Nov

18

Net Monitor Sidekick: Monitor Traffic For IP/Port

ImageI have yet to find a really good application to monitor all traffic coming to/leaving from a Mac, but this one is close.

With Net Monitor Sidekick you just start the application, choose your network interface, and watch the traffic flow. The program offers a few preferences, but pretty much does as expected out of the box.

Right now, the program is in beta and can be downloaded free. Though there is a warning that the beta will expire on Mar 31, 2009.

You can down the application here.

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Aug

29

Using Your Server To Track Stolen Macs

ImageThis last weekend, a good friend of mine called and told me that his office and been broken into early Sunday morning. The thieves stole 7 20″ iMacs and a cd player. (Luckily they didn’t steal the 24″ iMac or the Mac mini server with all the data on it. We keep that server hidden good.)

Thank goodness my friend had business insurance and we picked up 7 new iMacs and had them all setup and running by Monday afternoon. We look at it as an inconvenient, but inexpensive way to upgrade the iMacs.

So now the matter is whether the police will get the iMacs back. The chances are small.

However, this week Macosxhints.com published a nice post that would have been great to have had last week. It is titled, “An advanced script/web solution to track stolen Macs .” Basically it consists of a couple of scripts that stay hidden on your machine. If your Mac were to be stolen, and later connected to the internet, it could send it’s whereabouts and photos of the thief (assuming their is a built-in iSight camera.)

How does this pertain to a site about servers? Well, you can easily turn your Mac server into an FTP server that can accept the photos and information.

Anyhow, if you’re looking for a fun weekend project that you may be REALLY thankful for later, go take a look here.

Aug

11

PureFTPd Manager: Advanced FTP For The Mac

ImageThe other day, a customer asked me to setup an FTP account for his clients to use in uploading files to his machine. And while the built-in file serving of Leopard is nice, it’s not made for this sort of thing. For instance, creating a “Sharing Only” user account will only allow AFP and SMB connections.

PureFTPd is a free FTP server and PureFTPd manager is a nice Mac GUI to getting it installed and setting it up.

When you start the application, there are just a few general questions that are asked to help the setup. You can then create users, assign them to certain folders or directories.

There are plenty of options and it makes it real easy to have a powerful file server. The app is free from the developer’s site, though donations are appreciated.

Jul

31

Changes: Keeping Everything Up-To-Date

ImageQuite a few of our customers use their Mac minis as central storage for a team of people in different locations. We hear from a lot of business owners who have been trying to run the server from their office, but just need more speed, reliability and security. They recognize that we can provide all three, but often they are concerned about having the machine out of the office where they can’t keep a close eye on the different versions of data. They want to make sure everyone is up to date.

This is where Changes will come in handy. Changes will keep multiple machines in sync with the latest versions of documents and projects. If you prefer something more manual, it also provides a quick way to text comparison using popular text editors.

This is also a great way to backup and update your website.

Changes is available for $39.95 and can be downloaded from the official site. (demo available)

Jun

15

Searchlight: Spotlight Via The Web

ImageWe have quite a few customers that use their Mac minis as a file server. Searchlight gives you the ability of Spotlight search thru the web.

When you start Searchlight, there are just a few choices you have to make before your server is live. This includes which files you’d want to share. Then you start the server. It runs on port 9000.

Once the server is started, you can point a browser on your Mac, PC or iPhone and search all of your files. It also allows for a Quick Look so you can have a preview of the file.

You can learn more and download the app here.

Apr

9

Papaya: File Sharing Made Easy

ImagePapaya is an application you run on your server that makes it easy to share large files. I see it as a mix between Mac Os X’s built-in File Sharing and Web Server.

When you drag a file to Papaya, the file is uploaded and the download URL is automatically copied so you can paste it into an email address or a chat window. When uploading a folder, Papaya can either upload it with the same directory or archive it with ZIP or TAR automatically.

Papaya is 20 euros, downloadable from the official site.

(via tuaw)

Apr

4

Flow: A Great FTP Client For Mac

ImageFlow is a great new FTP client that just released their 1.0 version today.

I’ve always been a “that ftp client is nice, but I’ll just stick Trasmit” kind of guy. But with the release of Flow, I’ve now officially changed.

My two favorite reasons to switch are that Flow allows for Quick Look of files that are on the server. And second, Flow will allow you to copy the URL to your remote server instantly, or even automatically after the upload. I’ve always wanted that.

Overall, it is a real smooth application. It sells for $29 and can be downloaded on extendmac website for Flow.

Mar

24

Guide To Setting Up Leopard Server

ImageComputerworld has put together a short walkthrough on setting up Leopard Server with a Basic install.

“Leopard Server, the newest version of Mac OS X Server, sports many new updated features. One of the most innovative is a new interface that simplifies server setup and management. This new interface is designed primarily for small businesses or small workgroups within a larger organization that need server functionality but don’t have the resources to hire a full-time systems administrator.”

If this sounds like it could be of use to you, head on over for the text and photo walk through on how to get everything set up and running. You can read it here

Mar

20

How To: Install iFolder on a Mac

ImageNovell’s iFolder technology is a great solution for anyone that uses more than one computer and/or uses them in multiple locations. This service syncs LOCAL copies of your documents so that you have your documents available online or offline AND keeps each iFolder client updated with any changes.

The Benefits are obvious:

  • You can get your work and home files in sync automatically.
  • All documents in all places have the most recent changes and edits.
  • A web interface to your synced files if you aren’t around your own computer.
  • Instead of only keeping your files on a server, the syncing will allow you access to your files while offline as well.

Michael Galindo, a customer of Macminicolo.net, will be publishing a three part series on how he got iFolder working on his Mac server. If you have a Mac server, and could use a little organization in your life, please feel free to follow along.

Feb

25

File Serving In Leopard

ImageLately, we have had a lot of new customers who want to use their Mac minis as file servers. Often the case is someone who wants an FTP server for access to all of their documents while on the road. Others have customers who they offer file storage to for a monthly fee. Because our network is very, very fast, these customers can grab their files much quicker than if they were on the road and trying to grab them from a home computer.

Luckily Leopard really improves when it comes to file sharing. The way to set services and preferences is easier and more thorough than it has ever been before.

Macworld posted an article today called, “File Sharing In Leopard that is quite helpful if you’re trying to do this sort of thing.