environment. The following topics will be covered: boot security & Open Firmware Password issues, how to handle published exploits, passwords, world write permissions, SUID root applications, how to securely modify the system, what to do with applications that stay open after logout, how to secure Classic & poorly written applications, how to deal with network services, and how to monitor your lab.

06.18.03

06.10.03

05.05.03

05.05.03

05.01.03

04.23.03

Integrating Mac OS X on Campus
Added a section with presentations by institutions from the Integrating Mac OS X on Campus seminars.

04.21.03

Script Archive
An archive of login, logout, Idle, iHook, Radmind, RsyncX, Startup and miscellaneous scripts for Mac OS X deployment.

04.11.03

Workgroup Manager WebCast Available
Our WebCast on Workgroup Manager is now available for on-demand viewing. As usual, we've provided both a streaming version and a downloadable movie.

03.18.03

Upcoming WebCast
Our current schedule for WebCasts is the third Tuesday of each month, 10:00am - 11:30am PST.

April 15
Apple Remote Desktop with Nader Nafissi, Apple Computer and Doug Willen, Swarthmore College

The archive of the Workgroup Manager webcast (broadcast March 18th) will be available in 1-2 weeks.

03.12.03

Integrating Mac OS X & Novell eDirectory
Updated documentation for "Integrating Mac OS X & Novell eDirectory" is available. This update includes information on integrating Mac OS X 10.2.x & Novell eDirectory 8.7.

02.28.03

Enterprise Directory Integration WebCast Available
Our WebCast on Enterprise Directory integration is now available for on-demand viewing. As usual, we've provided both a streaming version and a downloadable movie.

March
and
April
2003

A new seminar for IT professionals
Join us at the "Integrating Mac OS X on Campus" seminar to see how easily Apple's Mac OS X can be integrated into mixed computing environments. You'll learn how UNIX-based Mac OS X integrates with Active Directory, LDAP v3, and Kerberos, and discover open source client management tools, including Radmind and RsyncX.

02.06.03

NetInstall WebCast Available
Our NetInstall in Depth WebCast is now available for on-demand viewing. As usual, we've provided both a streaming version and a downloadable movie.

01.05.03

Radmind WebCast Available
The fourth WebCast on Radmind is now available for on-demand viewing. The presenters have provided answers to all questions sent in during the broadcast.

12.05.02

Macworld Expo San Francisco 2003 BOF
We have scheduled a birds-of-a-feather (BOF) gathering for Macworld San Francisco 2003. Join us Wednesday, January 8th, for an informal discussion of lab deployment of Macs running OS X. Click on link above for details.

12.05.02

Upcoming WebCasts
Our current schedule for WebCasts is the third Tuesday of each month, 10:00am - 11:30am PST.

December 17
Radmind - Mac OS X File System Maintenance with Wes Craig, U. of Michigan, and Richard Glaser, U. of Utah

January 23 (Thursday, not Tuesday)
NetInstall with Eric Zelenka, Apple Computer

11.21.02

Radmind - Mac OS X File System Maintenance
(PDF 6.1MB)
Radmind is a suite of Unix command line tools for remote administration of file systems for Mac OS X and other Unix systems. This presentation gives an overview of the tools, the process of using the tools, terms, execution and status customizations, tips and tricks.

Radmind - U of U Customization Details
(PDF 1.3MB)
Customization details including multiple examples of executing radmind like startup, login, logout, manually, and scheduled with perl, shell and AppleScript's scripts. Also includes details on customizing login panel, system menu to display status information.

11.21.02

Slides - The slides from the Login and Logout Hooks presentation given at the November 18-19 UEF tech leads meeting have been posted. The Hard Disk Maintenance web page docs will soon be updated with these slides and the Login/Logout perl scripts that they refer to.

11.5.02

WebCasts - All three of our previous WebCasts are now available for on-demand viewing. They are produced in QuickTime format and include both a streaming version and a downloadable version (for offline viewing.)

Third WebCast - Our third WebCast, NetBoot in Depth, was held Friday, October 25th. We will add an on-demand version to our archives soon (Done.)

RsyncXCD - Added a brief description and link to download RsyncXCD which is a CD image that allows you to download, from a network server, a loadset to a machine that has only its hard drive and CD drive as possible boot sources.

Second WebCast - The second WebCast in our monthly series was held Friday, September 27, 2002. The session was titled UNIX Tools for Mac OS X Administrators. Follow the link for complete details and instructions for viewing the on-demand video of the session.

Contribute Documentation - The documentation on our web site covers many areas but we would love to have contributors help us fill in the missing pieces. A documentation template has been put together to make that easier. If you are willing to write or collaborate on an article, please see our instructions for using the documentation template and a list of topics that we have not yet written up.

WebCasts - We are pleased to be adding an exciting new feature to our website: a series of WebCasts. These live, 2-way audio and video dialogues will be open to any macosxlabs.org participants, as well as archived on the project website. These sessions will allow Mac lab coordinators and system administrators from around the world to see presentations on lab deployment topics and interactively communicate to ask questions and give feedback.

Documentation - Re-organized and updated main documentation page.

Integrating Mac OS X & Novell eDirectory - Updated this document with the latest suggestions (the guest access appendix was removed).

WWDC BoF Demos - Documents and movies of demos given at the WWDC BoF in May 2002 have been posted to the site.

Open Firmware Security - Made correction and added text about upgrading firmware using writeable & non-writeable volumes.

Temporary Storage - Added section on partitioning a hard disk.

Integrating Mac OS X & Novell eDirectory - This document describes how you can use information stored in Novell's eDirectory to authenticate Macintosh users, provide file services and home directories for them, from a NetWare 6 server. It also includes example LDIF files to extend the eDirectory schema, updating users, and adding a mount organizational unit and mount object class.

Imaging with ASR & NetBoot - To achieve near-full automation of imaging and re-imaging of Mac OS X you can use ASR & NetBoot with AppleScript. Place the AppleScript into the "Startup Items" folder in your NetBoot HD image to have ASR use a particular image on your machines depending on their IP addresses. For example, we have five different labs, and some of the labs will have two to four Mac OS X ASR images (open-area, staff, lab kiosk, public kiosk etc.). Without AppleScript, one would have to manually select which image to run on a machine.

This documentation gives overview of setup, tips on NetBoot setup and customization and AppleScript to automate the process.

ByHost Renamer Script - A shell script has been added to the documentation that can be used to rename the ByHost folder files whose file names contain sections that are specific to the master image source. To use this script, copy it from the browser window and paste it into your favorite text editor (i.e. BBEDit, Terminal and pico, etc.). You will need to make sure it is saved Unix returns and has execute privileges.

This script can be run at login via LoginHook after initial imaging or re-imaging.

RsyncX 1.0 - RsyncX 1.0 has been released with source code and can be distributed freely. Fixes included moving to 2.5.5 code base released on 4/2/2002, added folder icon info support and fixed date created bug.

This utility is an implementation of rsync with HFS+ support and GUI application.

WWDC - Birds of a Feather (BoF)
Tuesday - May 7th, 7:30-9:00pm * time change *
Higher Education Lab Administration - Join the HiEd Mac OS X Lab Deployment Project team in Hall C for a discussion and quick demo on lab configuration, management tools, security, integration into existing infrastructure, printing and more. Find out about the extensive resources now available to assist system administrators deploy a Mac OS X lab on their campus (http://www.macosxlabs.org). Get a roadmap to other sessions at WWDC that are of interest to HiEd system administrators.