How To Increase The Memory Allocation For Extensis Portfolio Server

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Portfolio Admin

For a number of years we have used Portfolio as an archive server for old projects to be archived from our various data servers.

This would free up space on those servers, & with  the added benefits of using the built-in meta-tagging ability to view cataloged files via a web browser.

With the release of the most recent version, we moved from a Windows 2008r2 VM which was starting to creak under the 20+TB of data we had archived to a Mac Pro 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD & 2x24TB LaCie 8big Rack Thunderbolt 2.

However, a few months in & not all data had been cataloged & the Mac Pro was pretty much idling. So I had a hunt through Portfolio’s various files with Extensis support on the phone & came up with the below locations in which the memory allocation can be amended from the defaults to improve performance by utilising more resources.

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London Apple Admins 19/03/15 Presentation Links

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london-skyline

As mentioned in my little talk at London Apple Admins, the below are a collection of the Links is talked around:

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Security Update 2015-002 & mach_kernel file visibility

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As posted by Tim Sutton, the installation of  “Security Update 2015-002” on a 10.8.5 or 10.9.5 Mac will leave the /mach_kernel file visible. That’s fine, until someone deletes the file & then can’t boot their Mac.

As ever, Rich Trouton has blogged a method to hide the file via Casper.

However, Rich does love an EA & I’m not so inclined therefore the following is an EA free method to achieve the same end.

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Outlook for iOS and Android & Exchanges Allow/Block/Quarantine List

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On January 29th, Microsoft released Outlook for iOS and Android.

This release has caused somewhat of a stir due to some reported security issues with the app which existed before it’s rebranding from “Accompli”

I’ll be honest, I found a number of the posts on this app to be somewhat alarmist, but a post with the somewhat alarmist title: Warning – Microsofts Outlook app for iOS breaks your company security raised a point that caused me some concern.

This point was: “Shared Exchange ActiveSync ID and device type”

This post will explain why the concern, my findings & how to block “Outlook for iOS and Android” via Exchanges Allow/Block/Quarantine List.

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Casper Imaging & CoreStorage Volumes

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NOTE: Casper Imaging 9.65 addresses this & as such the workaround is no longer needed.

As blogged before, a part of our Casper Imaging workflow involves partitioning the “Macintosh HD” for use with FSTAB.

Unfortunately, we have discovered an issue with Casper Imaging & Yosemite shipped Macs as these Macs come with CoreStorage enabled “Macintosh HD”.  This has been logged with JAMF as D-008217 & this post will be updated once resolved.

To get around this defect, I’ve written a little AppleScript app called “CoreStorage Revert” that you can get via a PKG from here. (NOTE: This is for CoreStorage volumes & not Fusion drives).

The PKG is meant to be added to an AutoCasperNBI created NBI, as it removes the com.AutoCasperNBI.CasperImaging.plist as “CoreStorage Revert” launches Casper Imaging itself.

For more details on the app, the why & some rambling findings, see below.

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My Casper Imaging Workflow

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For a number of years I have used the same Imaging workflow, during which time I thought the process was fairly common (with FSTAB being an exception).

However, after speaking to a few fellow Casper Admins it has become clear that my workflow isn’t as common as I thought. So the post below outlines what we do.

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How To: Change the “Automatic Proxy Configuration” url in System Preferences via a Script

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The “Automatic Proxy Configuration” url in System Preferences is used to point the clients to a PAC file to set the proxy server when on the Office LAN. Below are some scripts to manage this setting.

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How To: Get the currently logged in user, in a more Apple approved way

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NOTE: Due to macOS Monterey's prompts when Python 2 in invoked, please review the blog post here to get the logged in user instead.

When running scripts via Jamf Pro, Munki or a launch daemon, you sometimes have a challenge to get the username of the currently logged in user.

Below has a method to achieve this, with a link to an Apple approved method.

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Citrix Receiver Error: “You have not chosen to trust “Some CA”, the issuer of the server’s security certificate”

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We recently replaced a the certificate on one of out Citrix Access Gateways, everything went well connecting to the CAG via a PC worked fine, but from a Mac we got the below error message.
Luckily for us, Citrix not only have a solution posted on this issue but also give detail as to why it can occur. The solution can be found here.

JNUC 2014 AutoCasperNBI and the Casper NetInstall Creator – Session Slides & Links

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Photo courtesy of Richard Purves

On the last day of JNUC2014, I gave my first public talk. The session was dedicated to AutoCasperNBI and the Casper NetInstall Creator.

You can find a video of the talk here, with the other sessions videos from JNUC2014 being available here.

Many thanks to those whom attended, I think the session went well. Lots of humour (some unintended), & some great collaboration. Especially in the Q&A.

Also, a special mention to those whom beta-tested AutoCasperNBI & my JAMF buddies Dan & Nick (mostly for putting up with me).

Below are some links to the content that was covered, as well as some links from the Q&A.

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