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Update – 01/02/13

As mentioned by Jeff Johnson in the YouTube comments, it may be better to make the listen_addresses change via Terminal rather than editing the plist. Here’s how:

In Terminal, type:

sudo serveradmin settings postgres:listen_addresses = "127.0.0.1"

Stop Postgres:

sudo serveradmin stop postgres

Start Postgres:

sudo serveradmin start postgres

This should stop any issues people are having with Profile Manager and Wiki afterwards.

First up, some readers have made me aware that there no longer appears to be any web based email built in to 10.8 Server. This used to be a service provided by Round Cube Mail, and although it is still pointed out in the 10.8 documentation on how to enable the service, the options in Server.app are just not there.

My guess here is that Apple are either leaving the door open for users to install their own choice of web-based mail clients, or have taken the view that the days of web-based mail are heading towards the end and that users would rather use the Mail app or similar. At this point no one knows and we’ll have to wait on further clarification from Apple here. Some will certainly miss it!

One of the lesser surprises in 10.8 Server is the fact that Server Admin has now been entirely depreciated. It is no longer available from now on with all services now having been migrated to Server.app. I think this was an obvious move from 10.7 Server, with some services remaining in Server Admin in that release, it was clearly the way Apple were moving.

It is good news that Apple have still retained the use of WorkGroup Manager though – the transition over to Profile Manager is still not 100%, so allowing Sys Admin’s to continue managing their Mac’s with WGM is the right move at this point. For those looking for WorkGroup Manager for 10.8 Server, it can be downloaded here.

The only other thing at this point is a change to the way PostgreSQL is configured. To configure the listen address, you now need to edit this file:

/Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Config/org.postgresql.postgres.plist

Thanks to Richard for commenting on this change in the 10.7.4 Postgres configuration post. I will be making a new video walkthrough for configuring PostgreSQL in Mountain Lion Server soon.

In the first article we looked at it by simply enabling Wiki services and then installing phpPgAdmin to configure databases. In the second article we looked at configuring Postgres by Terminal and backend configuration. We then used an app like PgAdmin3 to configure databases.

This video will follow in line with the second article, but hopes to go some way towards solving peoples issues with Postgres Start and Stop errors.

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Proper Method

The new file (named 267.png) is now contained in a .bin file in the following location:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/

Make a copy of the SArtFile.bin file and paste it to your desktop.

To extract the files from this .bin, you will need a little program called “SArtFileTool” – you can download this file here as well as via the MacThemes website.

Extract this file to your desktop, and you will have a folder on your desktop named “SArtFileTool”. Move the copy of the “SArtFile.bin” in to the same folder. Your desktop folder will then contain the following files:

Open Terminal and change the directory to the folder on your desktop:

cd /Users/username/Desktop/SArtFileTool

Followed by this command to extract the .bin files:

./sartfiletool -d SArtFile.bin artfiles

This will place a new folder called “art files” inside the “SArtFileTool” folder on your desktop.

The file that the login window is using is:

267.png

You can replace this .png with the image you want to use. In my tests I kept the image the same dimensions as the original (256 x 256).

When you are done, you now need to put the files back in a .bin file with the following command:

./sartfiletool -e artfiles SArtFile.bin SArtFile.new.bin

This will create a new .bin file in the folder called “SArtFile.new.bin” – you should rename this file “SArtFile.bin” and place it back in the original location. Though you have to delete the original file our first, trying to replace it will fail saying that the file is in use. Make a backup of the original .bin file if you ever want to revert.

I just used a custom .png I made in Photoshop from a pattern found on the internet. Here is my file which you are free to use:

I can also confirm that you can use an image to fill the entire screen instead of tiling. I created a custom background the size of my resolution 1440×900 and it worked fine. If you are having problems with scrambling, then make the image from scratch. For example, in Photoshop create a new image, with the dimensions you want and a transparent background. Don’t at any point Flatten the image. When saving, do so as PNG file type and uncheck Save: “As Copy”.

Alternative Method (Easier)

There is also an easier way to change the background of the login screen, if you are looking for a quicker fix, or don’t want to mess around with the .bin files.

Browse to the following directory:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/LoginUIKit.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LoginUICore.framework/Versions/A/Resources/

Look for the file named “appleLinen.png” – you can replace this .png with your own one, preferably with an image the size of your screen resolution. This file is of course the Apple Logo that appears on the login screen.

The downside to using this quicker method is the fact you will not only lose the Apple logo, but also the buttons along the bottom (Shutdown, Restart, etc)

I hope this helps, and enjoy!

First up, you can grab the Apple Configurator from the App Store. Once installed and opened up, you will get the choice to prepare, supervise, or assign. We are going to start by preparing an iPad.

So in the screenshot above you can see that the connected iPad has been named, and that I want to “Supervise” it. As it says on the app, this basically means that the iPad can only be configured on the Mac that you are using Apple Configurator on.

If you had a bunch of iPads connected (up to 30) then you could number them sequentially too. You can chose which version of iOS you want to go on to them, as well as if you want to restore a back.

Another cool feature is the Profiles option. If you are using MDM (Mobile Device Management) you can add your Profiles straight in to this process. Pretty neat!

Next up, we can select which Apps we want to be a part of our deployment. Select the Apps tab and the + to add in the Apps.

Of course, you need to browse to your local iTunes Media folder, usually located in:

~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications/

Personally, I experienced a little glitch. I’m guessing because the App is relatively new. When I tried to add in the free BBC News app, I got the following error.

Hmm. Strange. Hopefully this will be resolved in the next update.

Once added they will appear as so.

So before we head off and deploy these settings to the iPad, we are going to head in to the Preferences of the Apple Configurator to change a couple more things. Here you can also tweak the lock screen background and information that appears on the lock screen (such as the device name). Pretty cool.

Heading back in to the main app, we can now deploy our settings.

Your iPads will then apply the settings you have made without fuss. Overall, it was a really easy process that anyone could manage.

If you selected to supervise the iPads, you can head over to the supervise tab. Here you can create lists and make additional changes to each of the iPads.

If you have users configured in Profile Manager, or if you want to do it locally, you can head over to the Assign tab to manage Users and iPads. This isn’t something we do at my establishment, but by doing this you can prep an iPad for use by a specific user. For example, you can add specific documents to the iPad for that user, as well as “Check Out” the iPad to that user. What this does is back up their settings and documents when the device is checked back in. This is very useful for when multiple users share the same iPad but don’t want work shared between them.

Apple Configurator will allow you to set up 30 iOS devices at a time, as well as the ability to backup and restore devices, apply custom settings, and install new apps onto devices. One feature of note is that users will be able to have their personal settings restored when checking out a device and have it deleted again when they check the device back in.

Over the coming weeks I’m hopping to get time to sit down with Apple Configurator to learn how to put this tool to use in the environment in which I work, but I also hope to put together some handy guides for you too.

In the mean time, Apple’s Documentation is available here, and the App itself is available here.

So I put together a little screencast to show you guys the process to go through that will get you up and running with OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 in VMWare Fusion. It’s a fairly painless affair (unlike the Lion process was), apart from a couple of tweaks at the end.

I hope it helps and please take a minute to subscribe to my new YouTube Channel.

Wrong. They’ve dug Mountain Lion out of somewhere, and whilst I’m not keen on the name, that’s not really the bit were interested in. I’m going to list a few of my thoughts on the upcoming OS X, scheduled for release sometime in the late Summer. I also hope to get my hands on a copy at the earliest opportunity to give a more informed review of my thoughts.

So from first glance at the features coming in this release, it seems they are even more keen on tying iOS in to OS X – many of the features coming are from iOS, things like, Messages, Reminders, Notes, Game Center, Notification Center (bye, bye Growl!), the renaming of iCal and Address Book, to name but a few. They have also now entirely dropped the ‘Mac’ from ‘Mac OS X’ and it’s now just ‘OS X’.

One feature I am quite excited about is AirPlay. Old news you might say – but now you can display the screen of your Mac over-the-air to say, your Apple TV! That’s a great feature, both for the home and for the business. Say you have a presentation to give, you’ll no longer need to plug in cables to send your screen and audio to the big screen. This could also be a major hint at the rumoured TV from Apple (iView?)?!

Software update now takes you to the Mac App Store instead. Something I expected to be honest. We have seen for some time Apps getting updates there instead. So no real surprise here.

Tweeting from Safari is a pretty cool feature I’m looking forward to.

I hope to get hold of 10.8 soon, so that I can have a hands-on with some of these features and the many others.

The file we need to replace is:

NSTexturedFullScreenBackgroundColor.png

Remember to back it up first! This picture is actually just a tile which is repeated. You can do the same yourself with an image sized 256×256, or you can use an image the actual resolution of your monitor. The image needs to be a .PNG and is located in the following place:

/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/Resources/

In my example I use a standard Desktop background that comes with OS X Lion – Eagle & Waterfall.jpg. First locate your background file – if it’s a standard Mac OS X Lion Wallpaper it will be in:

/Library/Desktop Pictures/

As this image is a .JPG go ahead and open it in Preview. Before saving it as a .PNG we need to change a couple of other settings. So, unless you are tiling an image, go to Tools > Adjust Size. The resolution on my MacBook Pro is 1440×900 so I changed it to that, and change the resolution to 72 pixels per inch, otherwise the image will still tile across the login screen.

Under the file menu, select Export and then from the drop down chose PNG. You can also change the file name to: NSTexturedFullScreenBackgroundColor.png

You can then save the file in the location mentioned earlier, remember you backed up the original in case you want to revert later.

/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/Resources/

Logout and Voila!

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to you all.

See you in the new year with more articles and guides.