SymbolicLinker - A Symbolic Link Service for the Finder
SymbolicLinker is a tiny contextual menu plugin (for Puma through Leopard users) and software service (for Snow Leopard and later users) that, once installed, allows any user to create symbolic links to files inside the Finder.
Manually Setting a Top Level Domain with Mac OS X Server
I wanted (needed) to erase and reinstall a clean version of Mac OS X Server on my Mac Mini to give the system the pep that only a newly installed operating system can bring. The only hesitation I had before zeroing the drive was setting up my custom top level domain name for the Mac OS X Server 10.5 DNS server. I vaguely remembered having a little trouble attempting to enter the settings through the Server Admin Tools the first time but, being a good little geek, I put away my drop shadows and double clicking to edit the configuration files with my old friend: the command-line.
diskutil
diskutil manipulates the volume-level structure of local disks. It provides information about, and allows the administration of, the partitioning scheme of disks, optical discs, and AppleRAID sets.
launchctl
launchctl interfaces with launchd to load, unload daemons/agents and generally control launchd. launchctl supports taking subcommands on the command line, interactively or even redirected from standard input. These commands can be stored in $HOME/.launchd.conf or /etc/launchd.conf to be read at the time launchd starts.
Methods of Showing and Hiding files in Mac OS X
There are a number of methods used to hide files in the Finder.app and from the end user in Mac OS X. I would only suggest using two: Unix style ‘preceding dot’ naming system and setting the invisible attribute in the file’s meta information.
netstat - Show network status
The netstat command symbolically displays the contents of various network-related data structures. There are a number of output formats, depending on the options for the information presented. The first form of the command displays a list of active sockets for each protocol. The second form presents the contents of one of the other network data structures according to the option selected. Using the third form, with a wait interval specified, netstat will continuously display the information regarding packet traffic on the configured network interfaces. The fourth form displays statistics for the specified protocol or address family. The fifth form displays per-interface statistics for the specified protocol or address family. The sixth form displays mbuf(9) statistics. The seventh form displays routing table for the specified address family. The eighth form displays routing statistic
syslogd - Mac OS X system Log server
It is HIGHLY recommended to learn about all of the process logging and 'watch dog' style programs on any system that is important to maintain system functionality or is publicly accessible. The system logs are often the best source for beginning a "bug hunt", performance improvements, and preventing your system from becoming a drone in the bot army. Ellis Jordan Bojar has a nice write-up on Enable Remote System Logging with syslogd over at his site MakeMacWork.com.
launchd.plist - Mac OS X launchd XML item example
Apple’s Getting Started with launchd document has an excellent description of what launchd is:
changeip - Mac OS X Server IP address migration tool
Mac OS X Server Tiger (10.4) and Leopard (10.5) were created with the assumption that much of the network items such as the static IP address(es), DNS Domain Name scheme, and services offered by the system are in place or planned BEFORE even booting the install disc. This, of course, cannot be further from the truth that is Information Services and Technology.
