Questions[mcx](server)

I'm running Mac OS 10.6 server, and have a set of 10.6 and 10.7 workstations connected to it for authentication and MCX. Users have network profiles (home folder stored on server, via AFP).

When users are logged in, they can change their desktop background. So far so good.

However, the next time they log in, their desktop background has been reset to "Andromeda Galaxy.jpg".

Though MCX is enabled and used to control other settings, MCX is disabled for the Desktop.

What is keeping the users' desktop background from being preserved? How can I fix it?

We running Mac OS X Server 10.5.8 with Mac OS X 10.5.8 clients. Students use network logins to, well, log in.

I've been asked to deny internet access to a specific user. I was told that a good way to do it is to create a user workgroup called "No Internet Access" and manage settings there. (Specifically, I told parental controls to allow access to no sites, and blacklisted all the installed web browsers).

Now, when the user authenticates to log in, they are greeted with this dialog:

Workgroups for <username>

Grade 7 Students
No Internet Access

It is unlikely that the student would willing choose "No Internet Access" to be their base group.

Looking in Workgroup Manager at the student's record, it shows their primary group ID is the grade 7 group, and "No Internet Access" is listed as another group they belong to.

I looked at the managed preferences for all the computers pertaining to logins. They are set to their defaults. Specifically, the computer groups' preference for Logins -> Access has the defaults:

• [unchecked] Ignore workgroup nesting
• [checked] Combine available workgroup settings

Based on my reading of Tips and Tricks for Mac Administrators, this should be correct, the user should not be asked which group they belong to, and settings from all applicable groups should be applied. How can I achieve that result?

Edit: I've decided to add some additional information from the Tips and Tricks for Mac Management White Paper (via Apple in Education, via the author's site).

On page 21, it says:

With Leopard MCX, workgroup preference settings are combined by default into a single set of values. This means that instead of having to choose between the Math, Science, or Language Arts workgroups when logging in, a user can just authenticate and be taken directly to the desktop. All the settings for each of those workgroups are composited together, providing you with all the Dock items and a composite of all the other settings.

On page 40, an example is given in which settings are combined from different 'domains', one computer group, two (user) workgroups, and one individual user's settings.

[When johnd logs into a leopard client,] the items staged in the Dock from left to right are: computer group, first workgroup alphabetically, second workgroup, user. Items within the workgroup are staged alphabetically.

Nowhere is there an indication that groups are nested; indeed, I can see no sensible (non-flat) heirarchy for groups like Math, Science, and Language Arts.

I strongly believe that there is a way to apply settings from two unrelated user workgroups such that a user of OS X 10.5.x or newer does not need to choose their workgroup. This is what I seek to achieve.

At the beginning of the day and on semi-random days, some of my Mac users are experiencing heavy lag. For example, 5-10 minutes to login, several minutes for Safari to load, visible delays while typing in a text field in Safari (e.g. the login form of a certain webapp). This doesn't happen with all users.

The common element appears to be that these users all have their home directories on the same XServe. Users in the same building who have their homedir on either of two other servers do not appear to be effected. All three servers are in the same subnet and all users are in the same subnet. They all have the same Open Directory master. Yet the users on one server have this symptom at the same time that the users of the other two servers do not.

Any suggestions?

I'm stuck. I'd like to think I'm reasonably good looking info up, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to deploy mac software in an enterprise, like with Group Policy.) I'm not talking about deploying images, I mean, for example how to make sure every mac has the latest version of flash installed, or whatever. (I'm not expecting to support third-party installers, just .pkg and maybe manual "Put this directory here", which of course I can roll my own .pkg for.)

I've got an OSX server (10.6) setup in "Golden Triangle" (OD talking with AD) so users can log in with their AD accounts, and I can manage Apple updates, or user preferences, but deploying...? Am I missing something obvious? (Or is it Apple?)

P.S. We have Apple Remote Desktop as well, but that's only for one-off's...

Is it possible to specify how many minutes of inactivity Mac OS should wait before it sleeps hard disks? Is there a plist I can manually specify "60 minutes" or something?

The GUI gives you the option to "Put the Hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" in the Energy Saver preference pane, but I'd like to have it wait longer.