This post is for my macad.uk talk: UI & UX for the scripter. It contains various links to things I discussed & (when available), I will update with the sessions video.
Continue readingUI & UX for the scripter
StandardSparkle Updater Framework HTTP man-in-the-middle vulnerability
Standard
Sparkle is an open source update framework that is used within thousands of Mac apps, including my own AutoCasperNBI & AutoImagrNBI.
A vulnerability within which was recently disclosed, with an update to Sparkle issued soon after.
However, the update may take some time to reach all the apps that are on the Macs that we admin. So the below is some more detail, methods of mitigation & detection.
Accessing Box’s API via OAuth2 & Python’s Requests Module
Standard
As mentioned before, when using Box with ADFS for SSO there are more than a few limitations.
In an attempt to overcome them, I took on Box’s API. The first hurdle was trying to connect to it as Box uses OAuth2 which massively differs from other API authentication for other API’s I’ve access such as Airwatch.
However, I’ve a method & in I’ve detailed it below. This method is used throughout all my Box API scripts.
Deleting Portfolio’s Orphaned Temp Files
Standard
So the past few posts detailed how to parse Portfolio’s logs to find troublesome files as well as how to restart Portfolio’s services.
Well when Portfolio is struggling to catalog files, it can generate massive amounts of temp files & folders, which if not maintained can fill the Portfolio hosts hard drive.
Not a great situation, so I’ve written the below to help automate the maintenance.
Continue readingRestarting Portfolio’s Services
StandardAs mentioned in my previous post, we’re currently cataloging around 40TB of data in Portfolio.
However, again as per the previous post, we’ve found some files to be troublesome causing issues cataloging. Once Portfolio attempts to catalog these files, the processes used can hang & get stuck on those files.
Portfolio then spawns more & more processes for the next files it finds until the box running Portfolio eventually runs out of resources.
To maintain the hosts uptime, we’re using the below script to restart the services daily.
Continue readingPortfolio, Parsing Logs To Find Troublesome Files
StandardAs mentioned before, we use Portfolio to archive old projects.
However since moving to Portfolio v1.x (from v11), we’ve had numerous issues. The main one has been getting the 40TB of data we host re-cataloged into Portfolio.
I’ve recently deep dived into Portfolio, & found some files that cause issues & these can be found via the logs. Parsing them allows me to “fix” the troublesome files or delete any corrupt ones.
Below is the how I’m parsing the logs.
Continue readingBox & Active Directory Federation Services
StandardWe use Box as an enterprise file sharing & collaboration solution, with Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) as our Identity Provider (IdP).
However, there are some limitations with this setup which are not particularly detailed anywhere, just omitted.
Below are some of the limitations I’ve found.
Continue reading10.8.x Clients, JSS 9.73+ API & sslv3 alert handshake failure
Standard
After being nerd sniped by @unknown_err in a channel on the MacAdmins.org Slack, I started writing some client side API scripts.
This lead to an issue with 10.8.x clients connecting to my JSS.
The below is why I saw these SSL errors & a two resolutions, one client side & another server side.
Because Community
Standard
So 2015 has been one hell of a year for me, a rollercoaster for sure.
Throughout, the Apple Admin community has been there. Either helping to make light of the various incidents that have befallen me during the year, some words of encouragement & also somethings to look forward too.
As such, it seemed a pertinent time to collate some various thoughts on why I blog, help out on JAMFNation, give talks & setup London Apple Admins.
Continue reading10.11.2: Cannot Enable ARD or VNC if /Library/Application Support/Apple/Remote Desktop is missing
Standard
A issue was opened recently for AutoCasperNBI, where 10.11.2 NBI’s generated for not accessible over ARD or VNC.
Some digging revealed this this only affected NBI’s with the “Reduce Image Size” option selected.
NBI’s for 10.7.x – 10.11.1 work fine over ARD or VNC with that option selected, so some investigation was needed. Below is the investigative work, but you can also skip straight to the resolution.