Configuring RAID 1 (Mirroring) on the 2011 Mac Mini Server

With the release of the new Mac Mini Server without an internal CD/DVD and Lion OS, Apple has stopped shipping installation DVD's with the new Mac Mini's. When booting the Server for the first time, the Setup Assistant runs and configures Lion OS on the primary drive leaving the second internal HD for use other than for booting. In my configurations for my customers, the 500GB internal HD's are not large enough to store my customer's data so I'm often connecting an external HD RAID such as a Drobo or Promise RAID. When doing so though, the second internal 500GB HD has little use for me and would serve me and my customer best if it were configured as a part of the boot HD in a RAID 1 configuration (mirrored). Without an installation DVD now, configuring this is more challenging. Here is how I've been successful:

1. When booting the Mac Mini for the 1st time, hold the "T" key down to force the unit into Target Disk Mode
2. Connect a laptop via Firewire 800 cable
3. Open Disk Utility on the laptop
4. Select the primary Macintosh HD mounted from the Mac Mini on your laptop HD in Disk Utility
5. Select New Image and change the type to Read Only and the save destination to your laptop's Desktop and start creating the image (approx 5-7 minutes)
6. When finished imaging, select each of the 500GB internal HD's and Erase leaving the name as the default
7. Select RAID and drag each of the Untitled HD's into the RAID window
8. Press the Options button at the bottom and put a check in the "Automatically rebuild RAID mirror sets" and leave the RAID Block Size: at 32K
9. Press Create RAID and wait till finished (~30 seconds)
10. Select Images from the top pull-down and then Scan Image of Restore…
11. Select the image of the Macintosh HD from step 4 on the Desktop to prepare it for the restore
12. Press Restore at the top right and drag the new RAID volume into the Destination box
13. Select the Browse… button to the right of the Source and select the Macintosh HD image you just scanned for restore
14 Select Restore and press Continue at the warning box
15. When the restore is finished, quit Disk Utility and drag the Macintosh HD Firewire mount to the trash to disconnect it from Target Disk Mode
16. Push the power button on the Mac Mini Server to shut it off and pull off the Firewire 800 cable
17. Restart the Mac Mini Server and begin the Setup Assistant process

An alternative to this would be to run thru the Setup Assistant till the setup is complete and you've got a working machine. You could run all the updates or not and then start the imaging process. This seems to work well for me when needing to RAID the internal HD's on the new Mac Mini Server. For on-site or remote assistance, please visit my web site at www.sourcenetworks.com for contact information.

How to delete GPT Protective Partition

In Windows XP Professional, if you cannot access or modify GPT disk, you can convert a GPT disk to MBR by using the clean command in DiskPart, which will remove all data and partition structures from the disk.

1. You might see S2VR HD 5 Drives in GPT status.

2. Go to DOS command line (click on “Start Menu”, then “Run”, type in “cmd” in textbox, and hit “OK”)

  • Type in “DiskPart” in command line.
  • Type in “list disk” in command line to show all disks in this machine.
  • Use “select” to set the focus to the specified partition.
    For example “select disk 1″.
  • Use “clean” command to remove GPT disk from the current in-focus disk by zeroing sectors.

3. Go back to Disk Management, you can see all S2VR HD disks are “unallocated” now. Right click on disk info, choose “Initialize Disk”.

4. Choose all drives in S2VR HD and initialize them.

Warning: This command will erase all data on the disk, so please backup your data first.

Create a VPN on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch and SonicWALL

This article will easily explain how to configure your Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to access your network by using the SonicWALL WAN GroupVPN Security Association and the built-in L2TP server.  This relates to SonicOS Enhanced version 5.2.x (or newer) firmware.

(You must have completed Part 1 here)

iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch Configurations

1:  From the Home Screen navigate to the Settings icon

Settings Icon

iPad     iPhone / iPod Touch

2:  Select the General option

iPad - Step 2     iPhone Step 2

3:  Select Network

iPad - Step 3     iPhone Step 3

4:  Select VPN

iPad - Step 4     iPhone Step 4

5:  Select Add VPN Configuration

iPad - Step 5     iPhone Step 5

6:  Ensure that L2TP is selected.  This is the only option you want.

iPad - Step 6     iPhone Step 6

7:  Fill out the Add Configuration fields as follows:

Description - This is a name of your choosing that identifies the VPN connection to you (you can have more than one L2TP VPN connection setup).

Server - This is the WAN IP address of your SonicWALL NSA UTM appliance.

Account - This is the user account you created on the SonicWALL NSA appliance under Local Users.

RSA SecurID - Ensure that this is turned OFF.

Password - This is your password you setup for the account listed above.  You can chose to not enter a password here, which means that the iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch will ask you to complete every time you establish a connection.

Secret - This is the GroupVPN pre-shared secret you have setup.

Send All Traffic - Turn OFF.  You can turn on if you wish to send all your internet traffic through your L2TP connection also.  Leaving it off sends internet traffic over your wireless / 3G connection and only traffic destined for your network via the L2TP VPN.  Some configurations we have noted need to have this turned on no matter what.

Now press Save to store the configuration on your device.

8:  Your configuration will now appear and you can slide the VPN option to ON.  Your iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch will begin communicating with the SonicWALL and, upon a successful connection, will display a VPN icon on the top bar (usually left on the iPad and on the right on the iPhone / iPod Touch).

Create a VPN on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch and SonicWALL NSA UTM

This article will easily explain how to configure your Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to access your network by using the SonicWALL WAN GroupVPN Security Association and the built-in L2TP server.  This relates to SonicOS Enhanced version 5.2.x (or newer) firmware.

Access is granted to the LAN behind via the SonicWALL appliance.  You do not need a third party L2TP server solution.

How to configure your SonicWALL L2TP VPN server

Follow these easy steps in order:

1 - Login to your SonicWALL NSA UTM appliance as the Administrator in Configuration Mode.

Login

2 - Navigate to Network and Address Objects

3 - Add the following Address Object:

Name: iPad L2TP Subnet (or another name you wish to identify with)

Zone Assignment: VPN

Type: Network

Network: 10.99.79.0 - This is the new network subnet that we will assign purely for L2TP connections.  It shouldNOT be a subnet range in use on your network.  You do not need to use this address, we have selected for display purposes.

Netmask: 255.255.255.0 - We have chosen to use a Class C subnet.

L2TP Address Object

4 - Click OK to add the Address Object

5 - From the SonicWALL NSA menu select Users and Settings

6 - Ensure that Local Users are available.  If you already have LDAP or RADIUS ensure that + Local Users is selected.  This ensures you can use your Local User database on the SonicWALL (covered later).

7 - From the SonicWALL NSA menu navigate to VPN and L2TP Server.

8 - Enable the L2TP server and click on Configure.  Set the details as follows:

Keep alive time (secs): 60

DNS Server 1: 192.168.168.1 (well, obviously use your internal DNS server)

DNS Server 2: 192.168.168.2 (again this is for display purposes - if you have a second DNS server, use it)

WINS Server 1: 0.0.0.0 (or enter your WINS IP address here)

WINS Server 2: 0.0.0.0 (as above)

Select Use the Local L2TP IP Pool

Start IP: 10.99.79.1 (this is the start IP of the L2TP network you created earlier)

End IP: 10.99.79.10 (this is the end IP of the L2TP network you created earlier)

User group for L2TP users: Trusted Users (or Everyone if you prefer)

L2TP Server Settings

- From the SonicWALL NSA menu, whilst still in VPN select Settings

10 - Configure the WAN GroupVPN policy with the following settings:

General Tab

Shared Secret: password (well, enter your password here)

General Tab

Proposals Tab

IKE (Phase 1) Proposal

DH Group:  Group 2

Encryption:  3DES

Authentication:  SHA1

Life Time (seconds):  28800

Ipsec (Phase 2) Proposal

Protocol: ESP

Encryption:  3DES

Authentication:  SHA1

Enable Perfect Forward Secrecy:  Disabled

Life Time (seconds):  28800

Proposals Tab

Advanced Tab

Enable Windows Network (NetBIOS) Broadcast:  Enabled

Enable Multicast:  Disabled

Management via this SA:  Unchecked for both HTTP and HTTPS

Default LAN Gateway:  Public (WAN) IP address of the SonicWALL appliance

Require Authentication of VPN Clients via XAUTH:  Enabled

User Group for XAUTH Users:  Trusted Users (or Everyone)

Allow Unauthenticated VPN Client Access:  Disabled

Advanced Tab

Client Tab

Cache XAUTH User Name and Password on Client:  Always

Virtual Adapter settings:  DHCP Lease

Allow Connections to:  This Gateway Only

Set Default Route as this Gateway:  Enabled

Apply VPN Access Control List:  Disabled

Use Default Key for Simple Client Provisioning: Disabled

Client Tab

11 - Returning to the SonicWALL appliance menu, and still in VPN, select DHCP over VPN

12 - Select Central Gateway and click on Configure and ensure the following:

Use Internal DHCP Server:  Enabled

For Global VPN Client:  Enabled

For Remote Firewall:  Disabled

Send DHCP requests to the server address listed below:  Disabled

Relay IP Address (Optional):  0.0.0.0

DHCP Over VPN

13 - From the SonicWALL menu navigate to Firewall and Access rules

14 - Select VPN to WAN from the matrix or drop down menu and add the following rule:

Action:  Allow

From Zone:  VPN

To Zone:  WAN

Service:  ANY

Source:  WAN RemoteAccess Networks

Destination:  ANY

Users Allowed:  All

Schedule:  Always on

Firewall Rule VPN > WAN

15 - From the SonicWALL menu navigate to Network and NAT Policies

16 - Add the following NAT Policy:

Original Source:  iPad L2TP Subnet (or whatever you created in Step 3)

Translated Source:  WAN Primary IP (usually X1 IP)

Original Destination:  Any

Translated Destination:  Original

Original Service:  Any

Translated Service:  Original

Inbound Interface:  Any

Outbound Interface:  X1 (your WAN interface)

NAT Policy Settings

17 - From the SonicWALL NSA menu navigate to Users and Local Users

18 - Create a new user (if one doesn't exist) and then select the VPN Access tab and add the following objects:

LAN Subnets

WAN RemoteAccess Networks

iPad L2TP Subnet (or whatever you called the Address Object that you created in step 3)

NOTE: You can add these networks to the Trusted Users or Everyone list if you wish - or individually for users.  You must also add any other Address Objects to which you may require access here.  We have used the basic LAN Subnets for access to the LAN above for demonstrative purposes.

19 - Click on OK to add the user

New version of Parallels brings additional Lion OS features

Parallels Desktop® 7 for Mac

Get it before the rest!

Hot off the press! Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac will be broadly available September 6. As an existing customer, you can be among the first to enjoy our best release ever – starting today.

Upgrade today!


Run Windows applications like they were made for your Mac. Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac takes advantage of Mac OS X Lion’s great features and applies them to Windows programs, like support for Launchpad and Mission Control.

With over 90 new and enhanced features, this latest version makes your Windows applications feel like they were made for Mac. The result? A more intuitive and powerful way to use Windows and Mac side-by-side in a seamless user experience.

Enjoy the best performance on the market

New! Lion integration and support, including Launchpad and Mission Control for Windows programs
New! Shared iSight and FaceTime HD cameras in both Windows and Mac applications
New! Lion as a guest OS
Enhanced! Up to 1 GB of video memory, for ultra-high resolutions and maximum quality settings
Enhanced! With the new Parallels Mobile App, copy-and-paste, enjoy audio, and access your Mac and Windows programs with your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.


Run thousands of Windows applications at lightning speed on your Mac

Enhanced! Increased graphics performance: up to 45% faster for 3D graphics compared to previous versions
Enhanced! Start, stop and resume Windows more quickly, as much as 60 %, every time you launch Windows
Enhanced! When copying files within Windows, Parallels Desktop 7 outperforms its competitor by 120 %


Access your Windows programs and Mac applications while on the go with the new Parallels Mobile App

Parallels Mobile running on the iPad and the iPhone, connected to Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac running Windows 7

Jason Bosket has completed the iPhone and iPad Technical Training for Enterprise Course and Certification

Welcome to iPhone and iPad Technical Training for Enterprise.

iPhone and iPad can increase productivity for a wide range of companies. The benefits range from enhanced communication and coordination between employees to real-time access to essential information. Your customers will each have a unique set of needs and concerns. They could be from a global corporation or a small neighborhood business; have employees working together in offices or out in the field; use cutting edge infrastructure and IT support, or rely on externally hosted infrastructure and outsourced IT services. Whatever their size or structure, iPhone and iPad can help your customers take their business to the next level.

This series consists of four courses and one final quiz of 50 questions. The concepts within each course build upon each other, so you should take these courses in the following order:

The end of each course includes a review quiz of 10 questions. You have only three chances to pass each quiz, including the Final Quiz, so take each quiz only when you're ready.

In each course, you'll find optional activities and review questions that deepen your learning and reinforce key concepts, but they won't be scored. You may explore the activities and answer the review questions as many times as you like. In addition, this series includes a glossary of terms and a resources page.

Lion OS iCal Server Backup and Restore

In Lion server, the Collaboration services (Address Book, iCal, Profile Manager, Webmail, and Wiki) all store their data in PostgreSQL databases.
Each service has it's own database with the exception of Address Book and iCal which share a database.

By default, this database is stored under /var/pgsql/. If you have enabled Time Machine backups, full database dumps are made daily 

(using pg_dumpall) to /Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Backup/. "serveradmin settings postgres" offers a way to get and set various parameters.

If you want to backup and restore the individual databases outside of Time Machine, you can do so in the command line.

(PLEASE NOTE: YOU SHOULD HAVE THE SERVICE STOPPED WHEN PERFORMING ANY OF THE BACKUP OR RESTORE COMMANDS LISTED BELOW!!!)

AddressBook and iCal:

Database name: caldav

BACKING UP:

$ sudo -s
# PGUSER=_postgres ./usr/bin/pg_dump -U _postgres caldav -c -f /Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Backup/caldav.sql 

   (the -c flag on the pg_dump command here indicates that when we re-import the data, it should clear out ALL data from this database before importing, this prevents duplicate entries upon restoring)

RESTORING:

$ sudo -s
# psql -U _postgres -d collab -f /Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Backup/caldav.sql

Update adds support for Adobe® CS5.5, Mac OS® X Lion, and includes FontDoctor 8.1

Today we released an update to Suitcase Fusion 3 (v14.0.6) that includes new font auto-activation plug-ins that support Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, compatibility with Mac OS X Lion and the Font Doctor 8.1 product update.

What’s new in 14.0.6

OS X 10.7 Lion compatibility

Plug-ins updated for recent software updates

The auto-activation plug-ins have been updated to support Adobe Creative Suite 5.5. (Supported applications in Creative Suite 5.5 are Illustrator CS5.1, InDesign CS5.5, and Photoshop CS5.1.)

 

Fm_eupdate_roundbtn
Download Update

Please Note: You may have already been notified of this update via the auto-update feature within Suitcase Fusion 3.

To download via the “Check for Updates” feature:
  1. Launch Suitcase Fusion 3
  2. Choose Suitcase Fusion 3 > Check for Updates (Mac) 
    or Tools > Check for Updates (Windows)
  3. Download and install the update.
Install the new plug-ins using the Plug-in manager by:
  1. Choose Suitcase Fusion 3 > Manage-Plug-ins (Mac) or Tools > Manage Plug-ins (Windows)
  2. Enable plug-ins for supported applications.

Just Released - ExtremeZ-IP 7.2!

Great news! Today, GroupLogic announced the release of ExtremeZ-IP 7.2, and, as a valued GroupLogic customer, we wanted you to be the first to know about the latest features.

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide the enterprise with the most robust, cross-platform solution for seamless integration of Mac users in Windows environments, the latest release of ExtremeZ-IP comes with support for Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" -expanding our compatibility from Mac OS 9 to the just-announced Apple OS release. In addition to eliminating compatibility issues, ExtremeZ-IP remains the only Windows-based AFP file and print server delivering support for Network Spotlight, Time Machine and DFS to help our customers exploit the best of both platforms, and achieve optimal performance and functionality.

And that's not all... ExtremeZ-IP now includes ShadowConnect at no additional cost, allowing Macs to instantly self-restore previous versions of files and folders from the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

Remember, all customers with an active maintenance and support contract are entitled to upgrade to ExtremeZ-IP 7.2, completely free of charge!

Upgrade Now!

Learn about all the ExtremeZ-IP 7.2 enhancements here.

QuickBooks for Mac now Compatible with Lion OS 10.7

QuickBooks 2011 for Mac is now compatible with Lion with the R10 update we released this morning. If you already have QuickBooks 2011 for Mac, just install the R10 update when prompted. (Or go to the QuickBooks menu and choose “Check for Updates” to get the latest.)

QuickBooks 2010 for Mac and earlier
As we announced previously, QuickBooks 2010 for Mac and earlier versions are not officially supported on Lion. (You can read more about this athttp://bit.ly/qyca5F.) Although QuickBooks 2010 for Mac and earlier versions may run on Mac OS X 10.7, some features may not run correctly.  (You can see the known issues at http://bit.ly/o4JgUb)

If the features of Lion aren't a big deal for you and you don't want to upgrade your version of QuickBooks, then just stay with the version of Mac OS and QuickBooks you currently use. We can continue to help you with any problems you may run into.

If you must upgrade to Lion and don’t want to upgrade QuickBooks, you can continue running QuickBooks for Mac on a partition. You can learn more about setting up a partition at this article by Apple:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4722

If you want to run QuickBooks for Mac on Lion, you should upgrade to QuickBooks 2011 for Mac. That way if you do run into any problems, we can help you. You can find QuickBooks 2011 for Mac on our website athttp://quickbooks.com/mac and at most major retailers.