Enterprise Mac Managed Preferences

Many systems administrators on the Mac need a way to manage machine configuration after initial setup and deployment. Apple’s Managed Preferences system (also known as MCX) is under-documented, often misunderstood, and sometimes outright unknown by systems administrators. MCX is usually deployed in conjunction with an OS X server, but it can also be used in Windows environments or where no dedicated server exists at all.

Enterprise Mac Managed Preferences is the definitive guide to Apple’s Managed Client technology. With this book, you’ll get the following:

• An example-driven guide to Mac OS X Managed Preferences/Client technology
• Recipes for common use case studies and patterns
• A targeted approach appropriate for any sys admin that manages Macs in an OS X or Windows environment

This is the only book that focuses on this facet of OS X exclusively. If you’re a sys admin, this book will take away much of the pain of working with OS X client systems. Even better, both of the authors are very involved in the Mac community—Greg Neagle is part of the MacEnterprise steering committee, and Ed Marczak is the executive editor and an author for MacTech magazine and a member of the Apple Consultants Network.

What you’ll learn

• The Managed Preferences system and how to manage it
• All about Directory Services and Local Directory Services
• How to work with property list files
• How to deliver files with Open Directory, ActiveDirectory, local scripts, third-party utilities, Puppet, LANRev, Casper, and more
• How to work with compositing preferences, including the hierarchy of preferences
• How to write a Plist for management, using Workgroup Manager and Dock Example
• How and when to enforce Managed Preferences
• How to understand manifests
• What recipes to use and when
• When, how, and where to use mcxquery, System Profiler, and MCX Cache flushing

Who this book is for

This book is for systems administrators using Mac clients.

Table of Contents

1. Why Manage?
2. What Is the Managed Preferences System?
3. Understanding Directory Services
4. Property List Files
5. Writing a Property List for Management
6. Delivering Managed Preferences
7. Local MCX
8. Compositing Preferences
9. Enforcing Managed Preferences
10. Preference Manifests and “Raw” Preferences
11. Recipes
12. Managing Mobile Accounts
13. Troubleshooting Managed Preferences