Many systems administrators on the Mac need a way to manage machine configuration after initial setup and deployment. Apple’s Managed Preferences system (also known as MCX) is under-documented, often misunderstood, and sometimes outright unknown by sys admins. MCX is usually deployed in conjunction with an OS X server, but it can also be used in Windows environments or where no dedicated server exists at all.
Enterprise Mac Managed Preferences is the definitive guide to Apple’s Managed Client technology. With this book, you’ll get the following:
- An example-driven guide to Mac OS X Managed Preferences/Client technology
- Recipes for common use case studies and patterns
- A targeted approach appropriate for any sys admin that manages Macs in an OS X or Windows environment
This is the only book that focuses on this facet of OS X exclusively. If you’re a sys admin, this book will take away much of the pain of working with OS X client systems. Even better, both of the authors are very involved in the Mac community—Greg Neagle is part of the MacEnterprise steering committee, and Ed is the Executive Editor and an author for MacTech magazine and a member of the Apple Consultants Network.
What you’ll learn
- The Managed Preferences system and how to manage it
- All about Directory Services Local Directory Services
- How to work with property list files
- How to deliver files with Open Directory, ActiveDirectory, local scripts, third-party utilities, Puppet, LANRev, Casper, and more
- How to work with compositing preferences, including the hierarchy of preferences
- How to write a Plist for management, using Workgroup Manager and Dock Example
- How and when to enforce Managed Preferences
- How to understand manifests
- What recipes to use and when
- When, how, and where to use mcxquery, System Profiler, and MCX Cache flushing
Who this book is for
This book is for systems administrators using Mac clients.
Author(s): Edward Marczak , Greg Neagle
Edition: 1
Publisher: Apress
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 266
Prelim......Page 1
Contents at a Glance......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
About the Authors......Page 11
About the Technical Reviewer......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 13
Preface......Page 15
Why Manage?......Page 17
Maintaining Company Policy......Page 18
Keeping Your Sanity......Page 19
Preference Delivery......Page 20
Scripting......Page 21
Managing Everything Else......Page 23
Summary......Page 24
How Did We Get Here?......Page 25
Where Are We Now?......Page 27
The Heart of Managed Preferences......Page 28
What Can You Manage?......Page 29
What You Will Need......Page 30
Summary......Page 31
What Are Directory Services?......Page 33
Directory Services and Managed Preferences......Page 35
Open Directory......Page 36
NIS......Page 37
Local Only......Page 38
Network Directory Service......Page 39
Multiple Network Directory Services......Page 41
Summary......Page 43
What Are Property List Files?......Page 45
Digging Deeper . . .......Page 49
Property List Editor.app......Page 52
Creating a Property List from Scratch with Property List Editor......Page 54
Command-Line Utilities......Page 55
Cocoa for Scripters......Page 60
Summary......Page 62
Resources......Page 63
Where Do Managed Preferences Reside?......Page 65
Preferred Tools for Creating, Testing, and Deploying Managed Preferences......Page 67
Using Workgroup Manager......Page 68
The dscl Command......Page 76
Summary......Page 82
Directory Choices......Page 83
Binding Mac OS X Clients to Open Directory......Page 84
Accessing the Directory......Page 86
Delivery with Active Directory......Page 87
Binding Mac OS X Clients to Active Directory......Page 88
Extending the Active Directory Schema......Page 90
Managing Preferences in Active Directory......Page 104
Consider Indexing......Page 106
Bind Mac OS X to OpenLDAP......Page 107
Further OpenLDAP Considerations......Page 113
Delivery Without a Centralized Directory......Page 114
Help! I Can't Use MCX at All......Page 115
Additional Resources......Page 116
Delivery Without a Centralized Directory......Page 117
Introducing Local MCX......Page 118
Getting Started......Page 120
Creating a Computer Group......Page 123
Adding Managed Preferences......Page 125
Extending the Managed Preferences to Other Machines......Page 126
Advanced Local MCX......Page 128
Dynamic Group Membership (or ‘‘Smart Groups’’)......Page 129
Local MCX Issues......Page 130
MCX in Alternate Directory Nodes......Page 131
More Local DS Node Tricks......Page 137
Summary......Page 138
Managed Preference Interactions......Page 139
Preferences Precedence......Page 140
Preferences and Group Hierarchy......Page 141
MCXCompositor......Page 142
Viewing Composited MCX Data with mcxquery......Page 147
Viewing Composited MCX Data with System Profiler......Page 148
Summary......Page 149
Management Frequency......Page 151
Choosing a Management Frequency......Page 156
Enforcing the Managed Preferences Configuration......Page 160
Protecting Your Managed Preference Configuration......Page 161
Summary......Page 163
Preferences Overview......Page 165
Importing a Preference Manifest......Page 170
Working with Preference Manifests......Page 171
Importing ‘‘Raw’’ Preferences......Page 174
Third-Party Applications......Page 178
Summary......Page 182
Recipes......Page 183
Finder Sidebar......Page 184
Adding Preferences to Manage the Finder Sidebar......Page 186
Login Window Preferences......Page 187
Managing Bluetooth......Page 190
Screen Saver......Page 191
Managing the Screen Saver in Snow Leopard......Page 194
FileVault......Page 196
Secure Virtual Memory......Page 201
Managing iTunes......Page 202
Managing Office 2008......Page 206
Default Save File Formats......Page 207
Office Setup Assistant......Page 208
Importing Office Preferences for Management......Page 209
Summary......Page 212
Managing Mobile Accounts......Page 213
Prerequisites......Page 214
Manual Setup of Mobile Accounts......Page 215
Automatic Setup of Mobile Accounts......Page 218
Limitations of Workgroup Manager’s Preferences Overview......Page 236
Using the Preference Details Editor......Page 238
Summary......Page 242
Troubleshooting Managed Preferences......Page 243
Triage Step 1: Did It Ever Work?......Page 244
Triage Step 2: Machineor User-Specific?......Page 245
Examining Delivered Managed Preferences......Page 246
mcxquery......Page 247
System Profiler......Page 248
MCX Caching......Page 250
No Managed Preferences Data......Page 251
Wrong or Old Managed Preferences Data......Page 254
mcxrefresh......Page 255
Summary......Page 257
¦C......Page 259
¦E......Page 260
¦I......Page 261
¦M......Page 262
¦P......Page 263
¦R......Page 264
¦X......Page 265
