Protecting Server Installations from Unexpected Changes (0)
One of problems with being a professional Macintosh consultant revolves around the fact that many of our customers have "semi-techs" whose reponsibility it is to do some basic server administration. Often these semi-techs are power users or graphic designers, or even admin staff such as office managers. The list of responsibilities for semi-techs can be boiled down to a handful of common tasks:
1) Adding, removing, and modifying user accounts
2) Swapping backup media and running backup scripts
3) "Lightweight" troubleshooting, which, unfortunately often revolves around rebooting the server at the slightest hint of a problem. This is a bad habit left over from the days of Mac OS 9 troublehshooting. Such habits are sometimes hard to break.
While semi-tech are indeed our friends (so long as they know their limits of expertise, and when to call their consultant), sometimes in the name of troubleshooting or with all of the best intentions, they take actions with unforseen or unexpected consequences that can cripple an entire business.
One of the worst of these is a pretty simple faux paux: shutting down an essential service such as AFP, DNS, or DHCP. Sometimes this occurs because someone is trying to stop and restart a service, and sometimes simply because the wrong service is selected the disclosure triangle underneath the server in the serverlist on the left of the Server Admin window.
One simple solution I've found is to simple remove the Start / Stop Service button from the toolbar at the top of the Server Admin application. This can prevent the casually curious semi-tech from accidentally stopping a critical service that affects everyone.
All you need to do is simply drag the "Stop Service" icon off the toolbar while holding down the command key, and "poof", it'll be gone. Of course, on your own admin machine, you can have the icon for your use, or use the serveradmin command line tool instead.
1) Adding, removing, and modifying user accounts
2) Swapping backup media and running backup scripts
3) "Lightweight" troubleshooting, which, unfortunately often revolves around rebooting the server at the slightest hint of a problem. This is a bad habit left over from the days of Mac OS 9 troublehshooting. Such habits are sometimes hard to break.
While semi-tech are indeed our friends (so long as they know their limits of expertise, and when to call their consultant), sometimes in the name of troubleshooting or with all of the best intentions, they take actions with unforseen or unexpected consequences that can cripple an entire business.
One of the worst of these is a pretty simple faux paux: shutting down an essential service such as AFP, DNS, or DHCP. Sometimes this occurs because someone is trying to stop and restart a service, and sometimes simply because the wrong service is selected the disclosure triangle underneath the server in the serverlist on the left of the Server Admin window.
One simple solution I've found is to simple remove the Start / Stop Service button from the toolbar at the top of the Server Admin application. This can prevent the casually curious semi-tech from accidentally stopping a critical service that affects everyone.
All you need to do is simply drag the "Stop Service" icon off the toolbar while holding down the command key, and "poof", it'll be gone. Of course, on your own admin machine, you can have the icon for your use, or use the serveradmin command line tool instead.
