Lab admin's secret weapon: Tips & Tricks for Mac Management
If you're the person responsible for Mac support in a big, cross-platform shop, it can sometimes feel like you're alone in the Windows wilderness. Established communities like AFP548.com (port 548 is reserved for the AppleShare Filing Protocol, hence the name) and MacEnterprise.org are critical resources for anyone who rides herd on a pride of Macs in a business or educational environment.
Hidden away among the postings and troubleshooting info are some true gems, including Apple engineer John DeTroye's "Tips and Tricks for Mac Management" PDF handbook. If you're trying to do anything with Workgroup Manager, you need this concise 116-page document, and you need it now.
JohnD's guide for workgroup and preference management -- particularly for implementing Portable Home Folders, where user data is cached and synchronized to a fileserver -- is so vital, it's linked from Apple's knowledge base article on Mac Manager. Along with Mike Bombich's deployment tips page and AFP548's AD/OD integration guide, it needs to be in the virtual library of every Mac manager. You can download the current version of the Tips and Tricks PDF here.
