How To: Map Drives & Printers Based On AD Group Membership On OSX

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UPDATE: Now works with Lion as it reads the correct node name as seen in Directory Utility.

Having recently started a new role, I needed a mechanism for my Mac users to map drives & printers at login.

Script Logic’s Desktop Authority is used by my new employs PC Admins to mount drives & printers on the PC Clients.

This is using AD Security Groups to map both drives & printers &  I decided to follow this methodology for the Mac clients.

This solution actually has 3 parts;

  1. AppleScript App
  2. LaunchAgent
  3. Postflight Script

And below, I’ll piece it all together.

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Need to find out if a Mac has an Wireless Card?

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UPDATE: Updated to now work with Lion

The Extension Attribute below checks to see if Mac has either an  Airport  or  Wireless & returns “Yes” is the Mac has one & “No” if it doesn’t.

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Managing Apple Software Update Server Across Multiple Servers 10.5/10.6/10.7

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UPDATE: For 10.8+ see: Managing Apple Software Update Server Across Multiple Servers 10.8+.

An internal Apple Software Update Server (ASUS) allows administrators to control what software updates client computers download etc.. more information about this service can be found here.

This all works great, but the initial setup requires you to manually tick each update to enable it to be downloaded.

This can be a bit of a pain especially when managing mulitple servers.

The following post advises on how to setup a Master ASUS with other servers Replicating the enabled updates. Saving the Admin time when setting up new servers & allowing central management.

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How To: Stop Directory Utility Mounting Home Folder At Login

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OSX’s built-in AD Plugin allows for the automated mounting of home/profile folders. The following can be used to disable this mounting:

sudo dsconfigad -useuncpath disable

How To: Script Generating a Kerberos Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT) during an Active Directory user’s initial login

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I had this issue with a drive mapping app i create not mapping drives at initial login for AD accounts (this app will be discussed in another post shortly).

The Apple KB with the same title as this post advises how to fix, but if you wish to script it do the following:

WARNING: TEST, TEST, TEST THIS. ADDING AN EXTRA CHARACTER CAN LEAD TO YOUR MAC BEING STUCK IN A LOGIN LOOP. THE BELOW SHOULD BE ENTERED ON 2 LINES

How To: Allow All Users To Add Or Remove Printers

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Apples KB article on this, gives examples on how to add a network group or mobile account user to the lpadmin group.

If you simply wish each mac account to be a member of the lpadmin group, run the following:

sudo dseditgroup -o edit -n /Local/Default -a everyone -t group lpadmin

How To: Connect Clients To Lion Servers Apple Software Update Service

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UPDATE: Apple have now posted a support document verifying the above, it's available here.

In 10.6 Apple release unified the ASUS url into http://myserver.fqdn:8088/index.sucatalog as per the this page. This same URL will work for 10.7 clients too.

How To: Change Lions Scroll Direction

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This confused me for a while!!

The default scroll behaviour in Lion is in the direction that your finger is moving in, like iOS. Not the inverted scroll used for years.

To change, open System Preferences > Mouse & untick “Move content in the direction if finder movement when scrolling or navigating”

Slow Login For AD Mobile Accounts when off the Office LAN

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This is an oldie but a goodie..

I’ve found in various environments that if you’ve got AD Mobile Accounts setup on a mac that has an Airport Card as is not connected to the Office LAN logins can take upto 10 minutes.

In all of these environments, the AD Domain was not resolvable outside the LAN.

There are three solutions for this:

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Installing Adobe Unit Types 2.1.0

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This post advises why you may need to update the Adobe Unit Types.osax file & how to do so using Casper.

The Adobe Unit Types.osax file that shipped with Photoshop CS4 and CS3 is a 32-bit component. Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) requires some 64-bit scripting environments.

This file is placed in /Library/ScriptingAdditions/ & can cause Applescripts to fail to run.

Both Adobe & JAMF have posted help docs on how to fix this & this post is to advise how I’ve deployed to corrected osax file to affected machines.

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