Prevent .DS_Store Files from being created on network volumes

This Apple Knowledge Base article explains how to prevent OS X from creating new .DS_Store files when opening folders on remote volumes mounted using SMB/CIFS, AFP, NFS, and WebDAV. I particularly find these files to be annoying when browsing SMB shares on my Windows box. This is also helpful for network administrators who also maintain Macs as these files are not scattered around the network. Granted, they are not large files, but they are still bothersome and could possibly confuse Windows users.
To prevent the creation of these files, open the Terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

Once you restart the machine, these settings will take effect.
Note that this does NOT disable the creation of local .DS_Store files.

Expanding ESX Virtual Disks

I recently have had to add space to an existing virtual disk and have used vmkfstools utility to expand the disk size. I found an excellent article explaining how to do this. This is also handy because you do not have to use any special partition managers such as Partition Magic, Volume Manager or ServerMagic to expand the partition seen by the VM, however you do need an Windows Server 2003 VM you can readily shutdown and restart. Check out the article at VMProfessional on how to resize a virtual disk. You can read more from VMWare: Adding Space to a ESX Server Virtual Disk and Using vmkfstools. Note that these articles are for ESX 2.x, but they also work for ESX 3.0 (this is what I am currently using).

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 R2

New features in Windows Server 2003 R2 from Microsoft.

Official Ubuntu VMWare Virtual Machines

Here is a listing of official Ubuntu Virtual Machines to use with VMWare. I am actually in the process of building an Ubuntu Server for a new mail solution.
While I’m listing downloadable Virtual Machines, there are also some Linux distros available over at thoughtpolice.

VMware ESX Server 3.0.1 and VirtualCenter 2.0.1 RC Release Notes

From the horses mouth: Official release notes regarding VMWare ESX 3.0.1 and VirtualCenter 2.0.1 changes.

I am particularly interested about the following:

VMware HA May Incorrectly Handle Temporary Host Network Isolation

In VMware HA, host network isolation detection occurs within 15 seconds of host isolation. After a failure is detected, all virtual machines are failed over to other hosts. If the network connection is restored before 12 seconds have elapsed, other hosts in the cluster do not treat this as a host failure, and the virtual machines remain powered on on the original host. After 12 seconds, the clustering service on the isolated host shuts down and the virtual machines are powered off. If the network connection is restored shortly after 12 seconds, the virtual machines are not started on other hosts because the host is not considered to be isolated. As a result, if the network connection is restored shortly after 12 seconds after the host has lost connectivity, the virtual machines are powered off but not failed over.

I have not had this issue, but it certainly would give me a scare if it did happen.

Thoughts on OS X Security

Call me crazy, I am not a security expert nor do I claim to be, but here are a few things that I think help keep your Mac safe and sound.

1. This rule applies to anyone running any OS out there. Do NOT download files that you don’t know where they came from. I don’t care if it says ‘See Britney Spears naked!’. I can guarantee you it is not worth the headache that it will bring.

2. Do not make yourself an administrator on your computer. By default, the first account OS X creates is an administrator account. The first thing I do is create another account that is not an administrator and use that account for my day to day use. This prevents applications that you may install from touching any files that may damage your system. OS X will prompt you if it needs to authenticate - this request should make you think and see exactly what it wants.

3. It is true that there are not any viruses for OS X. But that will only be true for so long. Someone, someday WILL write a virus for OS X. Do not be naive and think that this will not happen. It will. It is simply a matter of time before it hits. I use ClamXav to be safe.

4. Stay on top of Software Updates. Apple makes it so easy to stay current with the latest patches, there is no reason not to update.

5. Buy and use a good hardware based firewall. Simply plugging in to your cable/DSL modem without any type of protection is just asking for it. Learn to configure it and monitor the logs it generates.

6. Keep current backups. This isn’t even a security tip really, its just good practice. Some users are their own worst enemy. I personally use SuperDuper! and have found it to be the best backup program out there.

7. Turn off services you don’t use. If you don’t connect to your computer from another computer there is really no reason to turn on any sharing capabilities. If you do need to transfer files, I suggest just turning on SSH and using SFTP to transfer files.

Now don’t live in a bubble world and think everything is peachy because it isn’t. New vulnerabilities are found everyday. Just be careful and think about what you are doing.

How To Secure MAMP

Note: This tutorial is for MAMP 1.1. I plan on doing an update to this tutorial so please be patient as I need to figure it out again.

MAMP is a great package for testing and developing websites locally on your Mac. It is extremely easy to use and very stable. While MAMP is not designed to be used in a production environment, and is not recommended by the developers, but with some careful modfication, MAMP can be secured sufficiently to be used in a public development environment. MAMP, out of the box, includes the following software:

* Apache 2.0.54
* MySQL 4.1.12
* PHP 4.4 & 5.0.4
* eAccelerator 0.9.3
* phpMyAdmin 2.6.3-pl1
* Zend Optimizer 2.5.10
* SQLite 2.8.14
* Freetype 2.1.9
* t1lib 5.1.0
* bzip2 1.0.3
* curl 7.14.0
* jpeg 6b
* libpng-1.2.5
* gd 2.0.28

This makes it a viable solution for users who do not want to install, upgrade or modify the built in Apache and PHP.
Read More »

New Home

Welcome to network0! I’ve decided to make a new tech blog that focuses on VMWare, OS X, Windows and other really geeky stuff. Oh and can’t forget about gaming, because we all need a break now and then. Note that I will be moving some of my old content from Machina Project to here so some of it may be older, but still relevant. Stay tuned!