Ever since Apple were forced to ditch Samba due to their changing the licensing to GPL3, we've been stuck with a second-rate SMB implementation on OS X and Server called smbx. As it turns out, there are numerous issues with smbx...
Read More
Our thinking
Troubleshooting: Fetch a web page as Googlebot
I've had a couple of clients come to me recently after their WordPress site was pwned. Sometimes you're able to use a tool like Wordfence to clean it up and secure the site and it's all OK. Sometimes however it...
Read More
Read More
Reverse SSH to a server behind a firewall
I recently needed to establish an ad-hoc ssh connection to a server behind a firewall. I didn't control the firewall and couldn't get a port mapped through it for incoming ssh access, so I had to use a reverse ssh...
Read More
Read More
Fix SMB Permissions on OS X Server for Newly Created Files and Folders
I don't know why it is, but SMB on OS X Server is slower and less reliable than the AFP that it replaces. Despite Apple making it the default for OS X to OS X Server file sharing connections, AFP...
Read More
Read More
Set OS X Server to Deny SMB 3 Connections
Sometimes an OS X Server will have very poor SMB file sharing performance - whilst I haven't been able to ascertain with 100% certainty what causes it, something that may be a factor is the use of SMB 3 connections...
Read More
Read More
Mount a Windows partition of an optical disc on OS X
Today I needed to install some software on a Windows server - the software only came on an optical disc and the Windows server didn't have an optical drive. "No problem" I thought to myself, I'll just put the DVD...
Read More
Read More
Change a Open Directory Group’s GeneratedUID or UUID
I occasionally see OS X Server's Open Directory flip out, sometimes a simple repair of the LDAP databases seems to fix it, sometimes you need to go deeper. If repairing the databases doesn't work, then I try to recover the...
Read More
Read More
Android adb on Mac OS X recognising Google Pixel C
I've had a bit of trouble getting a Google Pixel C to be recognised on my Mac - wasn't able to get it showing up in System Profiler and wasn't able to see it with adb. I was initially trying...
Read More
Read More
Set Microsoft Outlook 2016 as default mail client on OS X 10.11 El Capitan
I've had a few issues trying to change the default mail client on El Cap. In nearly every case, after changing it in Mail (seemingly the only place you can actually change it), the change doesn't stick. After quitting and...
Read More
Read More
Fix a broken Open Directory
Edit: November 2021 People seem to still be hitting this story, and by and large these steps usually work. If you are still relying on macOS Server however, you need to migrate to another platform with some degree of urgency....
Read More
Read More