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Kanex meDrive: A pocket-sized file server for iOS and OS X
Imagine having a way to access shared files from your Mac, PC, or iOS devices without needing to tie up a computer to act as a file server. That's the idea behind the Kanex meDrive (US$79), a tiny box that connects to your Wi-Fi router and any USB flash or hard drive, and then works with a free companion app to give you your own "personal file server" at home or office. Read the review, and then enter for a chance to win a meDrive courtesy of Kanex and TUAW. Design The meDrive is tiny and lightweight, measuring in at only about 2.25" x 3.5" x .88" and weighing just 5.4 ounces. On the meDrive are three ports -- a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port for connecting to a Wi-Fi router, a USB 2.0 port for connecting storage, and a mini-USB port for power. You'll need to supply your own USB power adapter and your own storage, the meDrive's firmware does the rest. %Gallery-194942% Functionality Setup is incredibly easy and takes just a few seconds to accomplish. Run the included Ethernet cable between your router and the meDrive, plug in your drive (I tested the meDrive with a tiny 8 GB Apotop USB flash drive, but you could plug in a multi-terabyte hard drive just as easily), and then plug the included USB to mini-USB cable into the meDrive on one end and a USB power adapter on the other. A white LED glows to tell you that the meDrive is online, and you're ready to go. From a Mac, connecting to the meDrive is easy -- in the Finder, select Go > Connect to Server and then type in "smb://medrive". When prompted, enter the user ID and password and then start loading the drive with files. Windows users just mount a drive to "\\medrive\usb01" for access. iOS devices get their own free meDrive app, which allows attachment to any meDrives that are found on the same Wi-Fi network. Once again, a user ID and password must be entered for access to the storage connected to the meDrive. The setup isn't exactly speedy, seeing that it's dependent on the speed of whatever drive you have attached. In my tests I tried both that little Apotop flash drive -- which was really slow -- and a USB 2.0 external HD that wasn't as bad. The iOS app provided a quick way to both save and open documents that were stored on the meDrive; I also used the WebDAV capabilities to save iWork documents using the "Copy to WebDAV" function built into the iWork apps. Conclusion For $79 plus the cost of whatever storage you want to add to it, the meDrive is an inexpensive and simple to use home file server. Sure, it's not going to be as fast or have as much storage as a Mac mini running OS X Server, but it's certainly a lot easier to set up and maintain. Pros Truly plug-and-play setup Free universal app works well to access meDrive from iOS devices Compatible with both OS X and Windows through SMB protocol Cons User must provide own USB power brick Slow compared to dedicated file servers costing much more Who is it for? Anyone who wants an easy-to-use shared file server that can be accessed from virtually any device Giveaway Now it's your turn to set up your household file server for sharing content to all the family members. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before August 1, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Kanex meDrive valued at US$79 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
New command line tools in Mountain Lion manage encryption, sleep and sharing
For fans of the Terminal, Mountain Lion brought some new command-line utilities. Perhaps the most notable is fdesetup, which Apple explains briefly: "fdesetup allows third-party management tools to enable FileVault, determine encryption status, capture and manage recovery keys, and add users to a FileVault-encrypted system as well as synchronize directory-based user authentication credentials with the local credentials for FileVault access." Apple provides a 'man' page for fdsetup, but if you want more information about it, Rich Trouton at Der Flounder has a very thorough walk-through with a bunch of screenshots and excellent explanations. I'm definitely keeping this one in Pinboard for the inevitable day when I want or need to use fdsetup. I'm also glad to have a more low-level tool for working with FileVault. I had written previously about the "hoops" which were necessary to disable certain users from being able to unlock the computer with FileVault. That process is now a lot easier. But wait, there's more! Patrix over at the Ask Different blog discovered several other new command-line utilities. Some of them are generic Unix utilities (pgrep and pkill) but there are also some OS X specific ones, including: caffeinate – prevent the system from sleeping on behalf of a utility serverinfo – determine server status (is this OS X Server, and, if so, are these things enabled) sharing – create share points for AFP, FTP and SMB services tccutil – manage the privacy database See the original article for more details. Of these, caffeinate seems like the most interesting. I have used Caffeine, the free app from Lighthead Software, to keep my Mac awake at times, but being able to do it in shell scripts could definitely come in handy. Still missing your favorite Unix utility? If Mountain Lion still doesn't have your favorite utility, don't forget you have other options. I have used Rudix when I wanted precompiled binaries, and Homebrew when I want to make my own. Mostly these days I stick with Homebrew, which is regularly updated by a bunch of people, versus Rudix which has a smaller library and seems to be mostly the labor of love of one developer. Others may prefer Fink or MacPorts; I have used both in the past but haven't kept up with them recently. Both of them appear to have been updated for Mountain Lion.
Lion Server to be a $50 download from Mac App Store
In the past, if you wanted to set up a Mac OS X-based server, you bought a separate DVD with an expensive license. In the case of Snow Leopard Server, that license was $499 for an unlimited number of users. Now, it appears that Lion Server is going to be a $49.99 set of apps that you'll purchase through the Mac App Store. This is a bit different from what we heard back in February, when Apple's PR department was touting that Lion Server would be bundled for free with every copy of Lion. For those who are currently running the latest version of Mac OS X Server 10.6, updating will be as simple as visiting the Mac App Store once Lion ships in July, then clicking a few times to buy, download, and install the new server OS on your Mac. Your Mac must run an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 processor to run Lion or the server apps, so that old original Core Duo Mac mini won't be able to be upgraded. What does the server app set add to Lion? • A Server App for setting up user accounts, creating groups, checking usage, and managing AirPort devices. There's no word on whether that $50 buys you an unlimited license, but that seems likely as Apple hasn't stated otherwise. • A Profile Manager to set up and remotely manage Lion workstations and iOS devices. • Wireless File Sharing for iPad • Push notifications • Wiki Server 3, iCal Server 3, Mail Server 3 • Xsan Directory services don't seem to be headlined on the Apple page, but I'm sure we'll see more details as Lion gets even closer to release next month. With Lion Server, Apple is making server software easily accessible for anyone, without the huge licensing fees seen in the Windows world.
Xserve End Of Life: Some opinions and ideas about Apple's server strategy
As an Apple Consultants Network member who has installed his share of Apple Xserves, I have mixed emotions about Apple's decision today to pull the plug on the only "real" server that they've been selling. On the one hand, Apple hasn't been selling a lot of the pricey pizza boxes to big business, so it makes sense that Apple would simply re-purpose existing products -- the Mac mini and Mac Pro -- as servers. On the other hand, I think it sends mixed signals to the enterprise market about Apple's commitment to business. Apple Senior World Product Marketing Manager Eric Zelenka stated in a post to the Xsanity forums that Apple is still committed to the server products, technologies, and devices, and that the decision to kill the Xserve has no impact on future Xsan or Mac OS X Server development. I'm wondering if that's just a lot of marketing-speak to try to calm down admins who have a huge investment in Mac OS X Server, Xsan, and Xserves. According to our own Victor Agreda, who is at MacTech 2010 this week, many Mac IT admins feel that the Mac OS X Server flavor of Mac OS X is safe for the time being. I'm not so sure -- read more of my personal thoughts on the next page.
WWDC 2010: Server Admin Remote and Workgroup Manager Remote for iPad
One of the most technical, and yet powerful, apps I saw at WWDC last week was Server Admin Remote, an iPhone and iPad app designed by three guys in Germany calling themselves Harlekins. The app is modeled after Apple's own Server Admin tool for Mac OS X server, and basically allows for complete server administration right on the iPad or iPhone. All three developers from Harlekins are IT guys on their own, so they say that they've designed "a tool for IT staff, by IT staff." I don't have a lot of experience in server administration, but Server Admin Remote seems like a powerful tool. While most of the app is modeled after Apple's own tool (with Apple's blessing -- they've spoken with Apple's OS X server engineers, who told the guys that they were extremely impressed with the app), there are some parts of the program that are actually unique to the mobile version. You can not only browse various servers around the world, but you can view data for each server, check the logfiles remotely, and even do things like see the process lists or actually restart the server directly from the iPad app.
Working with the new Apple Mac mini Server and Snow Leopard Server
It's always nice when, as a Mac consultant, I can play with the latest hardware and software and get paid to do it. Last week was no exception, and when I received a call from a new client who wanted assistance with a Mac mini Server, I jumped at the chance. Since the introduction of the Mac mini in early 2005, I've been using "regular" Mac minis as servers, and they've worked flawlessly. I had two servers of my own at Macminicolo.net for quite some time, and Brian Stucki, the owner of that Mac mini colocation firm, noted in a discussion a few years ago that the failure rate on the mini hardware is phenomenally low. I've set up Mac minis with Mac OS X Server for architectural firms, PR companies, design firms, non-profits, and a number of other companies that needed centralized control of digital assets, but didn't want to spend a lot of money to do so. Usually after setting up these servers, I rarely, if ever, need to go back and fix anything. Unboxing the server (sorry, no unboxing movies this time...) unveiled a plastic-wrapped mini Server and the traditional power brick, along with a small box containing Mac OS X 10.6 Server and assorted manuals. While I didn't check for the usual Apple stickers, I did find the server software serial number cards that are essential during the setup process. There was a bit of a holdup when I discovered that the server came with a mini-DVI to DVI adapter, while I had brought my old VGA display with me. Fortunately, one of the employees on-site had a monitor that was quickly pressed into service, and after plugging in the keyboard, mouse and power, the server quickly booted up. Apple is marketing the Mac mini Server as "Easy to set up. Easy to run," and they're right on -- to a point.
Apple posts three new updates
After the big upgrade to Snow Leopard last weekend, Apple has posted three new updates, fixing various OS and firmware issues. The first is Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.2. This update "improves compatibility with the latest Apple memory kits on Mac mini computers." This update is only needed for Mac minis introduced in March 2009 or later. Next, there's an update to Mac OS X Leopard Server, Mac OS X Server 10.5.8 Update v.1.1, which includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for a few other issues. This update is available as a Combo or Standalone update. Finally, there's a firmware update for SuperDrives. This update "will eliminate the noise made by the optical disk drive during system startup and wake from sleep on your Mac." This update is only needed for iMacs and Mac minis introduced in March 2009 or later. As always, these updates are available through Software Update on your Mac, or you can download them from Apple's Support Downloads page.
Tolis Group announces BRU Server 2.0 update; system admins rejoice
When a Leopard user wants a backup of the data on her computer, she might just attach an external hard disk to her machine and let Time Machine perform its magic. But how do you do backups for Xserves or large groups of Mac users? In many cases, you use tape libraries attached to servers, client software on the Macs that directs backup data to the server, and an application on the server to sort it all out.Many Mac, Windows, and Linux system administrators rely on an application from TOLIS Group, Inc. called BRU Server. Last week, TOLIS Group announced BRU Server 2.0, an upgrade to their flagship backup product. The new version has a redesigned GUI that is common to all three OS platforms, and a faster encryption algorithm. One new feature is that client machines running the BRU Server Agent can now initiate their own backups and file restores via drag-and-drop. There's also full support of Access Control Lists (ACLs) and extended attributes on Mac OS X and Linux clients. TOLIS Group is also offering complete backup bundles consisting of the BRU Server software and tape drives or libraries (up to 96 slots) that have been fully tested for compatibility with Mac OS X and Linux. BRU Server 2.0 starts at $599 for two clients, and workgroup and enterprise licenses available.
Apple unveils Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, cuts price in half
If you have Mac servers in your business, you weren't left out of the Snow Leopard fun during the keynote earlier today. Apple also announced that Mac OS X Server 10.6, A.K.A. Snow Leopard Server, will be shipping in September. Like Snow Leopard, the server version of the OS provides 64-bit support, and many of the Apple applications have been updated to take advantage of that. For example, SMB file server performance is 2.3x faster than Leopard Server, and AFP file server performance is now 1.3x faster. New features include: iCal Server 2 -- This upgrade to Leopard's iCal Server now provides push notification, wireless accessibility to your calendar from any iPhone, a new web-based calendaring interface, and updates to CalDAV that now allow you to invite colleagues to meetings via email. Podcast Producer 2 -- Podcast Producer, which was added to the server mix in Leopard, is now improved with Podcast Composer. This new feature lets you create your own workflows for automating completion and publishing of podcasts. There's also a new Setup Assistant in Server Admin that can set up Podcast Producer 2 in a manner of minutes, even if you're setting up a cluster of servers. Wiki Server 2 -- Workgroups wishing to collaborate now have a little bit more to love from Wiki Server. The only real new feature is iPhone support; users can securely log into confidential wikis and content, and even review content and comments from the iPhone. Mobile Access Server -- The piece that I'm probably the most excited about as an Xserve admin is Mobile Access Server. This new feature is like a custom VPN for Mac and iPhone users. As long as they're set up in the server's directory service, users can get secure, encrypted access to the server and network with very little hassle. Mail Server -- The engine running Mail Server has been totally redesigned for much faster service, and now provides push email, vacation messages and server-side rules, and improvements to mail server clustering. Web Server -- The biggest change to Web Server is that it can now do HTTP live video streaming. Performance is about 1.3x faster than Leopard Server's web services as well. Client Management -- Organizations that are deploying many iPhones will love the new client management piece of Snow Leopard Server. It has an iPhone configuration utility for creating profiles that can be emailed to corporate users, thus setting up secure services in a few seconds. Administrators can now also use NetRestore to rebuild Macs over networks, based on either a custom build disk image or a standard OS X install disk. Best of all, Snow Leopard Server will cost $499 for unlimited users (a sharp reduction from Leopard Server's price of $999 unlimited, $499 for 10 users) and should be shipping at the same time OS X 10.6 is available to the rest of us. I'd just be happy if Apple has finally fixed a lot of the issues with backing up network users to Mac OS X Server using Time Machine.
Apple releases free Mac management white paper
An email is being sent from Apple to education customers this morning, offering a free white paper on Mac management. Entitled "Solutions for Systems Management," the paper can be accessed by entering your school's name and zip code on a special web page.It includes solid, basic information on assessment of your school's needs, deployment of a solution and even a solution's typical lifespan. Apple products are featured, of course, like Apple Remote Desktop and Mac OS X Server, but the paper also describes some third-party products like Deep Freeze and K2 Key Auditor and Key Server.It's certainly not the definitive paper on being a Mac-friendly administrator, but a decent reference. You can find out more about deploying Mac OS X in education contexts from the indispensable Macenterprise and AFP548 sites.
Mac OS X Server Admin Tools updated to 10.4.4
Don't put that mouse down just yet, it's time to launch Software Update again. Apple has updated their Server Admin Tools to version 10.4.4. According to Apple,"This update provides compatibility for administering Mac OS X Server from Mac OS X computers, and is recommended for all systems. It includes updates to: Server Admin and Workgroup Manager QuickTime Broadcaster and QTSS Publisher Server Assistant, Server Monitor and Xgrid Admin System Image Utility and Gateway Setup Assistant" You can get the full run-down here. Go and grab your copy.
