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Let’s Encrypt with CPanel

A lot of web hosts have Let’s Encrypt built into the CPanel. Not mine. I was kinda annoyed. I tweeted at them to ask if they’d support it. They wouldn’t. So I decided I would make it work myself. To do this is pertty simple. I’m just going to start by copying and pasting text from a previous article. Open up your Terminal.app (Go to the Go menu, choose Utilities, double-click on Terminal). This isn’t even a step, you should know this. Step One – Install Homebrew /usr/bin/ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)” At this point, you will be prompted to press RETURN to continue. Press the return key. It will… Read More »Let’s Encrypt with CPanel

OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!! Part 3 DNS to BIND

In July, I will be presenting at MacAdmins at PSU. My talk will be called “OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!!” I will be using my blog to document all the processes taken to get all the data. The goal of this is to find easy ways to move away from Server.app while utilizing the existing Apple hardware in your server closet and macOS. Sure you can move to a new system, but you might not have the money or time. You can find the slide deck here. Server.app -> BIND So before I start, I should say that this is fully documented in Apple’s macOS Server Service Migration documentation, which… Read More »OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!! Part 3 DNS to BIND

OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!! Part 2 Web to Apache

In July, I will be presenting at MacAdmins at PSU. My talk will be called “OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!!” I will be using my blog to document all the processes taken to get all the data. The goal of this is to find easy ways to move away from Server.app while utilizing the existing Apple hardware in your server closet and macOS. Sure you can move to a new system, but you might not have the money or time. You can find the slide deck here. Server.app -> Apache First step is to test the server. After booting this VM, I visited my testserver. Mine was at testserver.leobaeck.ca. It… Read More »OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!! Part 2 Web to Apache

OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!! Part 1 Web to MAMP

In July, I will be presenting at MacAdmins at PSU. My talk will be called “OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!!” I will be using my blog to document all the processes taken to get all the data. The goal of this is to find easy ways to move away from Server.app while utilizing the existing Apple hardware in your server closet and macOS. Sure you can move to a new system, but you might not have the money or time. You can find the slide deck here. Server.app -> MAMP I started with a simple MunkiReport instance running in Server.app. I figured this would be using enough resources to move.… Read More »OMG! APPLE IS GUTTING SERVER.APP!!!! Part 1 Web to MAMP

Find a Mac’s serial number in Recovery Partition or the macOS installer

I couldn’t find this anywhere, so I thought I’d blog about this. Thanks to the #general channel on the MacAdmins Slack for the help. To find a serial number for a Mac when booted into the Recovery Partition or the macOS installer, to go Utilities and choose Terminal, type in ioreg -rd1 -c IOPlatformExpertDevice | awk -F'”‘ ‘/IOPlatformSerialNumber/{print $4}’ That’s it, it will output the serial number for the computer.

Importing Data to FileMaker 16 via APIs

I’m new to APIs. Have quite a bit of FileMaker experience. I’ve decided to see if I can build a system to track parent-teacher contact. This is a system that once existed for the school in an ASP system that I mocked up and outsourced. It was replaced with Edsby, an LMS system that wasn’t truly designed for this purpose. We were smashing a square peg into a round hole. My proof of concept for this system involves seeing if I can build something that does three things I’ve never done in FileMaker before. OAuth login using Google authentication Sending nightly emails of any records that have changed for those… Read More »Importing Data to FileMaker 16 via APIs

Recollection Volume 42 – Gaslight

Recollection is a project to review my record collection. I will listen to an album I own and review it. The album will be chosen randomly by computron 2.0. Today computron chooses… Album: Gaslight b/w Rimb Nugget Artist: The Ugly Ducklings Released: 1967 Format(s) I own it on: 7″ The Ugly Ducklings were a Toronto band and Gaslight was their biggest hit. This has been sitting in my drafts folder for almost a year. I seem to do this, get stuck on a single review and not power through. Well, I’m doing it. Gaslight is a weird song. It’s about a woman gaslighting the singer. Kinda. I think. Either way, he’s in an unhealthy… Read More »Recollection Volume 42 – Gaslight

Renewing Let’s Encrypt on a macOS machine running 10.12.6 and Server.app

Last time on Never Had To Fight… Adam installed a certificate using Let’s Encrypt for a macOS server running 10.12.6 and Server.app. It wasn’t exciting, but it worked. Now, three months later, we need to renew. It was actually really easy. Renew the certificates sudo certbot renew Transfer the .pem files to desktop Using the cp command enter these to copy your files. Replace <<FQDN>> with your FQDN. Replace <<USER>> with your username. sudo cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/<<FQDN>>/privkey.pem /Users/<<USER>>/Desktop/privkey.pem sudo cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/<<FQDN>>/fullchain.pem /Users/<<USER>>/Desktop/fullchain.pem Hooray, now these files are on your desktop. Install Certs Open Server.app Go to Certificates. Click on the + Choose Import Certificate Identity… Drag and drop the two .pem… Read More »Renewing Let’s Encrypt on a macOS machine running 10.12.6 and Server.app

Let’s Encrypt on a macOS machine running 10.12.6 and Server.app

Are you doing your web hosting with Server.app? You’re probably not the biggest fan of it, but it works, so… let’s keep on keeping on. Do you want to have a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt? Well, I found some really bad guides, so this is much better. *Hat tip to MacAdmins slack for a few key points Open up your Terminal.app (Go to the Go menu, choose Utilities, double-click on Terminal). This isn’t even a step, you should know this. Step One – Install Homebrew /usr/bin/ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)” At this point, you will be prompted to press RETURN to continue. Press the return key. It will… Read More »Let’s Encrypt on a macOS machine running 10.12.6 and Server.app

Recollection Volume 41 – Original Music From The Motion Picture “The Such”

Recollection is a project to review my record collection. I will listen to an album I own and review it. The album will be chosen randomly by computron 2.0. Today computron chooses… Album: Original Music From The Motion Picture “The Such” Artist: Elevator Through Released: 1998 Format(s) I own it on: CD After the break up of Eric’s Trip, Rick White began some home recordings under the name Elevator To Hell, eventually adding Eric’s Trip drummer Mark Gaudet, and Orange Glass alumnus and White’s then-wife, Tara White. Elevator To Hell eventually became Elevator Through who later became Elevator. Elevator was one of the best psychedelic bands in Canada during the 1990s and 2000s. This… Read More »Recollection Volume 41 – Original Music From The Motion Picture “The Such”