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The Cross and Emotion: How to Manage Our Emotions During COVID-19

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2020-04-10T15:43:46-07:00

There is a lot in our world right now that just isn’t right. We are living in a time of great loss. Loss of freedom to move about, loss of job or loss of how I do my job, disease and sickness and the possibility of disease on a personal level, and ultimately death. Daily we are bombarded by numbers related to those infected with COVID-19 and those who have died because of it. This causes all kinds of emotion from anxiety and fear to anger and frustration. There are times when we just want to cry out to God about the unfairness of it all. Yet in the middle of all of this we remember the most important death in history which was followed by the most important event in history, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is a tendency for us to view the story of the cross from a distance. We can read about it and intellectually know what happened, but many times we lack the true experience of what it must have been like for Jesus to go through what he did. How did he process it all? How did he not just want to run and hide instead of going through all he knew would be before him? Then we might think, well he was God therefore he would have a different experience than you and I would. But the reality is that Jesus, the son of God, had all the range of emotions you and I have. Even the one’s we are experiencing now as we face our own struggles with this global pandemic. When we realize that God himself is an emotional being, we realize that emotions are ok and natural and a part of who we are as beings created in His image. In fact, Jesus was very emotional up to his ultimate sacrifice and spent time working through those emotions.

We are told the night before he was betrayed and taken prisoner, he went up to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. He took his closest disciples with him, Peter, James and John. The scriptures say in Matthew 26:37–38 (NLT), “…he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Jesus was feeling the weight of what he had to do. He was feeling grief. He was feeling distressed and crushed. He was flooded with emotion over what he knew he was being asked to do.

He came back to his friends only to find them asleep. He tells his friends in Matthew 26:40, “...Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?” Here Jesus was looking for support and his friends couldn’t even stay awake for him when he needed them most. I can imagine he must have felt abandoned and alone in all he was going through. He expressed his frustration with their inability to be there for him in his final hour before he would go through his journey to the cross. He was anticipating the pain and did not receive any comfort from his friends.

Where Jesus did find comfort was through his Father in heaven. The scriptures tell us in Mark 14:35–36 (NLT), "He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” He went to his Father for comfort and cried out to him with his feelings of fear and his desires even though they were contrary to the mission God had sent him to earth to do. But in that expression of his emotions Jesus found the comfort and strength to face the task before him. He wasn’t looking to solve the emotions he had, he was looking for comfort for them.

You and I experience emotion all the time but we have a tendency to either dismiss our emotion and never address it or we look for ways to solve the emotion we have which usually ends up making our emotional state more intense. As we go through this pandemic together and remember what Christ did for us on the cross it is important that we understand how to handle the emotion we have as Christ handled his own emotion in his own time of pain.

Emotions Are Designed to Be Soothed Not Solved
Our emotions were not designed by God to be solved. If you have ever tried to solve any of your emotions you may have realized that it doesn’t work well. Sure you could avoid them or try to forget them and some people are better at this than others, but our emotions were not designed to solved, they were designed to be soothed. Soothing of emotion is just a recognition of what we are actually feeling, sitting with those emotions, and looking for comfort from God or others. In this current crisis people are looking for quick solutions and guaranteed methods of staying safe and getting through this quickly. Yet in all the solutions there is no peace because our emotions are not designed to be handled that way. When we give up trying to solve our emotions and look to soothe them, we will experience more comfort in the moment.

Emotions Are Temporary
Emotions are not permanent or set in stone. If you have sat with your emotions for any period of time you will have realized that they change rather quickly. I can go from feeling calm and connected to my wife and one thing can cause me to instantly feel upset and disconnected. If I choose to react to my emotion right away without taking the time to identify it and sit with it for a while I will become impulsive and do things I normally would not do. During this crisis there has been a lot of emotional reactivity happening in people’s lives. We can see this in the rush for certain supplies like toilet paper to the issues that are coming up in homes where people are stuck with angry family members or those who are out of control due to the stress and worry they are feeling. All of these things are the direct result of letting emotion drive us to react instead of understanding the temporary nature of emotion and learning to respond to it.

Emotions Bring Clarity
Whenever I take the time to sit down and really identify how I feel it brings clarity to what is going on inside of me. A lot of my catastrophic thinking and fears during this time are fueled by emotions I have not identified that cause me to think in certain ways. When I take the time to sit down and look at a feeling words list, I start to identify what is underneath the chaos I feel and it brings me a level of clarity that I would not have by trying to reason my way through what I am feeling.

Emotions Point To My Need
When I identify the emotions I am feeling it brings clarity to what I need for comfort. If I am feeling anxious or insecure I might need reassurance from others or to spend time with God in prayer. If I am feeling abandoned or alone I might need to connect with my family or close friends. If I am feeling sad I may just need to have someone sit with me and put their arm around me or share those feelings with God through journaling or prayer. The more clarity I have on what I feel the easier it is to handle my emotions in the way they were designed to be handled.

Suggestion for Working with Your Own Emotions
As you wrestle with your emotions this Holy Week as our world feels like it is falling apart, remember that you are not alone. The entire world is wrestling with similar emotions at the same time and Jesus himself experienced the same emotions. Below are some things you can do as you look to work with your emotions:

Step 1: Identify Your Feelings
Take some time with an emotions list to identify what you are feeling. It is important to use a list for this as it is difficult to explore your feelings when you are flooded: Emotion Words List. The list enables us to zero in on specific things we feel instead of focusing on what is wrong.

Step 2: Explore Why You Feel the Way You Do
Once you have identified what you are feeling spend some time reflecting on why you are feeling that way for each of the emotions you identified. You may want to use a tool to journal your thoughts and feelings to see them outside your mind. I use a digital journaling application called Day One, but you could use paper and pencil or the notes application on your phone or computer. Seeing what I am thinking and feeling brings clarity.

Step 3: Determine What You Might Need for Comfort
Finally spend some time thinking about what you might need for comfort in that moment. Think small and practical. Obviously we would all like this whole pandemic to go away but that thought will not bring us comfort because it is tied to a solution that is beyond our control. Instead look for ways to connect with others, change your environment, or spend time expressing your feelings to God.

As we reflect on what Jesus did for us on the cross this Good Friday, we must also remember that there was a resurrection three days later and just as Jesus’s death was not permanent, the situation we are in now is not permanent. Just as Jesus needed to spend time processing his feelings and seeking comfort for them in the midst of his storm, we too should take the same steps he did to process our own emotions and seek comfort from God and others.

You can download the original HERE.

macOS Catalina Part 1: Preparing to Upgrade

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-10-26T15:16:54-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to prepare yourself for the upgrade to MacOS Catalina. Catalina is a major upgrade and there are some big changes that you must be prepared for before even deciding if the upgrade is right for you right now. Catalina is the first Mac upgrade on which you can no longer run 32 bit applications. So if you have applications that are not yet or never will be 64 bit this is not the upgrade for you. I cover how to check on those applications along with other things to check before you actually go through with the upgrade.

HOOBS Part 3: Adding Devices to HOOBS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-09-22T15:07:58-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at HOOBS and walk through how to add devices to HOOBS and show how to set up and access those devices in HomeKit. I am using Harmony hubs in this case and walk through how to install the plugin, change the configuration file to match your set up and show where you can see the devices you have set up on your HOOBS system.

I also walk through the steps to get your HOOBS hub onto the Home App on your Apple devices and how to add any devices you have connected through HOOBS. I then show you how this particular device, the Harmony Hub works with HomeKit.

HOOBS really is a great devices for making Homebridge simple. To have an option to connect all your devices that are not HomKit compatible to HomeKit gives greater access to devices for your home automation needs.

HOOBS Part 2: Device & Software Updates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-09-14T14:49:56-07:00

I had the guys at Homebridge Out Of the Box System or HOOBS contact me about checking out their new device. HOOBS was created to make the whole Homebridge set up process easy for those who may not want to go through the process of setting everything up manually or who may not want to run a full computer themselves. HOOBS can be purchases in a few different ways. If you want the software only with a clean interface you can buy an SD Card with the installation on it. You could also buy the hardware which includes a Raspberry Pi set up in a compact case that includes all you need to set up an always on Homebridge installation.

For those of you who may be wondering what all of this is about, Homebridge is software you can run that includes plugins that will make devices that are not naturally HomeKit compatible visible to HomeKit so you can include them with your other devices and automation through the Home App. Homebridge has worked well for me running on a Mac Mini and I have done a series of screencasts demonstrating how that works. But running a Mac mini all the time as a Homebridge server doesn't make as much sense as running a low power device dedicated to Homebridge which is what makes HOOBS or even a roll your own Raspberry Pi a much better option.

In this screencast I demonstrate how to change out the SD Card on the device and walk through how to update the main software on the device when updates are available.

HOOBS Part 1: Installation & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-09-06T14:28:21-07:00

I had the guys at Homebridge Out Of the Box System or HOOBS contact me about checking out their new device. HOOBS was created to make the whole Homebridge set up process easy for those who may not want to go through the process of setting everything up manually or who may not want to run a full computer themselves. HOOBS can be purchases in a few different ways. If you want the software only with a clean interface you can buy an SD Card with the installation on it. You could also buy the hardware which includes a Raspberry Pi set up in a compact case that includes all you need to set up an always on Homebridge installation.

For those of you who may be wondering what all of this is about, Homebridge is software you can run that includes plugins that will make devices that are not naturally HomeKit compatible visible to HomeKit so you can include them with your other devices and automation through the Home App. Homebridge has worked well for me running on a Mac Mini and I have done a series of screencasts demonstrating how that works. But running a Mac mini all the time as a Homebridge server doesn't make as much sense as running a low power device dedicated to Homebridge which is what makes HOOBS or even a roll your own Raspberry Pi a much better option.

In this screencast I demonstrate the basic installation and set up of a HOOBS box. It was a very easy process and having the ability to manage it through a web browser on my local network is a great option. Check it out for yourself and if you are interested you can check out getting your own over at www.hoobs.org.

Smart Home Part 12: Harmony Bridge App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-05-18T18:49:31-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover an application that sets up your multiple Logitech Harmony Hubs to run a separate instance of Homebridge which makes them available to HomeKit.

One the application is running, you will see each Harmony Hub and all of your activities will show as switches instead of showing up as separate HomeKit devices. This then allows you to use your Harmony Hubs in your HomeKit automation and with Siri.

macOS Mojave Server Part 11: Profile Manager Preference Menu Items

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-05-10T17:03:34-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to use the preference menu in Profile Manager to manage settings for your devices. I walk through all of the settings and what they do to help you manage your users and devices from the web interface making it possible to do that management remotely without needing to be in front of the device itself.

macOS Mojave Server Part 10: Profile Manager macOS Device Profiles

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-05-03T17:00:55-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to use Profile Manager to manage settings for your macOS devices. I walk through all of the settings that would be best managed for an macOS device and tell you what each does and how to set them up

macOS Mojave Server Part 9: Profile Manager iOS Device Profiles

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-04-26T16:59:30-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to use Profile Manager to manage settings for your iOS devices. I walk through all of the settings that would be best managed for an iOS device and tell you what each does and how to set them up. In future screencasts I’ll cover how to do the same with macOs devices.

macOS Mojave Server Part 8: Profile Manager Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-04-19T16:57:47-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to use Profile Manager to manage settings for devices used by specific users or user groups. I walk through all of the settings that would be best managed on a per user or user group basis and tell you what each does and how to set them up. In future screencasts I’ll cover how to do the same with iOS and macOs devices.

macOS Mojave Server Part 7: Profile Manager Overview

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-04-12T16:54:57-07:00

The actual Profile Manager interface has a lot to offer in terms of managing your devices all in a web interface. It is handy to have all of your device information available in one place where you not only can view that information but take action on your devices as well and push any changes you want to make over the air without ever having to have physical access to the device.

In this screencast tutorial I do an overview of the Profile Manager Interface. I walk through each section and talk about it’s function and how it is used to manage your users and devices.

macOS Mojave Server Part 6: Profile Manager-Mac Device Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-04-05T16:52:54-07:00

Profile Manager gives a great way to manage your Mac or iOS devices in a great web interface. This allows you to manage these devices anywhere you can get a web browser as long as you open the proper ports on your server.

In this screencast I cover how to enroll a macOS device into profile manager on macOS Mojave Server. I cover how to install the trust profile and the remote management profiles that add your Mac devices to profile manager so you can begin managing your Macs through the MDM interface.

macOS Mojave Server Part 5: Profile Manager-iOS Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-03-30T16:49:50-07:00

Profile Manager gives a great way to manage your Mac or iOS devices in a great web interface. This allows you to manage these devices anywhere you can get a web browser as long as you open the proper ports on your server.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to enroll your iOS devices into Profile Manager so you can begin to manage them through the MDM service. I cover how to install the trust profile and the remote management profiles to add your iOS devices to Profile Manager.

Smart Home Part 11: Fuse-Home & Music Control App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-03-16T16:47:39-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover an application that combines your HomeKit device control with Sonos and your Mac’s and AppleTV’s all in one application. The Fuse app uses a simple card style to create a one screen quick look at all of your smart home devices which you can control. It also includes an Apple Watch App incase you don’t have your iPhone or iPad handy.

Smart Home Part 10: Ecobee Switch+ Install & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-02-16T16:45:42-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the installation and set up of an Ecobee Switch+. The next in my series on home automation covers something most of us wouldn’t think would be that exciting, a light switch. This light switch however is not just a switch. It also includes a motion & occupancy sensor, a temperature sensor, a night light and Amazon Alexa with speaker built into the switch itself. Also since it is only an on/off switch it will work with smart bulbs like Phillips Hue. This is a great addition to a home automation set up.

In this screencast I cover the installation of the switch and walk through the steps to setting it up an managing it on the Ecobee App.

macOS Mojave Server Part 4: Remote Access Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2019-02-09T16:42:52-08:00

Part of having a server is to be able to access that server remotely. There are a number of ways to do that including using another application or setting up your own domain name.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your server for remote access. I walkthrough changing the hostname and setting up your DNS at your domain provider to point to your server so you can access the Profile Manager service remotely.

macOS Mojave Server Part 3: Profile Manager Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-12-09T16:41:26-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up Profile Manager in Mojave. There are some differences in how it is set up including not having the requirement of using Open Directory to use the service and the intermediate certificate being set up through the start of Profile Manager instead of it being set up with Open Directory first.

In a future screencast I will cover how to use Open Directory and when you might want to do that. I will also walk through the features of Profile Manager and how to use it to manage your own devices.

macOS Mojave Server Part 2: New Installation

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-12-02T16:38:59-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I walk through a new installation of MacOS Mojave Server. I show you the set up of a new server long with a walk through of the features that are left in macOS Server and set the stage for how to move forward with the server in it’s new form.

In future screencasts we will cover each of the features in depth so you can use and control your how home server.

macOS Mojave Part 2: Software Update & Screenshot

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-11-09T16:36:53-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the new Software Update Utility and the updates to the Screenshot tool built into macOS Mojave. With some of the refinements made to the OS Apple is fine tuning how it handles things in macOS and is making it closer to what we see in iOS. This is not so much a merging of the OSes but rather bringing some similarities to both platforms so things look familiar on both OSes.

macOS Mojave Part 1: Finder & Desktop Updates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-11-02T16:32:17-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I start a series taking a look at some of the updates to macOS Mojave. In this particular screencast I take a look at some of the upgrades made to the Finder and to the desktop which help to make the process of working on your Mac a lot smoother. I cover the view changes, in finder editing options, the new dark mode, stacks on the desktop, and the new add from iPhone or iPad feature.

macOS Mojave Server Part 1: Upgrade Walk Thru

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-10-27T16:27:17-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I walk through the upgrade process from High Sierra Server to Mojave Server. With this change Apple is killing most of their server services except Profile Manager and Open Directory which in essence is moving macOS Server to strictly becoming a device management application.

For those of you already running server and wondering what will happen to your existing set up after you upgrade to Mojave, I am doing this walk thru so you can see ahead of time how Apple handles the transition. As you will see you will want to make sure you have a clone of your server if you want to try this but in the end you will move likely want to stay with your previous install as all of your services will stop working.

I will continue to look at other options for server software and will also walk through the Mojave version of server for those who want to use it in conjunction with other services to create the server package that is best for you.

Smart Home Part 9: Nest Hello Doorbell Walk Thru

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-10-12T15:58:21-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover setting up the Nest Hello Video Doorbell. I walk through what is inside the box and the installation of the doorbell itself. I then cover the major features included in the Nest Application for the doorbell including the Nest subscription plan.

This is a part of an ongoing series I am doing on setting up my smart home and working through the issues that come up with the installation and set up of devices that are not always designed to talk to one another. I will also be showing how to do some home automation once those devices are installed so watch for future screencasts outlining this.

Smart Home Part 8: Nest Protect Install & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-10-05T15:41:58-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the installation and set up the Nest Protect Smoke & CO2 Alarms. I show you what the initial unboxing and set up looks like and walk through the application, the types of alerts you get and how the Protects show up in HomeKit using Homebridge to get them to be connected to the HomeKit application.

This is a part of an ongoing series I am doing on setting up my smart home and working through the issues that come up with the installation and set up of devices that are not always designed to talk to one another. I will also be showing how to do some home automation once those devices are installed so watch for future screencasts outlining this.

As always thanks for your support and please subscribe, like, share, and favorite these videos so others can find them on the internet.

Smart Home Part 7: Homebridge Harmony Crash Fix

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-09-28T17:24:25-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to fix an annoying crash that can happen with the Harmony Plugin and in situations where you have a lot of devices connected to HomeBridge.

I show you the cause of the crash and how to fix it on your Mac. Then I go into an automation I set up to fix the issue when I am not at my Mac and need to use my iOS device.

I want to thank you all so much for your support even when I have been MIA lately. My wife had hip replacement surgery, two of my boy started college for the first time and we had to move them in, and I’ve had other projects come up that have taken my time. I am not abandoning the channel even though Apple has chosen to retire macOS server as I have a lot of other interests in doing screencasts to related to the Mac and technology in general.

I couldn’t do this without your support and encouragement. So thanks again and I look forward to producing more content!

YouTube Channel Update: Where Have I Been?

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-09-21T17:21:54-07:00

In this update I give some information about where I have been and what I’ve been up to. I’ve had to take a bit of a break due to some family issues and projects I’ve had going, but I’m back and looking forward to doing some more content for the channel.

If you have any feedback on software or topics you would like me to cover please leave them in the comments on my channel or email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

Thanks so much for all of your support. This community has been awesome to me and I am grateful that you view my content on a regular basis! You are the best subscribers on the internet!

macOS Server Replacement Part 2: VPN Enabler

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-06-24T11:08:24-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to replace the VPN service in macOS Server that will be deprecated in upcoming versions of server. I look at a free application called VPN Enabler as a way to enable the VPN service that is built into every macOS. I show you how to take your settings from macOS Server for VPN and transfer them to VPN Enabler and then start and run the VPN service to take over the service on your own Mac.

macOS Server Replacement Part 1: DNS Enabler

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-06-16T11:06:35-07:00

In this screencast tutorial, I start to take a look at services that can be used to replace the macOS Server services that Apple is deprecating in future releases of their server app.

In this screencast I look at an application called DNS Enabler by Cutedge Systems (https://cutedgesystems.com). This application puts a GUI interface to setting up and enabling the DNS Server that is built into macOS. I walk through how to set it up and transfer your DNS settings from macOS to the DNS Enabler.

OwnCloud Part 7: iOS Client Set up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-06-01T11:05:02-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up and use the iOS client for OwnCloud which allows you to access your files on your own OwnCloud Server for Mac. I walk through all of the features and show you the options you have while accessing your server from your iOS device.

If you haven’t already set up your own OwnCloud Server on your Mac you may want to watch the other videos in this series to get started.

OwnCloud Part 6: Mac Client Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-05-25T11:03:02-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Mac Client for your OwnCloud Server for Mac set up. I cover how to connect to your server and download and sync your files and folders with your Mac devices.

If you haven’t already set up your OwnCloud server on your Mac, you may want to review my previous videos that walk you through the process. As always thanks for your support and feedback.

OwnCloud Part 5: Contacts & Calendars

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-05-18T11:00:27-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the contacts and calendars plugin’s for OwnCloud for Mac. With Apple deprecating the contacts and calendars service in macOS Server OwnCloud could be a replacement for what you previously set up on your Mac Server. I cover how to add the plugins to OwnCloud and I walk thru the features found in each plugin. Based on what is there including links to adding your calendars to your phone, it looks like a good solution to move to.

OwnCloud Part 4: External Storage

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-04-27T14:51:13-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at OwnCloud for Mac and address external storage and OwnCloud. I use WebDAV as an example because many of you are looking for replacements to the services that are being deprecated by Apple in their Server Application.

In this screencast I show how to set external storage up and demonstrate how to connect to WebDAV and what it looks like to add files to you webDAV folder and see how they load to OwnCloud itself.

Smart Home Part 6: LaunchControl Keep Homebridge Running

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-04-21T14:46:54-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover an application called LaunchControl by Soma-Zone Software (http://www.soma-zone.com/LaunchControl/) which will help you keep your homebridge instance running and auto launch at reboot.

I have received a lot of questions about how to keep homebridge alive when a Mac reboots or the service crashes for some reason. When this happens it can leave you without access to your non HomeKit devices and cause a lot of issues. To help solve that LaunchControl is a front end for controlling launchd which is used to auto launch applications or services and in this case I show you how to set it up to keep homebridge running at all times.

OwnCloud Part 3: File Sharing

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-04-02T14:44:29-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at OwnCloud as a macOS Server replacement and take a look at the File Sharing Service built Into OwnCloud. I cover how to upload and download files, browse the file sharing interface and the various features included in the application. OwnCloud offers a great option for file sharing and sync across your devices especially if you don't want your files public and want to control end to end how they are stored and the security of those files.

OwnCloud Part 2: Settings & Open Directory

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-03-24T14:40:34-07:00

In this screencast tutorial, I cover the basic settings found in OwnCloud and walk you through how to connect your OwnCloud instance to the Open Directory of your macOS Server. With Apple removing most of their server functionality I thought I would do some screencasts on possible server replacements. OwnCloud is a great solution in that it can replace many of the options you may have been using macOS Server for and has great sync services across all your devices. I will continue to cover more of these features in upcoming videos and will also take a look at other options as well. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a special request of something you would like me to look at.

Smart Home Part 5: Homebridge Harmony Hub Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-03-18T14:37:00-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up a Harmony Hub to run with Homebridge so you can control your devices using Siri and HomeKit.

If you haven’t viewed my previous screencasts please take a look at these below first before you view this screencast as I am building on the previous one’s:

Smart Home Part 1: Homebridge Installation & Set Up: https://youtu.be/iOgtOG4Nvc8

Smart Home Part 2: Homebridge Nest Device Set Up: https://youtu.be/T8vi4cN-JtE

Smart Home Part 3: Apple HomePod Review: https://youtu.be/KRDKwRERSkA

Smart Home Part 4: Logitech Harmony Hub Install & Set Up: https://youtu.be/-eKSaTD6J5I

Smart Home Part 4: Logitech Harmony Hub Install & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-03-12T13:53:33-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover another smart home tech product called the Logitech Harmony Hub. With all of the smart assistants out there for other household needs one of the things that can be forgotten about is our home entertainment centers. These usually include multiple remotes and can be a pain to manage. Logitech tries to fix the with a hub for your entertainment center that works as a universal remote and also controls other things like some of your smart home tech. It can also be integrated with other smart assistants like Amazon’s Echo to bring voice control to your home theater.

In this screencast I cover the installation and set up of the Harmony Hub to get you up and running with the device. In a future screencast I will cover how to integrate the harmony hub into your smart home set up.

As always thanks for you support. Please subscribe to get more of my content and like and favorite these videos so others can find them.

OwnCloud Part 1: Installation & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-03-05T13:51:06-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up an OwnCloud Server on your Mac to replace some of the services that will no longer be available in macOS Server as of June 2018.

I cover how to install and use an application called Docker (https://www.docker.com) to set up a virtual machine to run your OwnCloud Server inside. I also cover how to set up OwnCloud and get it launched and ready to configure.

If you find this content helpful please subscribe and hit that like button. Also if you have ideas for other shows or questions feel free to leave them below.

Smart Home Part 3: Apple HomePod Review

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-02-18T13:45:19-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I so a review and walk through of Apple’s new HomePod. I’m doing something different to try to introduce some of these devices with a combination of review and walk through to help you get an overall view of the product first to decide is you want it add it to your smart home and second if you do choose to pick one up, have a walk through of the set up and features. So let me know what you think!

The HomePod is Apple’s foray into the smart speaker market which has been dominated by Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Home. Where Apple is different is their attempt to selling the music side of the speaker first with voice assistant technology added in. This comes at a premium as the speaker comes at a $349 price tag and which is their only option while Echo and Google Home have a cheaper entry point. But once you listen to it you can hear that Apple has put a lot of tech into the HomePod. The other advantage is being able to use Siri with Homekit out of the box is a huge plus and is of particular interest to our topic of looking at smart home technology to help us control our smart home devices.

In this screencast we will walk through he unboxing, set up and testing of the HomePod to see if it fits in your own Smart Home set up.

As always thanks for your support. If like my screencasts please like, favorite and share them with others. As always thanks for all your support.

macOS Server WebDAV Replacement

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-02-10T13:39:22-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I start a series I will be doing from time to time on how to replace components of macOS Server since Apple’s announcement of the change of focus to being more of a Mobile Device Management Solution instead of a full server. If you missed that previous screencast you can see it at the link below along with a link to Apple’s announcement.

In this screencast I cover an application that takes care of an issue users of the current version of macOS Server have been having and that is connecting to their WebDAV Shares. Apple deprecated the service in the most recent release and it has caused some issues for many people. I found a great application that takes care of all the headaches of configuring the server and that is WebDAVNav Server by Schimera Pty Ltd.

In this screencast I cover how to set the server up, how to connect to it on your local network and remotely using Safari and Documents by Readdle Software. They also have a WebDAV Nav+ App which let’s you browse your shares as well on iOS devices.

As always thanks for your support. Please subscribe like and share so others can find these screencasts.

macOS Server: The Future of Apple's Server Product

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-01-29T13:56:52-08:00

Well Apple made a big announcement this week for it’s Server Product (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208312). It is changing direction to move the current product towards Mobile Device Management and storage management and away from traditional server services. This means Apple is deprecating most of the server product including:

-Calendar
-Contacts
-Mail
-Messages
-VPN
-Websites
-Wiki
-DHCP
-DNS
-NetInstall

They did provide potential replacements for each service in their support article which means that more and more of our server builds seem to be moving towards SaaS or software as a service types of solutions instead of one nicely bundled software package.

In this screencast I walk through those changes with some thoughts on timing and some things you can do now to protect yourself from having your server go obsolete before you want it to in spring of this year. I also talk about the fact that I will be doing screencasts on the options you have going forward to help you make the transition.

It is a sad day for those of us who have loved the server interface and all that it had to offer but it is also an opportunity to learn new things and new ways of running server services on our Macs.

As always I will be here to help as best I can and will continue bringing your screencasts to help you learn to do more things with your Mac including server replacements, more on smart home set ups, and Apple software and hardware tutorials and reviews.

Thanks for all your support! I love exploring new software for Macs and this presents another great opportunity to grow!

High Sierra Server Part 11: Network Configuration: Non Apple Routers

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-01-19T14:11:16-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the basics of setting up some of your network settings to work with macOS Server using a Non Apple Router. I cover router considerations, how to set up a static DHCP reservation for your server, & how to check to make sure that reservations shows up in the right DNS fields to allow your server to function properly on your network.

High Sierra Server Part 10: Network Configuration-Apple Routers

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-01-14T14:08:46-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the basics of setting up some of your network settings to work with macOS Server using an Apple Router. I cover router considerations, how to set up a static DHCP reservation for your server, & how to check to make sure that reservations shows up in the right DNS fields to allow your server to function properly on your network.

High Sierra Server Part 9: Clean Install

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2018-01-06T14:06:46-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to do a clean install of your operating system and the Server application. There are times when starting over is necessary and the safest thing to do especially when things stop working! I show you how to prepare for the clean install and walk through the steps of what the clean install looks like.

Smart Home Part 2: Homebridge Nest Device Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-12-29T14:03:57-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at Homebridge and add Nest Devices to Homebridge and Homekit. The beauty of Homebridge is that it allows for this type of integration. It is not perfect but it does give access to your Nest Devices to use in some of your automation set ups and allows you to use Homekit and Siri to control those devices based on what Nest makes available.

Smart Home Part 1: Homebridge Installation & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-12-19T13:55:32-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up Homebridge to connect your non Homekit compatible devices to Homekit. Being in a place where there is no one system of home automation it can be difficult to set up in integrated smart home. There is Google’s Nest, Amazon Alexa, Homekit, etc. each with its own app and ways of doing things. What if you want to buy devices that are not from the same family and want them all to work with Homekit?

Homebridge is a lightweight server that runs in the background and acts like a bridge that Homekit can connect to and then display the feature of that device so you can control them with Siri or Homekit.

In this screencast I cover the initial installation and set up of Homebridge. In future screencasts I will cover how to set up specific devices like Nest devices to run on Homekit through Homebridge. I also plan to do a series on smart home devices and how to set them up for those who want to have an integrated smart home that can be controlled with your voice, a phone or other devices.

High Sierra & Server 5.4 Part 8: New Home Folder Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-12-01T10:32:39-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up network home folders that are stored on the server in macOS Server 5.4. In previous versions of server these home folders were originally set up in the file sharing service. Now that the service has been moved to the general macOS it is no longer available with file sharing itself.

Apple has moved the setting up of home folders into the server app in the Users tab. I walk through how to choose where to set up a home folder, how to set that home folder up, and how to select it to create the network home folder on your server.

As always thanks for watching! I hope these screencasts are helping you in your own server set up and if you find this video helpful please like, favorite and share it with others. Thanks for all your support!

High Sierra & Server 5.4 Part 7: Access Shares Remotely on iOS with VPN

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-11-17T10:31:05-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover another way to get around the issues that many have with webDAV being removed from the Server App. Many are still having issues with webDAV so I thought I would put together another work around to get access to your shares on your iOS devices.

In this screencast I show you how to set up VPN on your iOS device and use that to appear as if you are on your local network. This then will allow access to your file shares using an application like Documents by Readdle on the go.

If you find this screencast helpful, please subscribe, like, and add it as a favorite so others can find it. Thanks for all your support.

High Sierra & Server 5.4 Part 6: FTP Replacemet with SFTP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-11-11T10:29:31-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to replace FTP with SFTP. FTP has been removed from macOS Server in version 5.4 which has left many users looking for other options for uploading files to web servers.

In this screencast I cover how to set up SFTP which stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol which allows for FTP transfers over the SSH protocol which is more secure as it encrypts your data instead of sending it in the open. I cover the set up and how to add and retrieve files from your web server using the Terminal and Transmit or other FTP type applications.

As always thanks for your support. If you found the video helpful please subscribe and hit the like button below. Hope you have a great week!

High Sierra & Server 5.4 Part 5: WebDAV Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-11-05T10:27:38-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the changes made to iOS sharing and the WebDAV service in macOS Server 5.4. Apple made a number of changes that have caused a lot of confusion and the WebDAV service is one of them.

In this screencast I walk through how to use the command line wfsctl command to set up and manage WedDAV on your server. I also walk through each of the options available to manage it and show you how to connect to your shares via WebDAV on an iOS device.

As always thanks for your support. Please Subscribe, like and favorite this video to help others find it on the internet.

High Sierra & Serve 5.4 Part 4: File Sharing New Location

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-10-27T10:26:15-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the changes made to the file sharing service in macOS High Sierra and Server 5.4. Apple has integrated yet another server service into the main OS giving High Sierra more power in file sharing for all users regardless if they have the server app or not.

Luckily they did include the more advanced features of file sharing like ACL’s in the Server App itself. I will cover all of the changes to the file sharing service and a work flow for setting up your file shares in System Preferences and managing your permissions in the Server App.

As always thanks for your support! If you could subscribe, like and favorite this video it would help a lot!

High Sierra & Server 5.4 Part 3: Caching Server New Location

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-10-13T10:21:41-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the new caching service in macOS High Sierra. The service has been moved out of the server application and into the main OS in System Preferences.

I cover how to set up the caching service and all of the features included. There is also a hidden advanced options menu that I show you how to access and cover each of the items included in that hidden menu.

As always thanks for your support! Please like and subscribe to the channel for updates on future screencasts.

High Sierra & Server 5.4 Part 2: Time Machine New Location

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-10-06T14:25:40-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the first of many changes to High Sierra and Server 5.4. This week I take a look at a change that moves the Remote Time Machine backups out of the Server App and into system preferences on every macOS High Sierra System. I walk through how to set up the service and how to connect your Macs to the service to allow for wireless back ups.

The benefits of having Server for doing network Time Machine back ups has now moved out of the server and into the Mac itself. This solves a problem created Apple getting out of the router business which means that Time Capsules will not be developed anymore which leaves network back ups from Apple in the cold as far as Time Machine goes. By moving the service to system preferences so every Mac gets access to it, allows them to keep that part of the service and move out of the router business.

High Sierra Server Part 1: Server Upgrade

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-09-29T14:23:02-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I walk thru the upgrade process of moving from Sierra Server to High Sierra Server which is a point release to Server 5.4. If you haven’t upgraded to High Sierra yet, you may want to view my upgrade walk thru video first so you are up and running with High Sierra.

A word of caution! There are some significant changes to the server app with previous features being moved out of the server app to other places which means we don’t know how they function yet and how smooth a transition it will be during the upgrade. I would hold off on upgrading until I have had a chance to walk thru those features so you have a choice as to how you want to proceed with your own server.

macOS High Sierra Part 2: Upgrad Prep & Walk Thru

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-09-26T14:20:54-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the upgrade to macOS High Sierra. I cover things to do to prepare for the upgrade and walk you through the steps so you know what to expect with your own upgrade.

This upgrade does add the Apple APFS File system which is automatically upgraded on all SSD only Macs but is not added to Fusion drive or regular Hard Drive set ups.

Also if you are running macOS Server you will want to hold off on the upgrade until you see the upgrade screencast I will do showing you the changes so you can decide if the upgrade is for you.

iOS 11 Part 1: Upgrade & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-09-19T14:13:12-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the upgrade and set up of iOS 11. Today is launch day and as a result I thought I would dive right in and walk you through the upgrade process. The upgrade went very smoothly and only took about 15 minutes total! This is probably the shortest and smoothest upgrade I have done on my iPad!

I walk through each of the segments of the upgrade process and show you what I see on my screen. So far I am very impressed with the results and love what Apple has done to make the iPad more like a desktop in terms of multitasking and interactions between applications like drag and drop. I use my iPad Pro far more than any of my other Apple devices on a day to day basis save my iPhone. It is the most portable option and now is slowly taking care of the things that bothered me about it in comparison to my Mac!

macOS High Sierra Part 1: Safari, Notes, & Mail

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-09-15T14:07:17-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I take a look at some of the changes to the upcoming macOS High Sierra. With the release just around the corner, I thought I would take a look at some of the refinements made to macOS in the upcoming version.

In this screencast I look specifically at Safari, Notes, and Mail and some of the changes you can expect in each. Each of these applications have little touches done to them that remove some of the friction experienced in previous versions. Because it is a refinement, those features are not always obvious so I hope to show you what those changes look like so you can start using them right away on launch day.

File Manager Showdown Part 3: Pathfinder 7

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-09-08T14:00:52-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at file managers and this week take a look at Pathfinder 7 by Cocoatech (https://cocoatech.com). In my previous two screencasts I looked at Transmit 5 (https://youtu.be/gxTKReHdaAM) and Forklift 3 (https://youtu.be/t17qNc3BfcY) so you can check out those videos in the links provided. The previous two File Managers are pure ftp and file transfer applications that also happen to do a good job of viewing and managing your files on your Mac as a possible Finder replacement. This week we will look at an application that is built as a Finder replacement that happens to also do ftp and other file transfer protocols.

Pathfinder 7 includes so many features that I tried to give as much of an overview as I could but I know there are still features I didn’t have time to cover. The screencast gives you a great idea if Pathfinder is for you and covers the major features that make it unique in this space.

File Manager Showdown Part 2: Forklift 3

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-09-01T18:01:09-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I take a look at another File Management Application for macOS and that is Forklift 3 by Binarynights (http://www.binarynights.com/forklift/). Forklift 3 is an excellent file management application that includes tools for connecting to both local and remote services and has some great features like the menubar application that lets you upload documents on the fly, a compare, sync, rename, and synced browsing and many other features. I covered some of the core features in this screencast to give as good a comparison as I can between the different file management applications. So far our first two apps have held their own against each other and include some great file management features.

I will be looking at other file management software packages in this series to help you determine which one is right for you.

Thanks in advance for the support. Please subscribe, like, favorite and share these screencasts as they help others find them on the internet and help me know that you are enjoying them and want me to continue producing them.

File Manager Showdown Part 1: Transmit 5

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-08-25T18:00:25-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I start a series on comparing various file managers to help you determine which one is right for you. This week I take a look at the newly released Transmit 5.

Transmit 5 by Panic (https://panic.com/transmit/) is a very well designed and pretty file transfer application. It has everything you could want in a file transfer application including support for all of the major protocols and web services and features like file syncing, sync browsing, droplets for quick uploading, and many more. In this overview there are some features I wasn’t able to cover but we get most of basics down in this screencast.

Transmit does have an iOS application that syncs up with the desktop app making it seamless experience between the two. In fact of the applications we will review, Transmit is the only one with an iOS counterpart.

I will be looking at other file management software packages in this series to help you determine which one is right for you.

Thanks in advance for the support. Please subscribe, like, favorite and share these screencasts as they help others find them on the internet and help me know that you are enjoying them and want me to continue producing them.

Plotagraph+ Photo Animator

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-08-14T17:59:46-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover an app I just discovered recently that has become one of my favorite photo apps on my iPhone and iPad and that’s Plotagraph+. Plotagraph+ allows you to animate your photos to give them a video look and allows you to do things like animate clouds or water to help your photos come to life. It also includes easy export to your photo library and other social media. If you have ever wanted to animate your photos give Plotagraph+ a try.

As always thanks for watching. Please subscribe and like, favorite and share this video if you found it helpful.

Thanks as always for your support!

macOS Sierra Server Part 35: Creating Custom NetRestore Images

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-08-07T17:59:02-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to create and install your own custom NetRestore images to be deployed by macOS Server. I use an application called AutoDMG by Mager Valp (https://github.com/MagerValp/AutoDMG/releases/tag/v1.7.3) to create the images and then show you how to add those images to the NetInstall Service.

As special thanks to Jeffrey Battersby who has a great series on NetInstall over on Macworld (http://www.macworld.com/article/3073565/macs/how-to-master-the-netinstall-service.html)

As always thanks for watching! Please subscribe if you find the content helpful as it does help with people finding these screencasts and for me making more. Also, please like, favorite, and share these videos to get them out to others who might need them.

Thanks for your support and have a great week!

macOS Sierra Server Part 34: Creating Custom Packages for NetRestore

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-08-01T12:10:11-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to create your own custom packages to include with image restore files to be used with macOS Server NetInstall Service. To do this I take a look at two third party applications Packages by Stéphane Sudre (http://s.sudre.free.fr/Software/Packages/about.html) and CreateUserPkg by Mager Valp (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/createuserpkg/id540673598?mt=12).

I walk through how to use these applications to set up custom packages that we will use in the next screencast to create the image we want to use for our netRestore service.

Transmit iOS: My Favorite FTP App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-07-28T12:04:06-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover one of my favorite FTP applications for iOS devices and that’s Transmit by Panic Software. Transmit is a full fledged FTP application that lets you connect to local and remote servers via a number of protocol including FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV and let’s you take action of the files and folders you have on your remote servers and locally. I walk you through the set up and how to practically use the application including how to edit html from your website right inside Transmit for iOS. This application really is a great addition to iOS and is another example of the fact that the divide between the Mac and iOS is closing.

I'm also working on a desktop application showdown for File Managers that will include the Mac version of Transmit and other great FTP Applications. You can take a look at the Transmit 5 tutorial Here.

macOS Server Part 33: NetInstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-07-25T22:02:15-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the NetInstall service in macOS Server. I cover how to create a disk image, how to customize the image to fit your needs, and how to set up and use the service once you have everything configured.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Ulysses: My Favorite Writing App for Mac

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-07-21T21:58:55-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover one of my favorite writing apps not only for the Mac but across platforms and that’s Ulysses.

Ulysses is a markdown text editor that is a one stop shop for all of your writing needs. It includes simple to use writing tools that include clickable mark down prompts, an organizational library to keep all of your writing in one place, live preview of your markdown, various writing styles and an export feature making it easy to get your text into whatever format you need from plain text to html to epub. Check out this screencast and you will see why it is one of my favorite writing tools!

As always thanks for watching. If you find this video helpful please like, favorite, share and subscribe to help get the word out to others who may benefit from this walkthrough.

As always thanks for your support!

macOS Sierra Server Part 32: DHCP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-07-17T21:57:28-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the DHCP service in macOS Server. I cover pros and cons of using macOS Server's DHCP service as compared to a router. I also cover how to set up an Airport Extreme Base Station to work with server's DHCP service, walk you through all of the settings in the DHCP service, and cover how to set up static IP reservations for the clients on your network.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

macOS Sierra Server Part 31: FTP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-06-26T21:55:52-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the FTP service in macOS Server. The FTP service is not as secure as using SFTP but it can still work to transfer non critical files if you need a quick set up. I cover how to set the service up, open the appropriate ports for remote access (20, 21), and how to access those shares using the terminal and an FTP client.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

iStat Menus: My Favorite Mac Hardware Monitoring App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-06-23T21:47:11-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover another menubar application by Bjango Software called iStat Menus (https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/). Keeping track of what is happening with your Mac’s hardware is an important part of maintaining your Mac. This application gives you quick visual access to all of the sensors and applications you might need to troubleshoot issues with your Mac.

This application includes the ability to Monitor your CPU & GPU, Monitor your Mac’s Memory, Monitor your Mac’s Drives, Monitor the Network access of your Mac, Monitor your Mac’s sensors, Monitor your Mac’s battery, & Other Menu customizations.

This really is a great application and one I use on a regular basis.

As always thanks for watching and for your support. If you like this video please like, favorite, or share it with others. Also please subscribe to keep up on my latest video tutorials.

macOS Sierra Server Part 30: Wiki

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-06-19T21:45:54-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the wiki service built into macOS Server. I walk through the set up of your wiki webpage. Then I walk through the various screens and options found on the wiki website and give you an idea of how you might use this in your own server set up.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

PopClip: One of My Favorite Menubar Apps

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-06-16T21:42:15-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover another one of my favorite Mac Applications and that’s PopClip from Pilotmoon. PopClip is a menubar application that adds the pop up menus that show up in iOS applications and brings them to the Mac.

PopClip has a large library of exertions that can be added to the application to help you customize your menus with the extensions that fit you and your workflow best. PopClip has naturally shown up in a number of my screencasts and I have had people ask me about it all the time so I figured I’d do a screencast to show you what I am using.

As always thanks for all your support. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below.

If you find these videos helpful please like, share and favorite them and as always please subscribe to see more of my content. You can also find me at www.toddolthoff.com or you can email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

macOS Sierra Server Part 29: Websites

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-06-12T21:40:22-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the websites service built into macOS Server. I cover somethings to consider when looking at hosting your own website. I also cover using the built in server website and how to configure macOS Server to host your own website including DNS and the proper settings for your website.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

macOS Sierra Server Part 28: Software Update

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-06-05T21:38:59-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I show you how to bring back Software Update as a service on your server. Apple had removed the service from the sidebar of the Server Application but kept it in the view menu so you could add it back to your server if you wanted to.

In this screencast I cover how to set up and run the Software Update Service from your Server including downloading and enabling updates for your Macs that come from your server instead of Apple’s servers.

As always thanks for your support. If you find these videos helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share them so others can find them on the internet.

Thanks again and have a great week!

BusyContacts: My Favorite Contacts App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-06-02T20:23:05-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover another one of my favorite Mac Apps and that’s BusyContacts by BusyMac Software. The contacts application that comes with a Mac is ok for what it does but it misses alot of customization for things that might be needed for a more robust contact management system. BusyContacts does a great job of adding features to your contacts that allows you to track your Contacts for things like appointments, social media and email or messages. Each of these things is visible with the contact so you can see where you have had contact with this person in the past and even what is happening now on Twitter.

As always thanks for the support. We hit over 20,000 subscribers yesterday and I am super excited to help you do more things with your Mac and iOS devices.

If you find this video helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet.

Thanks again and have a great week!

macOS Sierra Server Part 27: Profile Manager Devices & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-29T20:10:34-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I go over the Profile Manager Interface for managing devices and device groups. I cover each of the settings you can use to manage your devices and groups and walk through what each setting does. I also cover some basic strategies on when it is best to use groups to manage your settings instead of managing them on a per device basis.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

macOS Sierra Server Part 26: Profile Manager Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-22T20:47:44-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I go over the Profile Manager Interface for managing users and groups. I cover each of the settings you can use to manage your users and groups and walk through what each setting does. I also cover some basic strategies on when it is best to use groups to manage your settings instead of managing them on a per user basis.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

Spark: My Favorite Mac Email Client

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-20T20:13:23-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover another one of my favorite Mac Apps and that is Spark by Readdle Software. Spark is an application that started on iOS and made it’s way to the Mac. Spark has a nice interface and has a lot of features that make working with email simple and enjoyable (if that is even possible).

In this screencast I cover all of the features of Spark including setting up accounts, working with favorites and folders, adding signatures and swipe gestures to speed up your email processing, and a lot more.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and if you find this video helpful please like, favorite, share and subscribe to the channel so others can find it.

As always, thanks for all your support!

macOS Sierra Server Part 25: Profile Manager Overview

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-15T20:41:31-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I go over the Profile Manager Interface. I cover each of the tabs in the interface and explain what each section does. I then go through the restrictions and other settings you can use to fine tune your profiles and how they interact with your users and devices.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

Trickster: One of My Favorite Menubar Apps

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-12T20:12:58-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover another one of my favorite menubar applications, Trickster by Apparent Software.

Trickster allows you to have quick access to your recently used documents, folders and applications and can also track certain folders and display items you define such as all pdf’s or jpeg’s. This increases productivity and saves time from searching to find specific files or folders you have been working on.

I hope you like this application as much as I do! As always thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe. I am looking to do a tutorial every Monday and Friday now to bring you best of technical Mac tutorials on things like macOS Server and then regular Mac and iOS applications. If you have any suggestions or your own favorite apps, be sure to leave a comment below.

If you find these videos helpful please subscribe and be sure to share these with your friends by liking, favoriting, or sharing.

macOS Sierra Server Part 24: Profile Manager iOS Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-08T15:44:08-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your iOS devices to be managed by Profile Manager. By enrolling your devices you include them in your Open Directory and allow for remote management and installation of settings through profiles pushed to your iOS Devices by the Profile Manager Service.

I cover how to install the certificates including the order of installation and what you can do with your iOS Device from the my devices portal.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like personal help in setting up your server, feel free to contact me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite and/or share them so others can find them.

Bartender 2: One of My Favorite Menubar Apps

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-05T20:46:35-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover one of my favorite Mac Menubar Applications by Surtees Studios called Bartender 2 (https://www.macbartender.com).

Bartender 2 is a unique menubar application that cleans up your menubar. It allows you to hide certain menubar applications until you need them. With a click or keyboard shortcut the Bartender menubar shows up and displays all your hidden menubar items giving your more room on your menubar which is especially needed for laptops or smaller screens the don’t allow as many menubar apps to be displayed. It also has a built in search for your menubar items and various ways to customize and organize your menubar applications.

I hope you like this application as much as I do! As always thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe. I am looking to do a tutorial every Monday and Friday now to bring you best of technical Mac tutorials on things like macOS Server and then regular Mac and iOS applications. If you have any suggestions or your own favorite apps, be sure to leave a comment below.

If you find these videos helpful please subscribe and be sure to share these with your friends by liking, favoriting, or sharing.

Thanks as always for all your support and for being an incredible Mac Community!

macOS Sierra Server Part 23: Profile Manager Mac Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-05-01T15:35:15-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your Mac devices to be managed by Profile Manager. By enrolling your devices you include them in your Open Directory and allow for remote management and installation of settings through profiles pushed to your Macs by the Profile Manager Service. In this screencast I cover how to install the certificates including the order of installation and what you can do with your Mac from the my devices portal. I'll also cover how the device shows up in the Profile Manager Web Portal so you can see how the server MDM service allows you to manage your Macs.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like personal help in setting up your server, feel free to contact me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite and/or share them so others can find them.

Fantastical 2 Part 2: Preferences & Menubar App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-04-28T15:42:01-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the second part in my look at Fantastical 2. In Part 1 I covered the interface, setting up calendars, managing your calendars, and adding events. In Part 2 I cover the preferences available to customize the application to the way you want it. I also cover how to print your calendars and how to use the Menubar App.

As always thanks for you support! I will be continuing the server seres as well but wanted to put together some new content for those of you who have mastered Server from previous screencasts.

If you find the screencast helpful please like, favorite, share and subscribe to my channel so others can find it on the internet.

Fantastical 2 Part 1: Overview

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-04-24T15:39:18-07:00

In this screencast tutorial, I share another one of my favorite Mac Apps. This week I am looking at Calendar applications and my favorite by far is Fantastical 2 by Flexibits.

Fantastical 2 started out as an iOS app and then made it’s way over to the Mac. It uses natural language and then automatically parses it into a calendar event. It also has some great views of your calendar and some features that let you set up particular calendar sets for various environments. In part 1 I cover the overall interface, how to set up calendars and calendar sets, and how to add events to your calendars by using the keyboard and dictation. In part 2 I will cover some of the other preferences you can set and the menu bar application that comes built into Fantastical 2.

As always thanks for you support! I will be continuing the server seres as well but wanted to put together some new content for those of you who have mastered Server from previous screencasts.

If you find the screencast helpful please like, favorite, share and subscribe to my channel so others can find it on the internet.

macOS Sierra Server Part 22: Profile Manager Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-04-17T10:25:01-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Profile Manager service. I walk through each of the steps and requirements for getting started with Profile Manager. In future screencasts I will walk you through the complete set up of all of the Profile Manager components.

As always thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful please like, favorite and share it with others.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below.

macOS Sierra Server Part 21: Mail

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-04-10T10:21:48-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Mail Service in macOS Server. I cover the various options for setting up email, how to set up email for a home user including things to consider before running a mail server, how to set up the appropriate records at your domain registrar, and each of the settings available in macOS Server’s mail service.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

macOS Sierra Server Part 20: Messages

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-04-03T10:20:30-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your own Messages service in macOS Server. I cover how to configure the service to host your own private chat server. I also cover some fixes that you may need to do through the terminal to get the Messages Service working for you and then show you how to configure your client to make it work.

As always, thanks for watching! If you enjoyed the tutorial please like, favorite and share its others can find it.

macOS Sierra Server Part 19: Calendars

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-03-27T10:19:07-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Calendar Service in macOS Server. I cover all of the settings, how to set up locations and resources, how to add events and invite users, and the difference between individual and shared calendars.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below.

If you found this screencast helpful, please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks for all your support:).

macOS Sierra Server Part 18: Contacts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-03-20T10:16:42-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Contacts Service in macOS Server. I cover how to set up and start the service, how to add the service to your clients, how to search your directory on the server, and how to have a shared contacts account for all your users.

As always thanks for your support. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

If you find this tutorial helpful, please like, favorite or share this tutorials so others on the internet can find it. Thanks for all your support:).

MacOS Sierra Server Part 17: Caching Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-03-13T09:41:13-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Caching Service in macOS Sierra Server. The caching service allows you to cache any updates or downloads from the Mac, iOS, or iBook stores on your server and have users on your local network get their updates from your server instead of downloading another copy which saves time and bandwidth on your network. In this tutorial I cover each of the settings and demonstrate how it works.

If you find this tutorial helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

Things Part 2: Workflows (My Favorite Task Management App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-03-06T09:39:20-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my series on My Favorite Apps by looking at workflows associated with my favorite Task Management App: Things by Cultured Code (www.culturedcode.com).

I cover how to integrate things into the charing services and widgets on your Mac. I also show how to set up sync and use Things between your Mac and iOS devices including integrating Siri into your workflow.

As always thanks for you support! I will be continuing the server seres as well but wanted to put together some new content for those of you who have mastered Server from previous screencasts.

If you find the screencast helpful please like, favorite, share and subscribe to my channel so others can find it on the internet.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 16: VPN

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-02-27T09:37:59-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the VPN Service in Sierra Server. I cover all of the settings needed to set up your own VPN including the difference between setting up a .private and registered domain VPN. I also cover how to set up a client to use the VPN service.

If you find this tutorial helpful, please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to help you. Thanks for all your comments and support!

MacOS Sierra Server Part 15: Time Machine

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-02-20T09:36:42-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Time Machine Service built into macOS Server. The service built into Server is to back up the client machines you have on your network to a central location. I cover how to set the service up and how to connect your clients to the server’s back up drive. I also cover how to monitor your client back ups using the server app.

As always thanks for watching! If find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite, and share them so others on the internet can find them.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 14: Connect to File Shares-iOS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-02-13T09:35:24-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to connect to your file shares on iOS devices. I cover the new iOS share feature in macOS Server and how to set it up. I also cover how to connect to the new iOS sharing feature and how to connect using the old WebDAV standard.

As always thanks for watching! If find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite, and share them so others on the internet can find them.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 13: Connect to File Shares-Mac

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-02-06T09:33:59-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to connect to the file shares we set up in the previous screencast. I cover how to connect on a remote machine, how to add that share to your login items so it auto mounts each time you reboot, and how to monitor and disconnect those who are mounted to the shares on your server.

Sorry for the delay in getting a show out last week. I had my licensing exams this past week which I had to study for and got behind (I did pass though so yay for that!).

As always thanks for watching! If find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite, and share them so others on the internet can find them.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 12: File Sharing Permissions

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-01-23T09:32:14-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to work with file permissions in macOS Server. I walk through defining POSIX and ACL permissions and how they work. I then go through each of the permissions available to set in the macOS Server interface and some basic best practices for setting up your permissions.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to answer them.

If you found this screencast helpful, please like, favorite, and share it so others on the internet can find it. Thanks for all your support:).

Things Part 1: My Favorite Task Management App

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-01-16T09:29:55-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I start a series on the Apple Apps I like the best and use on a regular basis. You guys asked for it so I’m going to make it happen!

Today I start with my favorite Task Management Application called Things by Cultured Code. Things is a simple and elegant task management solution that fits my workflow. It has just enough organization and features but not too many to get me caught up spending too much time setting up my task management system instead of actually getting things done. I will cover things in a multiple part series to show you how to use the app and see how it plays out in a real workflow.

As always thanks for you support! I will be continuing the server seres as well but wanted to put together some new content for those of you who have mastered Server from previous screencasts.

If you find the screencast helpful please like, favorite, share and subscribe to my channel so others can find it on the internet.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 11: File Sharing

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-01-09T09:26:41-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the File Sharing Service on macOS Server. I cover how file sharing works, how to specify how you want to share your files, and who has permission to do what with those files and folders. I also cover how to set up home folders on the server so users can sign into any computer on your network and have their own home folders and desktop show.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to answer them.

If you found this screencast helpful, please like, favorite, and share it so others on the internet can find it. Thanks for all your support:).

Eero Mesh Wireless Review

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2017-01-03T16:07:05-08:00

Eero: https://eero.com
I live in a home with three boys who are all tech savvy like their dad. They love to play online games and stream video at the same time. This takes a big toll on my network and I was having some major issues with slower speeds down by my television which has an Xbox One, AppleTV, Roku, Yamaha Receiver and Panasonic TV connected to an old AirPort Extreme Base Station what was extending my wireless network. Having read about mesh networks and after hearing that Apple was most likely no longer developing their router business, I decided to go on a search for a mesh system that would take care of all of my issues.

I read reviews about the various systems and had narrowed my search down to the Orbi by Netgear which was getting some great reviews for speed and throughput, and the Eero which was highly recommended by Dave Hamilton from the Mac Observer and by David Sparks and Katie Floyd over at the Mac Power Users Podcast. After much research and looking at the options, I decided to go with the Eero due to it's frequent updates, great customer service (which I called before I bought) and it's great configuration app (though it does have an issue which I hope will be resolved in the next update). I was able to get the Eero three pack for $100 off and had some Best Buy gift cards which brought the price down for me. It is the more expensive option at retail so keep that in mind as you research the various solutions.

Unboxing
The Eero's packaging is on par with something you would get from Apple. The nice slide out box with foam padding to protect the top of the Eero's along with the customized cut outs for each Eero that include a cover telling you more about the Eero and a premium looking power cable with an Ethernet cable thrown in really make a great first impression. The whole package screams premium device and does raise your expectations from the start.

Installation and Set Up
Installation of the Eero's was a snap. You install the application on your iPhone or other device, create a login, verify your login with a code that is texted to you and then follow the onscreen directions to setting up your Eero network. The recommendation is that each Eero is either in line of site or that you limit the obstructions between Eeros to create the best coverage for your network. In my home my modem is on the second floor next to my computer desk on one side of my home. I put an Eero there, plugging in the modem to the Eero. I added a Netgear switch as, one of the disadvantages of the Eeros is that they each only have two ethernet ports. With the switch connected I could add all of my devices on desk but it does add an additional item to have on my desk.

Once the cables were all plugged in, I plugged the modem and the Eero back in and let them boot up. As soon as the devices were booted up, the app located the Eero and started the network set up. It was a breeze to set up my new network and the wizard made it something that my dad could do with little fuss or risk of getting stuck.

Once the network was set up the app asked if I had other Eeros to set up. I plugged the next Eero in downstairs in my front room right below my first Eero. The Eero system uses the location of your device that has the app to automatically locate the second and third Eeros. Once the second Eero booted up the app found it and started configuring it. Once done I was greeted by a screen that said, "Boom! Your Eero is set up." I then went and located the third Eero by myth television where I was having the issues. I went through the same process and got the same result. The app does a good job of helping you know if you are locating the Eero in a place that is optimized for your home. In a set up I did for my dad, we were told a couple of times that our location was not optimal and we were able to move the Eeros to get them to the right spot for them to connect. Having that kind of analysis and help without having to experiment yourself really is a nice feature of the system set up.

I did a video walk through of this set up process if you want to see what each step looked like on my iPhone as I did it. You can view the video below:

Testing My New Eero Network
Once I had everything set up I went to the spot where I was having the most issues and did a speed test. Before my speeds would be half the speeds I would get at my Mac Mini connected directly to the router by ethernet. With the Eeros I was getting just about full speed, I say just about because ethernet still is the fasted speed you can get compared to wireless. I was excited. I noticed that the app would track which Eero I was connected to which was great to see how my devices would automatically switch to the strongest signal which would be the closest Eero.

My speeds were not any faster than before but they were fast in every spot in my home which is what I was after. Another benefit has been almost no drop off's or lags like I experienced with my previous set up. One of the biggest evidence of the change Eero had made came from my boys who do online gaming. They all stated they could tell the difference and they were excited about not having to worry about the bandwidth while playing their online games.

One of the advantages of getting a system like this is the blanketing of your network speeds across your home without having to worry about who is online when. This certainly has been my experience so far and I will continue to test but so far I am impressed.

Managing Your Network with the Eero App
The Eero application is where you do all the work to manage your network. At a glance you get a built in speed test that can be re-run at anytime just by dragging down on the home screen. It also shows each of your Eeros with the status of each. You are also greeted with the number of devices you have on your network and can drill into that list and see how each device is connected, the local IP address, MAC address and a space where you can give each device a nickname to make it easier to identify your network devices.

On the side is a menu that allows for setting up a guest network with a slider and a button that allows you to share the SSID and password with your guests via text or email making it easier to get people on your network without having to repeat your login credentials for each device your family wants to connect.

There is also a Profiles area that allows you to set up different profiles for the devices you want to manage on your network. This comes in handy if you have kids like I do and you can't seem to get them off their devices to get them to dinner or to leave for school. With profiles, I set one up for the kids for instance and add each of their devices to the profile. I then had the ability to turn off network access for all of those devices or set time limits for when access is allowed. This can be done on a device by device basis as well, but it is nice to have a group where you can shut everything down for them at once while still keeping your own access working.

Finally there is an advanced area where you can do most of the things you would need to do for things like running a macOS Server. There is a space for DHCP reservations (which I promptly set up for my server). These reservations are limited to one local range so the 10.0.1.3 that I use in my server tutorials won't work and needs to be changed. There is also a place to set up custom DNS which I also did for my server as the primary DNS entry and OpenDNS for the second one which adds the filtering I use across my network. For port forwarding you do this on a per device basis so I used my server and forwarded the necessary ports needed for my various server services. There is also built in Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) which you can enable or disable as well which allows devices like game consoles to automatically configure the access they need.

Overall most of the settings I am used to using on a frequent basis are present in the Eero app. I do miss the integration of my Apple Router with the macOS Server app where ports are opened automatically. Radius is also not available as it is with the AirPort Extreme Base Station but I wasn't using that myself anyway.

In using the app I stumbled across the fact that I could remotely change ports or configure my server without having to be on my local network. Now that was an advantage on one hand especially where I forgot to forward a needed port while on the road and was able to just open it. On the other hand, this does pose a security issue in that losing your device could potentially lead to someone having control of your network but they would have to have your password to get in. I hope that Eero does implement Touch ID on the app itself instead of just relying on the main login for protection.

To give you an idea of how to each setting looks and work I did another video walk through. You can view that video below:

Conclusion
So far I would say the Eero system has lived up to the hype for me. I was so impressed with my own experience and the simplicity of set up and managing the network that I installed one in my dad's home the follow week while we were visiting as he was having terrible wifi issues. As I experienced in my own home, Eero took care of his issues and he was getting more than double the speeds he had previously in his trouble spots in his home.

So is Eero for you? Or should look into another system? That all depends on your situation and the issues you may be experiencing with your own network set up. If you like to tweak every setting and have more control over your network and router then Eero is not for you. They are rolling out features but so far there are still features missing from other modern routers. If you don't fit that category however, I would seriously consider giving Eero a try!

MacOS Sierra Server Part 10: Bind Clients to the Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-12-26T15:32:07-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to bind a Mac to your server. I walk through the settings you need to make sure are in place on your server to allow for an authenticated bind. Then I walk through the actual binding process and show what to put in each field to make the bind work.

As always thanks for watching! If find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite, and share them so others on the internet can find them.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 9: Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-12-12T15:30:59-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the users and groups accounts on your server. I cover the difference between local and local network users, how to set up a new user, and the various settings for users and groups such as global password policies and access to services.

As always thanks for watching! If find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite, and share them so others on the internet can find them.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 8: SSL Certificates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-12-05T15:21:39-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the Certificates Service built into macOS Server. I cover what SSL certificates do, the differences between self-signed & verified certificates, how to secure your services with SSL, the different types of certificates you can create in macOS Server, and how to purchase and set up a third party verified SSL certificate.

As always thanks for watching. If you find this tutorial helpful please like, favorite, and share it so others can find it on the internet. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer it.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 7: Open Directory

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-11-28T11:02:14-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up an Open Directory for your macOS Server. I cover why you might want to set up an Open Directory, how to set up an OD for the first time, how to back up your OD, and the difference between network and local accounts.

As always thanks for watching. If you find this tutorial helpful please like, favorite, and share it so others can find it on the internet. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer it.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 6: DNS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-11-21T10:37:48-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up custom DNS on macOS Server. This is different than past DNS screencasts in that I show how to change the DNS automatically set up by the server app so that you can have a primary host domain that will allow things like www without the server prefix after it. I also show how to use a Dynamic DNS provider to keep your public ip in sync with your server.

As always thanks for watching! Please be sure to subscribe, like, share, and favorite this screencast if you found it helpful so others can find it as well!

MacOS Sierra Server Part 5: Port Forwarding

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-11-14T10:32:24-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up port forwarding on macOS Server. I cover the basics of port forwarding and how it works on your network. I also cover how to set up and use port forwarding with the built in service with macOS Server and how to do it manually if you don’t have an Apple Router.

As always thanks for all of your support! If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 4: Network Configuration

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-11-07T10:29:54-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the basics of setting up some of your network settings to work with OS X Server. I cover router considerations, how to set up a static DHCP reservation for your server, & how to check to make sure that reservations shows up in the right DNS fields to allow your server to function properly on your network.

As always thanks for all of your support! If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 3: Server Install & Initial Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-10-31T21:38:16-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to install Server 5.2 and walk through the initial set up. I cover the entire server tab including how to determine what kind of server you want to set up, either local, VPN remote access, or registered domain name access. I then cover the rest of the server tabs and get you ready to set up the other services on your server.

As always thanks for your support. If you find this video helpful please subscribe, like, favorite, and share it so others on the internet can find it.

MacOS Sierra Server Part 2: Complete Server Uninstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-10-24T21:34:11-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to completely uninstall macOS Sierra Server. Simply dragging the server app to the trash does not uninstall all of the settings and components and will cause you to see a reinstall of server pick up previous settings. In this screencast I show you how to clean up all of the items server leaves behind so you truly start with a clean install of server without having to do a clean install of the whole OS.

As always thanks for watching and for all of your support. If you find this video helpful please like, favorite and share it with others.

Also, subscribe to my channel as I will put weekly content out including some upcoming series on my favorite apps!

MacOS Sierra Part 3: Clean Install macOS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-10-10T11:24:38-07:00

In this screencast I walk you through how to do a clean install of macOS Sierra. For those of you who may want to start over due to either many years of upgrades or due to issues you may be experiencing, I show you how to do a clean install step by step. I show each of the screens as they come up as well as letting you know how long it takes for each step of the process to finish.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.

If you find these videos helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share them so others can find them on the internet.

Thanks for all your support!

MacOS Sierra Part 2: Cloud & Document Sync

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-10-03T11:23:13-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover setting up and using the new iCloud Document Sync feature built into macOS Sierra. I cover how to prepare your Mac for the document sync, the other space saving features that are available on the About My Mac-Storage section and walk you through the process of a first time sync.

I did encounter some delays in uploading and had to restart my Mac several times to get the process to finish the original sync. So if you find it is not finishing with cloud icons next to your files and it saying it has to upload more files, then try a restart and see if that helps.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any comments or questions feel free to leave a comment below. Also please Like, favorite, share and subscribe so others can find this video on the internet.

Have a great week!

MacOS Server 5 Part 1: Server Upgrade

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-09-26T11:21:56-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the upgrade to MacOS Server 5 on MacOS Sierra. In this screencast I previously upgraded to Sierra and I do a walkthrough of the upgrade process and cover some of the changes made in this release. I will do an in depth walkthrough of each of the services that received updates in future screencasts but wanted to make you aware of where the changes are.

As always thanks for watching! If you find this video helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet.

MacOS Sierra Part 1: Upgrade Walk Through

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-09-20T11:20:26-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I walk through the upgrade to MacOS Sierra. With this being upgrade day I wanted to make sure I got a video out on day one of the upgrade process so you knew what to expect. I show you step by step my own experience and what you can expect from your own upgrade process.

As always thanks for watching. Be sure to subscribe, like, favorite and share this view so others can find it on the internet.

Upgrading to iOS 10: A Step by Step Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-09-13T11:18:46-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I take you through a walkthrough of the upgrade to iOS 10. With this being launch day I wanted to get this out quickly so some of the live video recording is a little shaky so I apologize for that but hopefully the timing will help you get a good idea of what to expect when updating your iOS devices.

There has been some talk that doing an over the air upgrade could have some problems so you might want to plug it into your Mac to do the upgrade just in case. In my case over the air worked fine but thought I would report what I have heard.

If you find this video helpful please favorite, like and share it so others can find it on the internet.

Thanks as always for all your support! Happy upgrading!

Mac Productivity Part 3: iOS to Mac Printing with Printopia

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-09-12T11:16:49-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover a Mac System Preferences Application called Printopia. Printopia allows you to set up and manage different print options that will show up on your iOS devices and other Macs on your network. Not only does it allow for setting up physical printers, it also allows you to set up workflows for sending files to your desktop or to a specific folder or application. The great part about the app is that it is zero configuration on your iOS device. All of the places you set up to print show up automatically on your iOS device when on the same network. You can see more about Printopia here:

https://www.decisivetactics.com/products/printopia/

As always thanks for watching and for all of your support. Please subscribe, like, share and favorite this video to help others find it on the internet.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

Mac Productivity Part 2: Yoink 3

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-09-06T11:14:24-07:00

4 Yoink Icon

In this screencast tutorial I pick up a series I started over a year ago on Mac Productivity. This week I cover an application that improves on moving files around your Mac called Yoink. Yoink is a menubar application that allows you to have a holding place for the files you want to move so you can get to the place you want them to be and then easily move them into place. It also has other automated actions that make it a joy to work with.

As always thanks for watching! If you found this video helpful please like, favorite, share, and subscribe so others can find it on the internet.

Also if you need help setting up your own Mac or Mac Server feel free to email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

Thanks as always for all your support!

iOS 10 Beta Part 2: Home, Clock & News Apps

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-08-29T11:06:45-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at some of the new features of the iOS 10 beta. I cover the new Home app which brings Apple’s home kit to the front and gives it an app to allow for easy access. I also cover some interesting changes to the clock app that integrates with health kit and the changes to the News application.

As always thanks for all of your support. If you find the video helpful please like, favorite and share it with others so it can be found on the internet.

Also please be sure to subscribe to be notified of other upcoming videos!

If you have any questions or would like help with any of your Mac needs feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email at todd@toddolthoff.com.

Thanks for watching!

iOS 10 Beta Part 1: Installation & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-08-22T16:32:45-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to install the iOS 10 Beta on your device so you can test it out before it’s upcoming release this fall. I cover the importance of backing up your iOS device so you can restore later is needed. I also walk through the sign up and install process to get you up and running with Apple’s new OS for iOS devices.

As always thanks for watching and for all of your support. If you find this video helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet.

PLEX Part 8: PLEX Pass-Home & Parental Controls

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-08-15T16:29:06-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the home accounts and parental controls that come with the PLEX Pass. Having the ability to set up separate user accounts so thing like your viewing location and media you have or haven’t seen yet will be accurate. There is also the advantage of setting up managed account for kids and other users in your household that are limited to the content they are allowed to view by rating.

In this screencast I walk you through how to set up managed accounts, parental controls and how to enable guest access for when you have friends or family over.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to respond and answer any questions you may have.

PLEX Part 7: PLEX Pass-Sync Features

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-08-08T08:21:12-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the sync features that are a part of the PLEX Pass. I cover the cloud sync features that would be used if you wanted to have access to your media but didn’t want to keep your PLEX Server running at home. I then cover the sync features that allow you to download content to your devices so you can view them offline. Finally I cover the photo upload feature of PLEX that will automatically upload your photos to your PLEX Server.

As always thanks for watching. If you find this video helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you. Thanks for all you support!

PLEX Part 6: PLEX Pass-Music Features

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-08-01T08:22:53-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at PLEX and start the process of looking at some of the premium features that are a part of the paid PLEX Pass.

This week I start by looking at the more advanced music features included with a PLEX Pass including Audio fingerprinting, lyrics, plex mix, mood mix and mobile sync and cloud sync (which I will cover in more depth in a future screencast).

As always thanks for watching. I you find this video helpful please like, favorite and share so others on the internet can find it.

PLEX Part 5: Accessing Your Media Remotely

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-07-24T08:21:16-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to access your PLEX media when you are away from your PLEX Server. I show you how to make sure port forwarding is set up correctly. Then I walk you through the set up on your iOS device using the PLEX App.

Thanks so much for watching. As always if you have any questions feel free to leave them below.

Please be sure to like, favorite and share this video so others can find it on the internet.

Thanks again for all your support!

PLEX Part 4: Sharing Features

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-07-17T08:19:37-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover some of the sharing features built into PLEX. I cover how to save media from the web to your PLEX server to watch later. I also cover how to invite friends to share your PLEX library or specific libraries you want to share.

As always thanks for watching. If you this video helpful please like, share and favorite it so others on the internet can find it. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below.

PLEX Part 3: Working with Metadata

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-07-11T08:12:26-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to fix any metadata that may not have come out correctly or didn’t get a match from the PLEX data collectors. I walk through each of the settings in the edit pane and talk about the importance of file naming for creating a more accurate match.

In the next screencast I will look at the various settings available in the PLEX interface including how to set your PLEX Media Server to be accessible anywhere.

As always thanks for watching. If you find this video helpful please like, favorite and share it with others so others can find it on the internet.

PLEX Part 2: Adding Your Media

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-07-04T08:08:53-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to add your media to PLEX. I walk your through adding movies, tv shows, music and photos as well as online channels that are included in PLEX. I also cover some the options available to for viewing and organizing your media in the PLEX Browser which makes your media available for online viewing.

In my next screencast I’ll cover how to work with metadata inside PLEX in case all of your media was not matched.

As always, thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful please like, favorite and share it so others will find it on the internet.

PLEX Part 1: Media Prep & Install

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-07-01T22:04:00-07:00

This week I decided to start a series on PLEX. PLEX is an application that works as a home media server. It takes all of your movies, TV shows, home movies, music, photos and other online media and pulls all of the metadata and presents them in an easy to use interface that is available not only at home but on all of your media devices. PLEX is available on Mac, PC's, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and on many smart TV's. Just about anywhere you can think of you can access your media through PLEX. It really is an incredible app that solves most of the problems people have with accessing their media whenever and wherever they want.

In this screencast I show you how to prepare your media to be accessed by PLEX so that it can accurately read the file names and then apply the right metadata. I also walk you through the initial sign up and install of the PLEX Media Server which needs to run on your Mac for all of your media to accessible through all of the PLEX apps. This will the first in an in depth series on PLEX where I plan to cover all of the features and walk you through how to get started.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them her on my blog or on my YouTube Channel.

OS X Server: Dynamic DNS Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-06-20T19:55:38-07:00

One of the questions I have received from many viewers is what to do with Dynamic DNS. When you host a server you really need a reliable public ip address if you are ever to access your server remotely. Typically you have a static ip address that never changes and you create records at your domain provider for your address (i.e. example.com) that point to the public ip of your server. That works great for servers when you have a static ip that never changes, but what happens when you have a dynamic ip?

For those who are home users who don't have a business tier, their public ip is leased to them for a period of time. Then when something happens like a reboot of the modem or a random update at their ISP, their public ip changes and then they are stuck unable to access their server until the are able to get home, figure out what the new public ip is and then make the change at their domain provider to get everything up and running again. This leads to being locked out of the server and causes problems.

There are a few services that provide updaters that run and update your ip address on a regular basis so they can keep your domain updated with your most current ip. This works great but then there is the confusion on how to set this up at the server level. So to help those of you with dynamic ip address get started and still run OS X Server, I decided to put together this tutorial. In this screencast I cover two types of services. The first, Dyndns provides a domain name that they let you set up and then provide services to allow remote access. There is a charge for this service and then they don't let you choose your own domain ending without paying an additional fee for hosted services.

The second service by Namecheap, allows you to use any registered domain to handle updating your DNS and this service is free. Namecheap states they do this because they feel you will like their service and move your domain to them. It is a great service that does an excellent job of keeping things up to date and the best part is it's free and you can use your own domain name.

I also cover a couple of apps you can run on your Mac that keeps your ip up to date with these services with IPMonitor being one of the best and easiest to set up for any of the services. I hope you enjoy this screencast and I will look at doing more on Dynamic DNS with things like mail and web hosting which normally isn't available as cleanly as it is when you have a static ip.

If you need any help with your own set up feel free to email me. I do server consulting and would love to help!

El Capitan Server Part 36: Xcode

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-06-13T16:51:46-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover a new service to OS X Server and that's the Xcode Server. I cover how to set up the service, get enrolled in the developer program, set up bots to test your code, and setting up and managing git repositories. Since I am not a coder I don't go into detail on each but just walk you through how to set it up and get it running.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

El Capitan Server Part 35: NetInstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-06-06T16:51:20-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the NetInstall service in OS X Server. I cover how to create a disk image, how to customize the image to fit your needs, and how to set up and use the service once you have everything configured.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

El Capitan Server Part 34: DHCP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-05-30T16:50:57-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the DHCP service in OS X Server. I cover pros and cons of using OS X Server's DHCP service as compared to a router. I also cover how to set up an Airport Extreme Base Station to work with server's DHCP service, walk you through all of the settings in the DHCP service, and cover how to set up static IP reservations for the clients on your network.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

El Capitan Server Part 33: Wiki

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-05-23T16:50:27-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the wiki service built into OS X Server. I walk through the set up of your wiki webpage. Then I walk through the various screens and options found on the wiki website and give you an idea of how you might use this in your own server set up.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

El Capitan Server Part 32: FTP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-05-16T16:49:45-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the FTP service in OS X Server. The FTP service is not as secure as using SFTP but it can still work to transfer non critical files if you need a quick set up. I cover how to set the service up, open the appropriate ports for remote access (20, 21), and how to access those shares using the terminal and an FTP client.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

El Capitan Server Part 31: Profile Manager Devices

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-05-09T14:10:02-07:00

El Capitan Server Part 30: Profile Manager Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-05-02T14:09:31-07:00

El Capitan Server Part 29: Profile Manager Overview

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-04-25T14:09:02-07:00

El Capitan Server Part 28: Profile Manager iOS Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-04-18T02:07:47-07:00

El Capitan Server Part 27: Profile Manager Mac Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-04-11T14:07:16-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your Mac devices to be managed by Profile Manager. By enrolling your devices you include them in your Open Directory and allow for remote management and installation of settings through profiles pushed to your Macs by the Profile Manager Service.

In this screencast I cover how to install the certificates including the order of installation and what you can do with your Mac from the my devices portal.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like personal help in setting up your server, feel free to contact me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find these tutorials helpful please like, favorite and/or share them so others can find them.

El Capitan Server Part 26: Profile Manager Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-04-04T14:06:51-07:00

El Capitan Server Part 25: Websites

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-03-27T14:06:28-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the websites service built into OS X Server. I cover somethings to consider when looking at hosting your own website. I also cover using the built in server website and how to configure OS X Server to host your own website including DNS and the proper settings for your website.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you found this screencast helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks so much for all of your support:).

El Capitan Server Part 24: Mail

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-03-21T14:06:05-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Mail Service in OS X Server. I cover the various options for setting up email, how to set up email for a home user including things to consider before running a mail server, how to set up the appropriate records at your domain registrar, and each of the settings available in OS X Server's mail service.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

El Capitan Server Part 23: Messages

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-03-14T14:05:41-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your own Messages service in OS X Server. I cover how to configure the service to host your own private chat server. I also cover some fixes that you may need to do through the terminal to get the Messages Service working for you and then show you how to configure your client to make it work.

As always, thanks for watching! If you enjoyed the tutorial please like, favorite and share its others can find it.

El Capitan Server Part 22: Calendars

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-03-07T14:05:13-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Calendar Service in El Capitan Server. I cover all of the settings, how to set up locations and resources, how to add events and invite users, and the difference between individual and shared calendars.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below.

If you found this screencast helpful, please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. Thanks for all your support:).

El Capitan Server Part 21: Contacts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-02-29T14:04:01-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Contacts Service in El Capitan Server. I cover how to set up and start the service, how to add the service to your clients, how to search your directory on the server, and how to have a shared contacts account for all your users.

As always thanks for your support. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

If you find this tutorial helpful, please like, favorite or share this tutorials so others on the internet can find it. Thanks for all your support:).

El Capitan Server Part 20: Caching Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-02-20T16:59:55-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Caching Service in OS X Server. The caching service allows you to cache any updates or downloads from the Mac, iOS, or iBook stores on your server and have users on your local network get their updates from your server instead of downloading another copy which saves time and bandwidth on your network. In this tutorial I cover each of the settings and demonstrate how it works.

If you find this tutorial helpful please like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

Photo of the Month: Minaret Sunset

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-02-18T10:57:52-08:00

I took this photo over the July 4th weekend. There had been a lot of rain in the Mammoth Lakes area and a friend and I decided to go to a lookout where we were told there was a great view of the Minaret mountains and usually great sunsets. So we went there and it was raining on and off but when the sunset broke, we got this spectacular view of the mountains and valley. This is a 5 exposure show blended in HDR Effects and edited in Lightroom. I shot this with my Canon 70D and Tamron 17-50 lens.

If you get a chance, like it over at 500px and leave a comment to let me know how you like it.

El Capitan Server Part 19: Software Update

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-02-15T20:13:13-08:00

In this screencast tutorial, I cover how to set up the built in Software Update Service. Software Update has been Apple's way of issuing updates to Macs, especially prior to the Mac App Store. Built into OS X Server is a Software Update Service that allows you to cache updates so your users download them from your server instead of Apple which limits the bandwidth needed for each user to download their own update. In this screencast I show you how to set up the service and some tips on how to customize it to fit your environment.

As you are deciding how to implement updates you may also want to take a look at the screencast I will be doing next week on the Caching Service as there is overlap between these two services and you may find that the Caching Service may be a better fit in meeting your needs for storing updates on your server. I will cover the pros and cons of each in the next screencast.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

El Capitan Server Part 18: VPN

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-02-08T20:11:12-08:00

Security is something many people are worried about lately. With exploits and hacks that have been created to steal our data, we all have to be concerned about protecting the typically ways that people can gain access to our computers. One way someone could hack your computer is through own wifi hotspots that are not secured. One way to protect yourself in coffee shops or airports where these hotspots are used is to use a VPN service to encrypt your communications back and forth on the internet.

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and it basically logs you into your home server and then encrypts you communications and routes them through your home network. This keeps hackers from being able to read what you are sending back and forth over the internet. Another benefit of using a VPN is the ability to connect to your home server remotely without the need of purchasing a host name. The beauty of using OS X Server instead of paying for a VPN service is that it only costs $19.99 with no other fees.

In the screencast I cover how to set up the VPN service in OS X Server. I also cover how to set up your devices to use the service.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I'll do my best to get back to you.

El Capitan Server Part 17: Time Machine

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-02-01T20:07:26-08:00

One of the benefits of running OS X Server is setting up a centralized back up workflow that allows your users to back up their machines to one drive on your network. Since most users have a difficult time remembering to back up their machines by plugging in their external drives and running Time Machine, it is important to find a set-it-and-forget-it solution to back ups. Built into OS X Server is a Time Machine Service that allows your users to back up to a centralized drive on your server that you select and they can do so wirelessly. This allows Time Machine to run on each computer automatically as if you had a dedicated drive connected to their computer. So without doing a thing all of your back ups take place on a regular basis and each is placed in a backups folder on the drive you select for back ups. It really is a great solution and works like a Time Capsule without having to worry about drive space since you can replace an external drive easier than the drive in a Time Capsule.

In this screencast I cover how to set up the Time Machine Service. I also cover how to connect your users to the back up, set a limit on the size of each back up, and how to monitor your back ups to make sure they are working properly. As always, feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

El Capitan Server Part 16: Connect to File Shares-iOS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-01-25T13:44:42-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to connect to your file shares on iOS devices. I cover the new iOS share feature in OS X Server and how to set it up. I also cover how to connect to the new iOS sharing feature and how to connect using the old WebDAV standard.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

El Capitan Server Part 15: Connect to File Shares-Mac

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-01-18T13:42:21-08:00

Photo of the Month: Convict Lake

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-01-17T16:14:11-08:00

One of my favorite places to visit is the Mammoth Lakes area of California. The combination of mountains, lakes, and great hikes really makes it a special place. One of the lakes in that area is Convict Lake. Convict Lake is special because in the morning the sun rises and hits the unique mountain that stands tall over the lake itself. The color is incredible especially as it reflects off the mountain and the water.

I got this shot over last summer. My family humored me by getting up before the sun came up and we all stood in the cold morning waiting for the sun. There are not usually too many clouds in the morning but in this case a storm had just passed creating the perfect conditions. This shot is a blend of 7 exposures. Enjoy!

Fixing OS X Webdav Connection Issue OS X Server 5

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-01-17T15:59:33-08:00

Recently I've had a few people contact me with issues connecting to their Webdav shares on their iOS devices since upgrading to OS X Server 5. In doing some research and working with one of my listeners I was able to find a solution that seemed to work for him and might work for you as well. It involves updating a coupe of files and forcing authenticated binding for Webdav. You can see the details in this Apple Support Article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202271 or just watch the screencast below.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel. If you find other fixes for issues you may be having with Server and would like to share them, please leave a comment here or email me.

Talking PLEX on Mac Power Users

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-01-11T13:48:41-08:00

I had the privilege of being on the Mac Power Users show this week to talk about one of my favorite Media Server Applications: PLEX. PLEX is a media player that allows you to share your media across all of your devices. What makes PLEX unique is that it will take just about any media you throw at it and it will find all of the metadata for that media and display it in a beautiful interface that is available across many different platforms including Macs, PC's, iOS, Android, Windows, Xbox, Playstation, televisions, etc. It really is a great way to have your media everywhere. Not only does it make all of this something that is easy to do, it also will transcode the media on the fly so it is available in the formate each device needs with very little buffering.

It was a lot of fun talking with my friends David Sparks (http://macsparky.com) and Katie Floyd (http://katiefloyd.com) about how PLEX works and some ways each of us uses PLEX. If you have never tuned into Mac Power Users I would highly recommend giving it a shot and listening in every week. David and Katie have a great way of talking tech in a practical way that also gives some great tips on ways to get the most out of your technology.

You can listen to the show on PLEX HERE.

You can subscribe to Mac Power Users HERE.

If you have any questions on PLEX feel free to leave a comment below. You can also view my series of tutorials on PLEX on my Youtube Channel. I am in the process of doing an update to the screencasts I did back in 2013.

El Capitan Server Part 14: File Permissions

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-01-11T13:34:57-08:00

One of the questions I have gotten a lot lately is how to deal with permissions and file shares. It can get confusing when trying to figure out how to set up customized folder and file access especially when you are nesting folders. OS X includes both the POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface for Unix) and ACL (Access Control Lists). POSIX has three basic permissions settings and ACL's have many options. Which one to use when and where is what can get confusing.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to work with file permissions in OS X Server. I walk through defining POSIX and ACL permissions and how they work. I then go through each of the permissions available to set in the OS X Server interface and some basic best practices for setting up your permissions.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to answer them.

El Capitan Server Part 13: File Sharing

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2016-01-04T13:30:36-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the File Sharing Service on OS X Server. I cover how file sharing works, how to specify how you want to share your files, and who has permission to do what with those files and folders. I also cover how to set up home folders on the server so users can sign into any computer on your network and have their own home folders and desktop show. Then I cover the basics of POSIX and ACL’s and where to make those changes in OS X Server.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to answer them.

El Capitan Server Part 12: Bind Clients to the Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-12-28T13:26:46-08:00

To get your network accounts to work on your server, you will need to bind your Macs that will need to take advantage of these accounts bound to your server. Binding a Mac to your server makes that Mac listed as a device that can then use the user data found in your Open Directory. It allows users to log into that Mac using their network accounts as they then become an option at the login screen.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to bind a Mac to your server. I walk through the settings you need to make sure are in place on your server to allow for an authenticated bind. Then I walk through the actual binding process and show what to put in each field to make the bind work.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

El Capitan Server Part 11: Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-12-21T13:24:02-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the users and groups accounts on your server. I cover the difference between local and local network users, how to set up a new user, and the various settings for users and groups such as global password policies and access to services.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

El Capitan Server Part 10: Open Directory

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-12-14T13:17:44-08:00

If you are running a server you will probably want to manage various user accounts to allow users on your network access to the services you are running on your server. You may also want to manage the various devices you have on your network to make setting them up more convenient. To do this, you will need to set up an Open Directory Master which is basically a database that holds all of your users, groups, and device data.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up an Open Directory for your OS X Server. I cover why you might want to set up an Open Directory, how to set up an OD for the first time, how to back up your OD, and the difference between network and local accounts.

As always thanks for watching. If you find this tutorial helpful please like, favorite, and share it so others can find it on the internet. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer it.

El Capitan Server Part 9: SSL Certificates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-12-04T15:34:55-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the Certificates Service built into OS X Server. I cover what SSL certificates do, the differences between self-signed & verified certificates, how to secure your services with SSL, the different types of certificates you can create in OS X Server, and how to purchase and set up a third party verified SSL certificate.

As always thanks for watching. If you find this tutorial helpful please like, favorite, and share it so others can find it on the internet. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer it.

El Capitan Server Part 8: DNS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-11-27T15:32:08-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the DNS service in OS X Server 5. I cover how DNS works, what each of the DNS records do, walk through two ways to set up your DNS, and cover how to test your DNS to make sure it is working properly.

As always thanks for all of your support! If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

El Capitan Server Part 7: Port Forwarding

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-11-20T15:28:39-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up port forwarding on OS X Server. I cover the basics of port forwarding and how it works on your network. I also cover how to set up and use port forwarding with the built in service with OS X Server and how to do it manually if you don’t have an Apple Router.

As always thanks for all of your support! If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

El Capitan Server Part 6: Network Configuration

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-11-13T15:28:03-08:00

El Capitan Server Part 5: Install & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-11-06T13:07:04-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I do a walk through of the install and initial set up of your server. I show you what the install process looks like from downloading the app from the App Store to launching it for the first time. I then cover the initial set up of your host name, computer name, the reachability service, settings, storage, and access tabs. You should be all set with your initial install by walking through the steps I cover in this tutorial.

As always thanks for your support. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Getting Started with iPhone Series

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-11-01T18:30:13-08:00

I wanted to share with you a project I have been working on over at Curious.com on Getting Started With Your iPhone. If you are new to the iPhone or just want to get up to date on the various features found on the iPhone this course might be of help to you or a family member. You can view the video by clicking the image below.

Thanks again so much for watching! I am very thankful to be a part of an incredible community!

El Capitan Server Part 4: Complete Server Uninstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-10-25T18:29:45-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to completely uninstall server in case you need to start over due to upgrade issues or just wanting to start over. I walk through all of the steps to wiping all of the server components from your Mac so you can start over. As always I recommend a back up just in case you delete something you shouldn’t by accident.

Thanks so much for all of your support. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below.

If you find this screencast helpful, please like, favorite, or share it so others can find it on the internet.

El Capitan Server Part 3: Clean Install OS X

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-10-16T18:28:57-07:00

In this screencast I cover how to do a clean install of OS X El Capitan. I cover how to prepare a USB Installer, how to wipe your hard drive using the new disk utility and walk you through the clean install step by step.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below. If you find the video helpful please like, favorite and share it so others on the internet can find it. Thanks!

El Capitan Server Part 2: Server Upgrade

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-10-06T18:28:11-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I walk you through the upgrade to OS X Server version 5.0. This version is the first version that does not require you to have the latest Mac OS so you can use it with Yosemite or El Capitan. It is also the first upgrade that is free if you have previously purchased it.

If you already have your server up and running as you like it and your server is mission critical then I would either wait to upgrade to see what issues might come up or make sure you follow the steps in my Preparing for the Upgrade to Server 5.0 screencast.

As always thanks for watching and for all of your support! If you find this video helpful please like, favorite, and share it so others on the internet can find it.

If you have any questions or would like to inquire about having me consult on setting up your own server please feel free to leave a comment.

El Capitan Server Part 1: Preparing to Upgrade

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-09-24T18:24:03-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the steps to take to prepare yourself for the OS X Server 5 upgrade. Apple has already released version 5 on the Mac App Store and has made this version to run on both 10.10 Yosemite and 10.11 El Capitan. So for the first time we have an OS X version independent server software.

In this screencast I cover your back up strategy including taking a look at time machine, a bootable clone using Cronosync, archiving your Open Directory and using Bender to back up all of your server files.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below. Also if you find this screencast helpful, please like, favorite and share it so others on the internet will find it.

Thanks for all your encouragement and support!

iOS 9 Update Step by Step Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-09-14T18:21:32-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the iOS 9 update and walk you through update step by step. I show you which devices are eligible for the update and walk you through the steps to launching iOS 9 for the first time.

As always thanks for watching. If you have any questions or need help, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Two Xbox One's In One House: How to Online Game as a Family

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-09-14T15:21:58-07:00

I thought I would write about something I don't generally write about much and that is gaming. My boys are really into playing online games with their friends through their Xbox One Console. They wanted to figure out if they could get another Xbox One and be able to play the same game together on separate consoles since most of the games these days don't do split screens or, if hey do it takes away from some of the action.
So we started our journey to figure out if this could be done. It should be pretty simple I thought. I went online to see if I could find the answer and I got a lot of confusion and nothing really clarified it for me. So in my own experimenting with this subject I thought I would put an article out there to hopefully help others in our situation not have to go through the frustration we did to find an answer. Before I get into the specifics, however, let me clarify the problem I'm trying to solve.

Xbox Live Family Sharing

Microsoft did attempt to solve some of the issues with wanting to set up your own family LAN party with it's new family sharing feature built into Xbox Live. This feature allows you to share your Xbox live account with anyone who has an account on an Xbox One that you are logged into. Not only can you share Xbox Live access, you also share all of your online games. Now this sharing feature is attached to the Xbox you consider your Home Xbox. In addition to this, your content that you purchased digitally follows you to any console you log into whether it be your home Xbox or not. In this case you could have two Xbox One's in the same household have your family member log into the Xbox One that is designated as your home Xbox and you could then log into the second Xbox and both play the same digitally purchased game on both consoles. Once you log out of that second Xbox, however, your content is no longer available to any of the players on that Xbox. So it only works on the Home Xbox One or it follows the Xbox Live owner. For many families this might work were you have family members who have their own Xbox One's that they use all the time. So you would have two Xbox One's but only need one copy of the game digitally. A pretty good deal if you only have two people.

Multiple Players Switching Between Two Xbox One's

In the case of our family there are 4 of us who play the two Xbox One's we have in two common areas of the house. Depending on what is happening that day, we never know who will be playing on what box and no one wants to be tied to one room or the other. In that case, there is no easy solution and it is more costly. We found that each box needs to have an Xbox Live account so that everyone can change between boxes whenever they want. This then becomes no different than what you could do before with adding two Xbox's to the home with the exception that you don't need one for every player in the house. If you want to play digital content, you still have to have the family member login to the home Xbox of the one who purchased the content and you go to the other Xbox to play which is still inconvenient. We just decided to buy two disk versions of the game to play seamlessly and at least we can sell them back in the future once we get tired of playing them.

So there really is no easy way to have two Xbox One consoles in your home and play back and forth with one game seamlessly. With all of the hoops we had to jump through it would have almost been easier to say get two complete set ups and go from there. It sure would have saved a lot of time and effort to get done what we set out to do in the first place. Hopefully this will help some of you out there trying to do the same thing.

iOS 9 Upgrade Part 2: Clean Install

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-09-04T15:15:51-07:00

With new iPhones around the corner many of you will be looking to sell your old iPhone in order to upgrade to the new one. To help you get your iPhone in order for selling or if you want to start with a clean slate, I put together this walkthrough on how to start over with your iPhone. This will completely erase your iPhone and put it back to factory settings so be sure to have a good back up or two. I have found that it doesn't hurt to have an iCloud backup and a back up on your local Mac through iTunes just to be safe. That way if your bandwidth is too slow you can always plug your iPhone into your Mac and do the restore tethered through your lightning cable.

As always if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel. I hope you enjoy the video and your new iPhone of course!

iOS 9 Upgrade Part 1: Backing Up with Phoneview

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-08-28T15:04:21-07:00

With the upcoming iOS 9 upgrade, I thought I would start a series on preparing yourself for the upgrade by making sure you have done a few things to be ready. The first thing is making sure you have a solid back up of all of your data. Now the traditional iCloud backup is probably enough for most people but if you have data that you are concerned about such as your text messages or phone messages then Phoneview is a great option for getting those things backed up.

The beauty of Phoneview is it will make archives of your phones information so you can get easy access to it. Every wished you could get a pdf of a text conversation you have had over time? Phoneview does that for you and allows you to view those messages even when your phone is not plugged into your Mac.

In this screencast I give you an overview of Phoneview and cover it's features in detail. I would highly recommend using a product like this just to make sure all of your important communications are backed up and accessible outside of your phone. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X El Capitan Beta Part 4: Maps & Notes

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-08-21T20:08:21-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at some of the changes in OS X El Capitan. I cover the changes to the Apple Maps Application and some major changes made to the Notes Application which makes it a more powerful tool for tracking not only your notes, but checklists, tasks, and even photos and documents. In all of this remember this is beta software which means what is covered here is subject to change with either features being added or taken away. Otherwise, enjoy a look at the future.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

OS X El Capitan Beta Part 3: Safari & Mail

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-08-14T20:06:33-07:00

Moving on in our look at OS X El Capitan Beta, I take a look at the updates made to Safari and Mail. Each of these applications have been given some refinements in the beta that remove some annoyances most of us have in using them. On the Safari side there is the ability to pin tabs that you use most and global volume mute among other things. For mail you can finally go out of a compose window in fullscreen and can even compose two emails at one time.

In this screencast I walk through all of the changes in the current beta to give you and idea of how they work. Because this is beta software these updates could change or more features may be added before the final release. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X El Capitan Beta Part 2: New System Features

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-07-28T20:03:16-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I walk through some of the system level changes included in the OS X 10.11 beta (remember this is a beta so changes can and will still happen). I cover the changes to mission control, split view, disk utility, spotlight and other small changes.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

OS X El Capitan Beta Part 1: Dual Boot Installation

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-07-20T20:02:31-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to install the OS X El Capitan Beta side by side with your existing Mac set up. This has the advantage of speed and doesn’t delete your existing OS X set up as you will be running it in a dual boot format. I cover how to partition your drive, download the beta, and then walk through the installation process.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

OS X Server Part 35: Mobile Accounts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-07-18T20:01:47-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up mobile accounts with OS X Server. I cover how to use profile manager to set up the mobility payload with all of the necessary settings. I then walk you through how to set up the mobile accounts on a client machine.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

OS X Server Part 34: Xcode

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-07-11T20:01:19-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover a new service to OS X Server and that's the Xcode Server. I cover how to set up the service, get enrolled in the developer program, set your test macs to point to your server, set up bots to test your code, and setting up and managing git repositories. Since I am not a coder I don't go into detail on each but just walk you through how to set it up and get it running.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

OS X Server Part 33: NetInstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-07-04T19:59:50-07:00

OS X Server Part 32: DHCP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-06-23T19:59:22-07:00

OS X Server Part 31: FTP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-06-16T19:58:16-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the FTP service in OS X Server. The FTP service is not as secure as using SFTP but it can still work to transfer non critical files if you need a quick set up. I cover how to set the service up, open the appropriate ports (20, 21, and you may need to open 49152-65535 for remote access), and how to access those shares using the terminal and an FTP client.

As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

If you would like me to consult with you in setting up your server I can do that remotely. Just email me at todd@toddolthoff.com.

OS X Server Part 30: Wiki

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-06-12T13:07:24-07:00

OS X Server has a built in wiki service that allows you to host your own wiki website. For many users the wiki website will be all they need for their own private website that can be used for collaboration. The website lets you add a blog or wiki, have a web calendar, and host and share documents that you can access over the web or through WebDAV on your iOS devices. Most aspects of the site are customizable so you can tweak it to make it your own.

In this screencast I walk through the wiki service and show how to set it up and some of the basic services available. I also walk through some of the customization options to show you the possibilities in making the wiki work for you. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment below and I'll get back to you.

OS X Server Part 29: Websites

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-06-05T12:18:51-07:00

One of the advantages of running your own server is the ability to host your own websites and there is a great website service built into OS X Server. Now before you go out and try to host our own site, there are some things to keep in mind. First, you need to consider downtime and how important it is that your website be up 24/7. Things can go wrong with your server and power outages can cause a delay in getting your server back up so you want to make sure you are ok with those possible issues. You also want to make sure that your ISP will allow you to host a website and that they are not blocking the ports needed for web hosting (ports 80 and 443). Finally, you will need a static IP so your site can always be reached at the same IP address as most providers give dynamic IP addresses that change over time. When that change happens your site is down until you fix it.

In this screencast I cover how to set up your own website. I cover the built in site and how the settings function. Then I walk you through how to set up your own custom site including the DNS you need to make it work. If you have any questions or want help setting up your own website feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

OS X Server Part 28: Profile Manager Devices

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-05-29T12:13:50-07:00

Not only is Profile Manager great at managing users and groups, it also allows you to set up your devices to run the way you want them to. If you have ever had to manage multiple devices where the basic settings are the same for each one, then you know the pain of going to each device and setting them up one at a time. Sometimes you have to wait for the device to be ready before you set it up. It can take a lot of time and energy to make that happen but with Profile Manager you can do the set up once with a few clicks and then have those profiles pushed to all of you devices making the changes happen.

In this screencast I cover how to manage your devices through the Profile Manager web interface. I cover all of the settings unique to devices and what each of those settings will do on your Mac or iOS devices. I also cover how to set up device groups so you can manage groups of devices at one time instead of managing one device at a time. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

OS X Server Part 27: Profile Manager Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-05-22T10:33:12-07:00

One of the advantages of using Profile Manager is it's ability to customize user settings and then push those settings to your individual's devices when they login. From one interface you can customize all the aspects of their experience from what apps they have access to, to what settings should be made in System Preferences, to the wall paper on their desktop and their dock settings. All of these things can be set through the web interface from any computer that can access the web.

For those of you who manage a lot of users, this set up really makes managing those users a breeze. This works well for those managing schools or the workplace where you have different settings for different users or groups of users. It also works well at home for managing kids and making changes once which then take place for all of your kids.

In this screencast I walk through each of the settings for users and groups in Profile Manager. I give you an overview of all of the settings you can make and give some ideas of when you might want to use those settings. If you have any questions or want help setting up your own server, leave a comment below and I'll get back to you.

OS X Server Part 26: Profile Manager Overview

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-05-17T10:27:54-07:00

Profile Manager is one of the more powerful features of OS X Server. It allows you to manage all of your users and devices through one web interface and then push those changes to those devices or users when they log into their machines. I have used this service to manage my own household and it has been a delight to use and has cut down my time moving from device to device since I only need to make those changes once.

In this screencast I walk through the web interface for Profile Manager. I cover all of the main sections and what each area covers. In future screencasts I will walk through each of the settings you can customize for users & groups and also for devices & device groups. If you have any questions or would like help in setting up your own server, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

OS X Server Part 25: Profile Manager iOS Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-05-09T18:43:49-07:00

With many more users getting iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads, managing all of those devices in your household can be a chore. Well with Profile Manager built into OS X Server you can manage all of your devices remotely from one web interface. Before you are able to manage those devices, you have to make sure they are enrolled in your Profile Manager service. This includes making sure you have Open Directory up and running and the Profile Manager Service set up and running. Then you install a trust certificate so your device knows to trust certificates coming from your server. Once this is done, you can enroll your device and it is ready to be managed through the Profile Manager interface.

In this screencast I will show you how to enroll your iOS devices including adding all of the certificates you need to manage your device remotely. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Server Part 24: Profile Manager Mac Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-05-01T18:40:38-07:00

OS X Server Part 23: Profile Manager Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-04-25T18:36:57-07:00

In this screencast I show you how to set up what might be one of the best services offered on OS X Server, Profile Manager. The idea that any user can manage multiple OS X and iOS devices through a web interface and push profiles to those devices that automatically set those machines up with your specific settings is a very powerful and useful package. I use this to manage the Macs and iOS devices in my household and it makes doing so easy.

In this screencast I show you how to set up Profile Manager so it is ready to use to create profiles to manage your devices and users. If you have any questions feel free to leave them below.

OS X Server Part 22: Mail

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-04-17T18:30:41-07:00

In this next screencast in my series on OS X Server I cover setting up the mail service. Email is something we have all come to take for granted. We expect it to be available and we expect it to work. OS X Server has a mail server implementation to help you host and control your own email. It is a good service as long as you keep a few things in mind. First, if you are running a home server I would recommend not using the mail service. In most home settings your ISP will most likely block port 25 which is needed to send email. This is done to block spammers from sending out junk mail which could cause the ISP issues from getting blocked by other mail servers. Second, if you don't have a static IP address you shouldn't run server because when your dynamic IP changes you will lose your email until you register that new IP with your domain provider.

If you don't have any of those issues you can give it a try but I would still caution you that running your own mail server can be difficult. I personally leave it to others to run but in case you want to do it, I put together this screencast to help you. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

OS X Photos App Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-04-14T18:00:57-07:00

With Apple's switch to the new Photos App from iPhoto and Aperture, there has been a lot written about the new app and how to use it. If you want an in-depth walk through and FAQ related to the new photos app take a look at this comprehensive overview from Serenity Caldwell over at iMore.

I decided it might help to do a walk through of the set up process to show you what it looks like to do the transfer from Aperture to the Photos App. I have found that seeing how it works can sometimes ease our own concerns about it so the screencast below is a walk through of the set up process. I will probably do other screencasts on the interface going forward so stay tuned. So far I have found the photos app to be helpful for your personal photos especially if you choose to use the iCloud Photo Library option. If you have a large library, be prepared to pay for more storage though. I hope you enjoy the video. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

My Career Transition

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-04-11T19:46:50-07:00

Just like anything else in life there are times when things change. For me that change is a transition I am going through from full time ministry at Saddleback Church to full time counseling in private practice. I have enjoyed my almost 12 years at Saddleback Church and I am sad to be leaving staff. I have so many memories there and so many good and dear friends. But, as with any transition I am also looking forward to the next step and the beauty of this next step is I get to stay where I am and still attend and serve at Saddleback doing the things I loved to do only this time as a volunteer.

I am moving over to Relationship 180 to work with their team of Marriage and Family Therapists and Milan and Kay Yerkovich who founded Relationship 180. Milan and Kay wrote a couple of books including How We Love and How We Love Our Kids. These books have helped many couples with their marriages and parents in raising their kids. I am excited to serve with them and the other licensed staff! It is quite a transition as I will be building a practice and moving away from a salary but I really feel God moving me in this direction. While this is a bit scary because it is new, I also know that my faith will grow in this process as well and I am looking forward to this new adventure! It also allows me to stay doing ministry to couples and families.

In addition to doing therapy, I am available to do consult on how to set up your Mac and Mac Server. I have been doing video tutorials on OS X Server and have helped people all of the world over the years and have decided to officially help anyone who wants to hire me to do their set ups. So if you are looking for someone to help you set up your Mac or OS X Server feel free to contact me.

So if you are in need of a therapist, or know someone who is, and/or you need help with your ministry or Mac or Mac Server set up, feel free to contact me at todd@toddolthoff.com. Thanks for all our support!

OS X Server Part 21: Messages

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-04-10T21:31:02-07:00

Built into OS X is a messages service that allows you to chat with other users through text and other instant messaging services. Just like what we covered with contacts and calendars, some users may see the need to have their own private messages server. This will keep all communications only on your server and your devices as opposed to anyone else server. You can also archive those messages if you want to use them later.

This is obviously more important to business or to home users who want to protect and monitor their kids communications and still give them access to a messaging service. Because you can limit who you users can connect to, you can see the benefit of hosting your own messaging server.

In this screencast I cover how to set up the messages service built into OS X Server. I also cover an issue with the current build of the messages service and how to fix it to hopefully get everything working the way you want.

f you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

OS X Yosemite Part 20: VPN

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-04-03T21:23:57-07:00

OS X Yosemite Part 19: Contacts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-03-27T21:19:24-07:00

For most of us our contacts are handled through services that keep that information in sync like iCloud or Google. For most of us this works fine and we see no need to change how we handle our contacts. When some thing works, why change it? For others there might be a need to handle their own contacts. Maybe, they work in a business that needs to keep any client contact records private. Or maybe a home user wants their kids to get used to using a contacts manager but they want to control the whole experience to keep their kids safe and so they don't clutter up their personal contacts list. There are many reasons someone might want to host their own contacts server.

OS X Server includes a contacts service that allows your host your own CardDAV server and even has the ability to push changes to all your devices and includes a directory contacts list. In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the contacts service in OS X Server. I go over each of the settings and show how they work on your client devices.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

OS X Yosemite Server Part 18: Complete Server Uninstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-03-20T21:13:58-07:00

There are times when you may need to start over with server. Beyond wiping the drive and starting over which does guarantee that your have cleaned out any possible problems, you could also consider a complete uninstall of OS X Server. Now if you have tried to do a standard uninstall by deleting the application an assuming it completely gets rid of every trace of server you have probably been disappointed when you reinstalled server and found some of your setting show up again. There are many files and preference lists that server leaves behind that make it difficult to know if you completely uninstalled the application.

In this screencast I cover how to do a complete uninstall of Server. I cover all of the hidden files you need to look for in order to make sure you haven't left anything behind.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

OS X Yosemite Server Part 17: Calendars

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-03-06T21:06:41-08:00

For most of us our calendars are handled through services that keep that information in sync like iCloud or Google. For most of us this works fine and we see no need to change how we handle our calendars. When some thing works, why change it? For others there might be a need to handle their own calendars. Maybe, they work in a business that needs to keep any record they have confidential to protect clients. Or maybe a home user wants their kids to get used to using calendars but they want to control the whole experience to keep their kids safe and so they don't clutter up there personal calendars. There are many reasons someone might want to host their own calendars.

OS X Server includes a calendar service that allows your host your own CalDAV server and even has the ability to push changes to all your devices, send invitations, and even set up locations and devices that people could reserve for any of there appointments. In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the calendar service in OS X Server. I go over each of the settings and show how they work on your client devices.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

OS X Yosemite Server Part 16: Caching Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-02-27T18:10:30-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Caching Service in Yosemite Server. The caching service allows you to cache any updates or downloads from the Mac, iOS, or iBook stores on your server and have users on your local network get their updates from your server instead of downloading another copy which saves time and bandwidth on your network. In this tutorial I cover each of the settings and demonstrate how it works.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Thanks for watching!

OS X Yosemite Server Part 15: Software Update

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-02-20T18:09:59-08:00

OS X Yosemite Server Part 14: Server Back Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-02-13T18:07:57-08:00

One of the important aspects of running a server is being able to quickly recover should something go wrong with your server. That recovery process involves making sure your server is back up and you have wha you need to restore your server to operating condition.

There are many different options available to backing up your server. Every back up strategy should include, a back up of all of your server settings, an incremental back up, and a clone of your server. These back ups will give you options when it comes to restoring from some kind of failure.

In this screencast I cover how to back up your server. I go over each of the areas I mention above including the software and tools you can use to make those back ups. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Photo of the Month-Vintage Truck

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-02-08T19:36:43-08:00

Here is another photo of that truck I took at Bodie. For those who didn’t see my previous photo, Bodie is a ghost town of sorts just above Mono Lake in California. It was a mining town where the people who lived there left everything behind. So the place has fully furnished homes and all kinds of equipment including cars. This photo is of an abandoned car that is still in good shape for its age. The day was perfect with incredible clouds in the sky which really made the photo pop. I took this one with my Canon 70D and my Tamron 17-50 lens with a CPL filter.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 13: Time Machine

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-02-06T09:45:38-08:00

OS X Yosemite Server Part 12: Connecting to Your File Shares

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-01-30T17:45:10-08:00

Once you have your file sharing all set up you need to connect to those new file shares you set up. Apple has built in a few ways to connect to those files including AFP, SMB, and WebDAV built into Yosemite Server. Apple is in the process of moving everything over to SMB but still allows its own AFP protocol for now. It appears AFP may be going away in the future but it is still available in Yosemite. WebDAV is used mainly to connect to shares from iOS devices but could be used on your Mac as well.

In this screencast I cover how t connect to your AFP shares using a couple different methods. I also cover how to set up your shares to auto mount to your Mac at start up. As always, if you have any questions feel free to leaver them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 11: File Sharing

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-01-23T09:44:42-08:00

File sharing is one of the basic things most users get a server to do. In this screencast I cover how to set up file sharing and all of the permission settings that you can apply to your files and folders. I also cover how to set up home folders on your server so your users can log into any computer on your network and have their own personal desktop show up on that computer as if it was their own computer.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 10: Bind Clients to Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-01-16T09:43:59-08:00

Once you have your Open Directory set up and you have your users and groups set up and running, the next step is to get your devices registered on your open directory so your users can take advantage of the network accounts you have just set up. With network accounts, your users can log into any computer on your network with their network login and, as I will cover in a future screencast, they could even have their home folders show up if you have them stored on the server. In order for this to work, however, your computers need to be bound to the same Open Directory.

In this screencast, I cover how to bind your Mac clients to your server’s Open Directory. I walk through the steps needed to perform the bind and talk about the difference between authenticated and anonymous binding. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 9: Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-01-09T09:43:00-08:00

Once you have your Open Directory set up you can now begin to set up and manage your users and groups within that directory. In Yosemite Server you can manage all of your users from the server interface and set up what services they have access to. You can set up these permissions for certain services either individually or by setting up groups. Using groups you would set up a group and then add your users to that group. Within the group interface you can add or delete services that all of the users in that group have access to.

In this screencast I cover how to set up your users, how to tell the difference between a network and local user and the advantages of each, and finally how to set up groups and manage your users in those groups. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 8: Open Directory

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2015-01-02T15:32:44-08:00

If you are running a server you will probably want to manage various user accounts to allow users on your network access to the services you are running on your server. You may also want to manage the various devices you have on your network to make setting them up more convenient. To do this, you will need to set up an Open Directory Master which is basically a database that holds all of your users, groups, and device data.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up an Open Directory for your OS X Server. I cover why you might want to set up an Open Directory, how to set up an OD for the first time, how to back up your OD, and the difference between network and local accounts. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

My New SmugMug Portolio Site

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-12-28T15:41:36-08:00

After using my own website to host my work and spending more time learning how to take better landscape photos, I decided to upgrade my photo galleries to a new SmugMug website. SmugMug does a great job of not only managing your photos but also allows you to create great websites to showcase your photos. With the Pro account you can even sell your photos and have everything taken care of through the SmugMug website.

So over the weekend I put together my Portfolio website with all of my latest photos. Now when you click the gallery link you will be taken to my new SmugMug Gallery and will be able to browse all my latest photos. I hope to spend more time capturing my favorite subject: landscapes.

You can view my new site HERE.

I hope you enjoy all the photos! Let me know what you think when you get a chance to check them out!

OS X Yosemite Server Part 7: SSL Certificates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-12-26T15:23:23-08:00

SSL, or Secure Socket Layer, Certificates are designed to set up secure encrypted communications between devices. SSL is used to keep everything from online bank transactions to other service communications with your server safe and secure. When browsing the web you can see this service at work when you log into a site and you see the lock icon in Safari or the web address starts with the https as opposed to non secure http.

SSL verifies that you are who you say your are or that the server you are trying to contact is the server you think it is so you don’t end up connecting to a spoofed site that then steals your information. There are two types of SSL Certificates in terms of verifying identity. There is a self signed certificate where the user is vouching for him/herself and a verified certificate where a third party is verifying the identity of the service you are looking to connect with. Obviously the verified SSL Certificate is more trusted than a self signed one. If you try to connect to a site that has signed it’s own certificate you will get a warning that that is the case while a verified certificate will go through without a warning since it is trusted. For your own website you really don’t need a verified SSL Certificate because you know who you are. If you are hosting a site that third parties will visit, you will want to have a purchased one.

In this screencast tutorial I cover the Certificates Service built into OS X Server. I cover what SSL certificates do, the differences between self-signed & verified certificates, how to secure your services with SSL, the different types of certificates you can create in OS X Server, and how to purchase and set up a third party verified SSL certificate. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 6: DNS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-12-19T09:16:43-08:00

DNS or Domain Name System, is the basic system used to translate IP addresses into names that are easier for us to remember. DNS is what deciphers that when a user types in example.com it should send the request to an IP address of 78.178.x.x. So DNS is a very important thing to have set up properly.

In OS X Server everything hinges on properly set up DNS. If you have a problem with your DNS then most of your services will not function properly and you will have all kinds of issues. If your DNS is not set up properly and you set up and Open Directory based on that DNS you will most likely have to start over with your Open Directory once you get your DNS set up properly, so you will want to make sure you have it working before you set up the rest of your server’s services.

In this screencast I cover how to set up the DNS service in OS X Server 4. I cover how DNS works, what each of the DNS records do, walk through two ways to set up your DNS, and cover how to test your DNS to make sure it is working properly. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 5: Host Name and Server Settings

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-12-12T09:06:19-08:00

One of the most important things to making sure your server is functioning properly is to make sure your host name is set up properly. The host name identifies your server and is the basis for the DNS on your server. In this screencast I cover the three types of host names you can choose and which one to choose for each application. I also cover how to change your server name and use Apple’s new reachability service that does an external check of you settings and lets you know what services are accessible from outside your network.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 4: Port Forwarding

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-12-05T09:00:00-08:00

If you ever plan on accessing your server remotely you will have to learn how to forward ports in order to get into your network to access the services your server offers. Ports are basically doors into your network. Each door has a number which is linked to the services that go in and out of that door. The walls around the door are either your router or a software firewall you have in place. Both function to keep unwanted traffic out and to be a gatekeeper to allow only wanted traffic into your network. This is what keeps our network secure.

When you forward a port you are creating the door for the service to go through as long as the user of that service knows he username and password needed to go through the door. This verification serves as the key to that door and let’s authorized users to have access to that service through that port. In OS X Server, if you have an Airport Extreme Base Station or AEBS, the server software itself handles opening and closing ports. If you have a third party router you will have to look up how your router handles port forwarding and you will need to set it up manually.

In this screencast I cover how to set up port forwarding using an AEBS with OS X Server. I cover the basics of port forwarding and how it works on your network. I also cover how to set up and use port forwarding with the built in service with OS X Server and how to do it manually if you don’t have an Apple Router. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 3: Network Configuration

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-11-28T09:11:04-08:00

Part of running a server is making sure all of the network components are set up properly. This includes the router you choose to use. With an Airport Extreme Base Station or a Time Capsule, OS X Server will manage your router for you right inside the server application. This makes it simple to set up and manage your router as it relates to your server as opposed to using a third party router. Third party routers will work fine you just have to know how that router works and where to go to configure the settings you need to make it work.

Another thing you will need to do make sure your server is functioning properly is to set up a DHCP Reservation for your server. A DHCP Reservation is giving your server a permanent internal IP address so every time your server is online it will have the same IP address. This is needed because your other devices that will be connecting to your server will be looking to it for DNS and other services and if the IP address changes those devices will not be able to know what the new IP is for your server.

In this screencast I cover router considerations and how to do a basic set up of your network to make sure it is ready to work with OS X Server. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Server Part 2: Install & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-11-20T11:28:06-08:00

For those of you who are looking to get started with OS X Server, I put together an install and set up tutorial to show you what the process looks like. I cover each of the steps in the process and walk through the basic settings for the server like remote access and the new access tab which shows the services you have running, the ports those services use, and who has access to those services.

Overall the new update is a good one and Apple has done some things to polish up the server app. It does have a new look to match the changes made to the visual design found in Yosemite. It also has some little touches like the Access tab and the reachability service that make the process of determining how things are configured and if they can be reached outside your server much easier. So most of the changes are little touches here and there but you can see how Apple is slowly refining the Server app to make it more accessible.

Photo of the Month: Forgotten

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-11-20T07:34:12-08:00

Here is another photo I took at Bodie. For those who didn’t see my previous photo, Bodie is a ghost town of sorts just above Mono Lake in California. It was a mining town where the people who lived there left everything behind. So the place has fully furnished homes and all kinds of equipment including cars. This photo is of an abandoned car that is still in good shape for its age. The day was perfect with incredible clouds in the sky which really made the photo pop. I took this one with my Canon 70D and my Tamron 17-50 lens with a CPL filter.

OS X Yosemite Part 4: Clean Install Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-11-17T12:47:24-08:00

In most cases a straight upgrade is the best way to move to the latest version of OS X since you get the benefits of the upgrade and still get to keep all of your files and settings in place and functional. There are times, however, when a clean install if necessary. Maybe you notice your Mac is running slower than it used to. Or maybe you need to do a complete clean install of OS X Server and many times it is easier to go with a clean install than trying to track down all the files associated with Server.

In this screencast I walk your through how to do a clean install of OS X Yosemite. I cover how to do the install from a USB Boot Installer (this is something I covered in the previous screencast which you can view on my blog HERE) and show you screen by screen what the install looks like. One of the changes I noticed right away is the installer only runs once and then reboots right into the set up process saving time. In Mavericks the installer would run through the install screen twice and then go right into the set up and seemed to take more time to run than Yosemite does.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Part 3: Creating a USB Installer

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-11-07T08:37:41-08:00

There are times when you need to do a clean install on your Mac or multiple Macs. The usually way of doing this would be to boot into the recovery partition, use Disk Utility to wipe your drive, and then install a fresh copy of OS X Yosemite.

While this process is convenient it can take some time as you still have to download the installer package as a part of the installation process. Depending on your bandwidth and how many machines you need to do a clean install of, it could add to the time it takes to get the job done.

With a bootable USB installer, you can download OS X once, create the installer and then use that USB drive to boot each of your machines into the OS X installer. OS X is only downloaded once to create the installer and you can take that USB drive with you from machine to machine. It really can make the installation process fast and convenient.

In this screencast, I cover two ways to create a USB Installer, one using Diskmaker X and the other using the terminal process for ‘createinstallmedia.’ Both of these options create a bootable installer that you can use to do a clean install of OS X. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Talking to Your Spouse About Finances

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-11-06T08:12:09-08:00

When couples are asked to list the things that cause stress in their marriages, money always comes up in the top five. There is something about money that causes issues for people no matter what their marital status. Add another person who you share your earnings with and now you have a major source of discussion and debate. What is it about money in a marriage that causes so much stress? And, how do you begin to talk with your spouse about money in a way that both partners understand one another and can move forward together?

Start with You
When it comes to talking about money, it is important to have a handle on your own triggers, goals, and ideas on how to manage it. Before you talk to your spouse about money ask yourself: How do I feel about budgeting our money? What things do I typically spend money on that I could eliminate if need be? What are my goals for our money? Are those goals realistic? Or, are those goals built around my own agenda for what I want?

Consider Your Spouse
Once you have had a chance to wrestle down your own thoughts and feelings about money, it is important to begin to think about your spouse and how he/she views money. Does your spouse share your views on money? In what ways would my money habits cause my spouse anxiety? How good of a job do you do of communicating about money to each other? Where would my spouse say I mishandle our money? The more you understand where your spouse is coming from the better your conversation about money will be. Like other areas of your marriage, understanding your spouses perspective will go a long way to avoiding blow ups and conflict when it comes to discussing money.

Sit Down and Talk Together
Once you have both prepared yourselves by understanding your own views on money and what you think your spouses’ views are, set aside some time to talk about your finances together. Start with a word of prayer together to set the tone for your discussion. Invite the Lord into your conversation and pray for His wisdom on how you handle your finances. Then begin to talk about your finances together. As you discuss these things do the following:

1. This is not a business negotiation: Don’t treat your spouse as an opponent to out negotiate to get what you want. Instead, you need to see your spouse as a partner who has an equal share in what you do with your finances.

2. Come with what you will give up: Instead of defending your spending habits, each of you come with things you are willing to give or cut back for the sake of the budget. That will keep either of you from digging in and not compromising together.

3. Keep the good of the family in the long run ahead of what you might not get in the short run: This is about planning for your future together which means some sacrifice is inevitable.

4. Remember to honor your spouse in the conversation: This discussion is about your future together. Don’t belittle or dishonor your spouse in the process of having this conversation. If at any time you find that you are getting mad at each other or going to name calling, quit and come back to it later. If you feel you can’t over come your impasse, ask for help from a mentor couple or someone at your church. You never want money to become an issue that comes between you.

Talking about money can be difficult but it can also be a bonding experience if you are willing to hang in there and see it as an opportunity to get on the same page and have the same goals together. There will always be times where you will not agree 100% but how you handle those times of disagreement could help you grow closer together.

OS X Yosemite Part 2: Handoff on All Your Macs

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-10-31T07:47:25-07:00

Continuity between Macs is one of the bigger features included in the upgrade to Yosemite. Having all of your Mac and iOS devices communicate with one another and share functions with another is a great features. Starting a paper on your Mac and then handing it off to your iOS device when you hit the road is very convenient and allows you to use the best device for various circumstances in your life and not have to figure out a way to get the document you are working on to the devices you have chosen to use. It is also convenient to do things like answer the phone on the device that happens to be closest to you in the moment. Overall, continuity and handoff are great additions to the Apple eco-system.

But like any new set of features there is a cutoff on what devices can use the features. Handoff needs bluetooth 4.0 to function so any device that doesn’t have that version of bluetooth is left out. Also, Apple chose to leave out some of it’s older Macs that do have bluetooth 4.0 like the mid 2011 Mac Mini that I use for my server. This is frustrating because my Mac Mini has everything it needs to make Handoff work. So I went on a search to see if I could work around that requirement and found a tool that enables continuity on older Macs, even those that don’t currently have bluetooth 4.0 but could add it with a card or USB device.

The Continuity Activation Tool was created by a group over on Github and you can read more about it HERE. The tool basically changes Apple’s system check and changes the no to using continuity to a yes. It is a simple to use tool and very easy to run. Just download the zip and run the tool. On their Github page, they let you know what Macs it works on and what is needed to make it run on each Mac.

In this screencast I walk through using the tool to enable handoff. I also cover how to use handoff on your Mac and show how each function works. As always thanks for watching! If you have any questions feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosmite Server Part 1: Server Upgrade

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-10-24T08:29:04-07:00

Well it has been another year and, for Apple, that means another upgrade to their OS and Server Application which means the new Server version 4 is out in the wild. Yosemite Server is more of a refinement than a major upgrade which includes all of the functionality we were used to in Server 3 with a few additional features like a new reachability service that does all the necessary checks to know if your server is accessible on the internet. There is also an access tab added to the server area that lets you view who is accessing what services on what ports and also allows you to set permissions for each of those services.

In this screencast I walk you through the upgrade and give you a basic tour of some of the more obvious changes to OS X Server. I will walk through each of the services like I normally do to help you to get your server configured the way you want it.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or on my Youtube Channel.

OS X Yosemite Part 1: Upgrade Step by Step

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-10-17T08:21:03-07:00

With Apple’s release of 10.10, I thought I would do a walk through of the upgrade process as I know many of you like to see all of the steps in the process. Because most of the time the timer is not quite accurate and there are times when the upgrades can seem to hang for a while, I recorded the entire process in this screencast.

Overall, I found the upgrade process to go smoothly. I did experience that the time was off by about 20 minutes each time overall and the when it says less than a minute left it means more like 5 minutes or so. But using the new operating system has been smooth and I haven’t experienced any major bugs with this release like I did with Mavericks.

If you have any questions or issues feel free to share them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Photo of the Week: Abandoned Engine

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-10-11T20:30:25-07:00

On vacation we took a trip to Bodie in the mountains above Mono Lake. Bodie is a ghost town which was once a mining town. When the residents decided to leave they left everything. It is one of those incredible historical locations that is pretty well preserved. It is also a photographer’s playground as there are so many subjects to photograph that you could spend a lot of time there capturing all of that history. Because of that, there are usually a lot of people mulling around taking photos so you will have to have patience in picking your spots and waiting for people to pass by. Depending on when you go you may be treated to some incredible clouds though usually the sky is clear. When there are clouds it really makes the landscapes in this area pop.

If you choose to go to Bodie you do need to be aware that the last 3 miles or so in are on a pitted road which is a combination of rocks and dirt. So be prepared to go slow and proceed with caution especially if you are driving in a car that is low to the ground as you might bottom out. I saw a number of cars low to ground take the road way too fast and based on the noise I am sure they at least scratched up the under carriage.

On the day we went we were lucky enough to have incredible clouds that day. Because of the historical nature of the subjects at Bodie it is a great spot to experiment with black and white photography. In this photo I was able to capture an abandoned engine. The detail in the cast metal was incredible to view and in combination with the landscape and clouds along with an angled perspective really set this shot off. I used a CPL to pull out more in the sky.

If you are interested in purchasing prints or license this shot, feel free to email me. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

iOS 8 Tips & Set Up: Health Kit

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-10-10T20:18:44-07:00

One of the new features of iOS 8 is Apple’s Health Kit which takes data from all of your health apps and displays them in one place. This makes it a convenient location for you to store the information you collect from various health apps and lets you use the applications you prefer for the various health data you want to track without having to find one app that does it all well. I love this feature as I have found some apps that do certain things well and other things not so well. I was always either having to look in multiple locations for my health data or had to sacrifice some features to use an app that had most of the things I was looking for in one place. Now I can use multiple apps and have all of the data from each displayed in one place for my own tracking and for my doctor.
One app I have been trying out lately on the health side is Motion X 24/7. This application tracks your sleep patterns, steps, pulse, and other medical data. What I like about the app is that it can track your sleep patterns without the need for a separate bracelet. Just leave the phone on the bed next to you or on your pillow and it gives a detailed analysis of your sleep patterns including recording moments when it hears noise to see if you are snoring. This app integrates nicely with Health Kit as you will see in the tutorial below.

In this screencast tutorial I walk through the new Health Kit feature that is built into iOS 8. I walk through how to set up a Medical ID for emergency situations, how to enter your health data, how to give other health applications access to health kit so they can share your health data, how to track that data on a personalized dashboard, and how to export your data so your doctor can review it.

As always thanks for all of your support! If you find this tutorial helpful please subscribe, like, favorite and share it so others can find it on the internet. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I'll do my best to get back to you.

iOS 8 Tips & Set Up: 1Password & Sharing Service

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-10-06T07:31:47-07:00

One of the features most users have asked for on iOS is the ability for apps to share content with one another. There are plenty of instance where one app has something I would want in another app and all iOS offered was a simple sharing service that really only allowed me to open a file in an application. It is one of the reasons I haven’t really been able to use my iPad as a primary computing device.

Well with iOS 8 Apple introduced a new sharing service that allows developers to add services to the sharing menus so they can communicate across applications. One of the applications that really needed this ability was 1Password. 1Password is an application that stores all of your passwords and other confidential information in a secure file that can only be unlocked with your one password that you set up. 1Password solves the problem of remembering all of your passwords or using the same password everywhere so you can remember it which is very insecure, by allow you to only have to remember the one password it takes to open your password vault and then automatically filling in your passwords for you. It is one of the applications I install first on all of my Macs and now with the new updates to iOS 8 will be the first one I install on iOS devices as well.

1Password has an extension that allows you to click a button, type in your one password and it will pre fill all of your login information for you for whatever site you are on. Prior to iOS 8, you had to access 1Password and used its built in web browser to get the same functionality you got on your Mac with Safari. It was a work around and a pain in that you could be in Safari on your iPad and then go to a site with a password and then have to go to one password and use it’s browser to log in (or you could copy the password from 1Password and then go back to Safari and paste it in). This made it difficult to use all of the power and convenience of 1Password on iOS. Now with the new sharing feature, you can use Safari in iOS and click the share button, 1Password, and then type your 1Password and have it fill in your login information for you. Just like it works on the Mac! Also, if you have Touch ID you don’t even have to use your password as you can use your finger print to login!

In this screencast I walk you through how to set up and use 1Password on iOS 8, I also cover some of the built in features of the sharing service and show how that might work with other applications. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Remembering to Look Back

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-09-29T08:10:22-07:00

Today I read Jeremiah 45-47, Psalm 105, & John 21. There are times in life when we need to spend the time looking back. In our fast paced society we are always looking forward. We look to the future and worry about retirement. We look forward the next new toy that is coming out. We look forward to the weekends or to our next vacation. We hope that our future leads us to a legacy where our lives have had one kind of impact. We are so worried about the future that we don’t spend enough time seeing what has already happened in the past and what is happening now in the present. We forget all of the things God has done for us so we worry about what will happen in the future. Remembering the past and learning from it is not something we can afford to forget.

In the Old Testament times, the Israelites where constantly forgetting the things God told them. Rather than trusting God and serving him, they had to create their own idols and look for other sources of security outside of him. They relied on Egypt instead of God. They forgot all the incredible things God did for them and ended up doing what was evil in God’s sight. God was constantly sending prophets to remind the people to remember but they refused to do so, instead looking to a future that they hoped they could control. So God took away all of their security, causing Egypt to fall and then their own world and security to crumble around them to the point where they were captives in a foreign land.

Peter and the disciples also forgot the call Jesus had put on their lives. Instead of going out and spreading the gospel, they chose to go back to fishing. Jesus appeared to them on the seashore and asked Peter three times if he loved him. Three times he told him to feed his sheep. Jesus was reminding Peter of the call he had placed on his life.

I think about how little I spend in reflecting. I do reflect in these journals and at times when things are going a little crazy, but I know I need to do it more often. Reflecting grounds you in the reality of what you are experiencing now. It lets you know if you have been on this road you are on now and reminds you of how to navigate it so you don’t go off into a ditch. Looking back shows you how far you have come when all you can see is how far you need to go. It shows you a track record of how God has shown up in your life and becomes the antidote to worry and anxiety. Looking back is a vital part of keeping our memory of events fresh and keeps us going in the right direction.

Lord, thank you for the way you have guided me in my life. I look back and see your hand on my life every step of the way. I know I forget often and end up retracing steps I have already had. Please continue to bring me back to yourself and give me the memory I need to look back, reflect, and focus on where I am going based on what I know from the past. Amen.

Photo of the Month: Fall to the Valley

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-09-29T07:41:44-07:00

For the photo of the month (or week depending on when I want to post again) I have another shot of Salt Creek Falls, Oregon's second highest waterfall. This one if from the top observation deck. I had to lean my tripod and camera over the rail to get this one because it is such a massive waterfall in terms of height. The observation deck is well maintained and is an easy stroll from the parking lot. So if you are ever in the area, this is a great waterfall to check out. If you want to venture down to the base of the falls, you will need to follow a well manicured path that does switch back as it descends to the bottom. So if you are not the kind of person who likes to hike, this shot from the top may be all you want to take. The morning is a great time to go as the waterfall faces west and the light is good. I used my Marumi CPL and ND8 filter and used a 2 second exposure for this shot.

iOS 8 Tips & Set Up: Family Sharing

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-09-26T07:33:00-07:00

One of the difficulties encountered with using iOS devices in a family is the issue of having everyone have their own iCloud accounts but then being able to share all of your purchases made on the App Store. For years I did a work around where my kids had their own iCloud accounts for their back ups and used a separate Apple ID for purchases so we could share our apps and consolidate them in one place. My wife and I wanted to share calendars and contacts so we shared an iCloud account to make that possible. Now with Continuity in iOS 8 that makes that set up inconvenient because every time her phone rings it rings on all of my devices and vice versa. In this scenario, Family Sharing finally makes it easy for us to use our Apple devices as a family.
Family Sharing allows you to link up to 5 iCloud accounts together in what is called a Family. This family allows each user to have his/her own iCloud accounts but links them together into a family where they have a shared family calendar, a shared family photo share, shared iTunes account to allow for shared apps, and certain restrictions that allows the primary account holder to approve an iTunes purchase and allows for the set up of accounts for children under the age of 13.

In this screencast I cover how to set up family sharing. I also cover all of the settings and walk you through all of the options and each step along the way in setting up your own personal family share. Be aware that you can only set up two family shares a year so if you make a mistake and delete a family, you can only add one more. If you added someone by mistake it is better to delete that person and keep the family share instead of deleting the family completely. Also be aware that children under the age of 13 that are added cannot be deleted and only transferred to another family share.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Upgrading to iOS 8: A Step by Step Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-09-17T20:55:26-07:00

Today is iOS 8 release day and I put together a walk through to help you see the entire process so you know what to expect every step along the way. For those of you that are looking at upgrading right away there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, you want to make sure you know your devices is eligible for the upgrade. The chart below gives a picture of which devices are eligible for the update.

Once you know your device is eligible, you will want to make sure you have a back up of your iOS device just in case something goes wrong with the update. You can either create a back up over the air and storing it on iCloud or by connecting your device to iTunes and storing the back up on your Mac or PC. I cover how to do this in the tutorial below.

Once you have your backup all set, you can start the update by going to Settings-General-Software Update. It may take a while to download the update and you need to make sure you have at least 5.7 GB of space on your device. If you do not, I cover how to make space for the update in the screencast below.

I found the update to take a couple of hours because I did it on launch day. You will probably be able to do so in much less time. Once you have updated your device you won’t notice much of a change on the surface but there are many innovations and improvements that will make iOS 8 a joy to work with. I’ll probably do a future screencast that goes over some of these changes.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 40: Accessing Your Server Remotely

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-09-05T13:51:19-07:00

One of the things most administrators need is access to their servers when they are not physically onsite. Things happen that can cause you to need to make changes to the server settings or to troubleshoot an issue that may come up. Built into OS X Server are various ways you can connect to your server remotely.

In this screencast I cover how to connect to your server using screen sharing, the server application, and other options. As always if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 39: Documents 5-Working with File Shares on iOS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-08-28T07:37:13-07:00

File sharing on OS X Server is one of the main reasons most people set up a server. Accessing those files from a Mac is easy to do and allows you to store your files on the server and have access to them where ever you are. But doing the same on iOS devices is not as simple due to the difference in how iOS handles it’s file structure. iOS uses a hidden file structure so you normally need to connect to your WebDAV share in the app you want to use to for those files like Pages or Numbers. There are times, however that you may want to look at all of your file shares in the way they are displayed in the finder so you can browse them as a whole instead of only by file type.

Documents 5 gives you the convenience and familiarity of the Finder on your iOS devices. Documents 5 will connect to your afp or smb file shares and display those files in the same folder hierarchy that you have set up on your server. From there you can open and share those files and folders with your other iOS apps. In this screencast I cover how to connect to your file shares and navigate them in Documents 5.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 38: Airport Adminstration

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-08-21T07:36:30-07:00

For those of you with an Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS), OS X Server includes built in support to manage your AEBS making it more convenient to forward ports and control who can logon to your wireless network. One of the biggest issues we all face when running a server is the issue of opening ports. If you want to connect to any of the services on your server while you are away, you need to make sure you have opened ports in your router so you don’t get blocked from access. Routers function as physical firewalls keeping traffic from going in and out of your local network. To allow certain services to have access to the outside world you have to authorize that access by opening doors to the outside world. Those door are called ports. Typically you would have to go into your router software, look up the ports you need to forward for the services you want to use, manually enter those ports to be forwarded in your router’s software and then reboot your router for those changes to take place.

Using the service in OS X Server with an AEBS, Server automatically enters the ports you need for the services you entered. It will also open those ports without the need to restart your router so no one loses internet service and turning services on and off becomes seamless. It really is a great feature of OS X Server and is another reason to consider using an Apple router.

Not only does OS X Server control the opening and closing of ports, it also has a built in RADIUS service. RADIUS stands for Remote Authentication Dial In User Service. This basically means that instead of having your users log onto your wireless network with a general SSID and general password, they log in with their Network Accounts that you set up on your server. So the AEBS is using your Open Directory to determine whether someone is allowed to log onto your network or not. This adds an additional layer of security to your network and is especially useful in organizations where they have users coming and going and those users having the SSID and password necessitates constantly changing the password.

In this screencast I cover how to use the service built into OS X Server to manage your AEBS. I cover how to add new ports to the service for other applications that may need ports opened. I also cover how to set up and use the RADIUS service and talk about an application called Admin Tool Radius that can help you manage multiple RADIUS Networks and manually set up RADIUS if you are not using OS X Server for that service.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Moving From Aperture Part 3: Aperture vs Lightroom

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-08-14T07:35:54-07:00

In moving from Aperture in Lightroom one of the first questions most people have is, where are all of the settings and things I am used to using in Aperture in Lightroom? Fortunately, Lightroom and Aperture are similar in many ways. There are some things that are different in how they might name certain things, but you will find that most of the same features exist in each application. I have found that the editing features in Lightroom are a little better in terms of features and results but I do light the way Aperture manages pictures. So depending on your style and what you are looking for in a photo management/editing package you will probably find some trade offs with going to another platform.

In this screencast I walk you through where things are in Lightroom for those of you coming from Aperture. I cover how each covers photo management, photo editing, and other features. Hopefully this screencast will help familiarize you with Lightroom so you can pick up where you left off.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Moving From Aperture Part 2: Import to Lightroom 5

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-08-08T07:13:10-07:00

Once you have exported all of your photos you then need to import them into another photo management solution. One of the best on the market right now is Lightroom 5. Lightroom is Adobe’s photo management and editing solution that has been Apertures competition for years. The Lightroom community is a large one with many pro photographers using it in conjunction with Photoshop for handling the management and editing of their photos.

Adobe made waves lately with moving all of their applications to a monthly fee model instead of the traditional pay to own model of using their software. The logic is that they will be able to issue updates more frequently and it will be cheaper in the long run, especially for those who use Photoshop. One of the offerings Adobe has is a photographers bundle where you get Lightroom and Photoshop for $9.99 a month. When compared to the $149 price tag for Lightroom right now and the usual $79 upgrade price, with Photoshop thrown in, makes this a decent deal. Add in Lightroom Mobile and it seems like Adobe has put together a pretty good solution for photographers.

Lightroom 5 comes with a 30 day trial and will read the metadata that was exported through the Exporter for Aperture application which makes it easy to try out Lightroom to see if it is for you. In this tutorial I cover how to import your library into Lightroom 5. I also cover a few of the differences in how Aperture and Lightroom handle photo management. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Moving From Aperture Part 1: Exporter for Aperture

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-08-01T06:54:35-07:00

With Apple announcing that it will no longer be updating Aperture or iPhoto, there have been a ton of questions about what is next and what users should do with their existing Aperture and iPhoto libraries. Apple did announce an upcoming photos app but for some it would appear that the pro features may not be available in the first release so there is concern about what to do while we are waiting to find out.

The first option for many would be just to wait and see what happens. Apple has announced that it will update both Aperture and iPhoto to work with it’s upcoming OS release Yosemite so there really is no reason to panic just yet. You can still use Aperture and iPhoto as always and there will be some way to migrate over to the new photos app in early 2015. If everything is working well for you in either program then you can stay put and see what happens.

For others who may be more on the pro or semi-pro level there may be some anxiety about how well this migration will work for them. Apple has had a history with pro apps of cutting features to make the transition happening and then slowly adding features back in. If you rely on Aperture for your business or you do a lot of editing you may want to consider other options instead of waiting to see what Apple may do. If you have been on the fence anyway this may be the time to check out other options.

The difficulty in trying out new options is the problem of library conversions. It is usually a pain to convert an entire library away from one proprietary system to another only to wonder if you will be converting back some day. Eventually everyone will convert to a new system at some time in their lives as software comes and goes so knowing there is a solution to help you make this transition so you can get all of your work out of a system is important.

Exporter for Aperture is a great application for helping you get all of your work out of Aperture without taking a lot of time doing it. This application allows you to customize a few things in deciding how you want your library converted and then does all of the work of moving your photos out of your Aperture library with all of your metadata baked in. Not only will it preserve your metadata, it will also export any of the photos you have made adjustments to as either JPEG or TIFF with those adjustments baked into the photo. It will do all of this without touching your existing Aperture library so you can test other photo management systems and still have your Aperture library in tact. So the only thing you would lose in the process is the actual slider location for your adjustments. Everything else gets exported and ready to import into another application like Lightroom.

In this screencast I show you how to use Exporter for Aperture step by step. I cover all of the settings and show you what it looks like to go through the export process. This really is an excellent application and well worth the $14.99 for all of the time and headache it saves you.

Leave a comment below or on my Youtube Channel and let me know what you are doing with your Aperture or iPhoto libraries. If you have any questions along the way feel free to leave them in either place and I will do my best to get back to.

Photo of the Month

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-07-31T06:15:36-07:00

This summer we spent part of our vacation in Oregon. One of the things I love to do is hunt out one of the numerous waterfalls that seem to be everywhere in the state to shoot some long exposure photographs. There is something about sitting in front of a waterfall and taking it all in while snapping shots from my camera!

This year I got to go to Salt Creek Falls which is just north of Crater Lake. This fall is located just off of the freeway and has a very well maintained observation deck and trails around the waterfall itself. Salt Creek Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls in Oregon and is quite impressive from the top due to it’s height. I took the switch back trail which was very nicely cared for down to the base of the falls to capture this shot. The mist from the fall made it tricky to keep the lens dry and I had to quickly cover my lens in-between shots. I used my Marumi CPL and ND8 filters to capture the water and tame the light on the right side of the photo. This really is an incredible waterfall and the “S” formed in the top of the falls almost makes you think that is where it got it’s name of Salt Creek Falls.

If you are ever in southern Oregon be sure to make the trip and stop by this waterfall. As you will see when I post some shots from the top, it is an incredible place to stop!

Mavericks Server Part 37: Server Security Part 2: Icefloor 2

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-07-25T15:55:19-07:00

In this second part on server security, I cover an excellent software firewall called IceFloor. Now I have covered IceFloor previously in my Mountain Lion Server series but IceFloor has been updated to 2.0 since then and it has been redesigned to make the process much smoother and easier to set up.

A software firewall is critical to those who have front facing servers which means their servers do not sit behind any physical hardware firewall. In essence most front facing servers have all of their ports open to the whole world so you need a software firewall to close the ports you don’ want open to secure your server. IceFloor is a front end to the built in PF firewall found on OS X Server. If you are not someone who likes to work through the Terminal, IceFloor has you covered. It’s graphical interface gives you access to all of the features found in the PF Firewall and gives you a visual way to customize and configure the firewall to fit your needs. It even has a built in wizard that will walk you through the process of setting up your firewall making it easy to configure.

In this screencast I cover installation and set up, how to open the ports you need to make your services work, and walk through all of the options included in IceFloor. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 36: Server Security Part 1

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-07-18T15:54:47-07:00

Once you get your server up and running, it is important that you give some thought to how to make sure your server is secure. With the advantages of running a server come the necessity to make sure it is well protected. If you are using a router of some kind you have a built in hardware firewall that will block anything but the ports you choose to open for certain services. For those of you not behind a router, you have to use software firewalls to achieve the same results. Either way you want to make sure you are monitoring your server for security.

In this screencast I cover some of the basics of server security. I cover some of the security features built into OS X Server. I cover the difference between a server behind a router and front facing, how ports work, the built in firewall, Little Snitch as security for in and out connections, when to use a full software firewall, and the basic log files inside the Server App.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 35: Mobile Accounts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-07-11T15:53:45-07:00

Hosting your users home folders on the server can be a great way to allow them to log into any computer on your local network and have their personal desktop show up. It also gives you a good way to manage and back up each of your users data and makes the whole management process easier.

But what happens when a user has a laptop that he/she takes outside the network on a regular basis? When this happens you really can’t host their home folders on the server because they will need access to them on the outside. Yes, they could use a VPN connection to log into their network account and have access to their desktop, but the process is slow and, depending on the bandwidth, could be almost impossible (If you are considering or would like to try to access your home folders remotely without mobile accounts, see my screencast on how to do that here:).

To make this particular situation work, OS X Server includes the Mobile Accounts feature. Mobile accounts is a service that keeps a user’s Mac in sync with the home folders found on the server. So when the user comes into the network their computer syncs with the server. This means any work done outside your network will now be on your server making sure you never lose any data. This also means your user can still log into any computer on your network and still have access to the work he/she did while offsite.

In this screencast I cover how to set up the Mobile Accounts Service. I go over how to enable the server on OS X Server and how to get it set up on your client machines. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 34: Xcode Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-07-04T15:52:16-07:00

The Xcode Server is a new addition to OS X Server and adds the ability to manage your coding process through OS X Server. The Xcode Server has the ability to manage your code and the development process with your own git repository and bots to check your code.
While I am not a coder myself, I was able to walk through the process of setting up the Xcode Server and the various features built into the service. So in this screencast I cover the basics to show you how to get started with the Xcode Server. For those of you who do code, you’ll have to let me know how well it works and if it is a valuable part of your work flow. Also, if I missed anything or got anything wrong, let me know so I can pass it on to others.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Launchbar 6 vs. Alfred 2

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-06-27T13:28:55-07:00

I have always had a weakness for launcher applications since I started using a Mac. I started out with Quicksilver and loved the big graphical interface and the way I could perform multiple actions quickly without ever having my hands leave the clipboard. When Quicksilver was not longer going to be developed (something that has changed a bit since then) I started using Launchbar. While Launchbar did not have the larger graphical interface I came to love with Quicksilver, it was very fast and I got used to using it for just about everything. I got to the point where I was lost on a Mac that did not have Launchbar installed! From there I moved to Alfred because it seemed to offer the best mix of a larger graphical interface and the power of customizing and adding actions to make me more productive. I have been happy with Alfred ever since and put it on all of my Macs.

Well just a couple of weeks ago the guys over at Objective Development decided to release an update to Launchbar and introduced Launchbar 6. From the looks of it I could see that it had gotten a make over and added the larger interface I had wanted and a few new changes and tweaks to the services it could perform. So being the launcher addict that I am, I had to take a look at it. I was happy with Alfred but I couldn’t leave enough alone and now I am trying to decide which one I like best. In my quest to decide which one to go with, I made a list of features and compared them side by side. In doing this I determined that they are both very similar and capable applications. They really do overlap in a lot of ways in terms of their features but they differ when it comes to how they chose to implement some of those features.

Now I am still confused on what to do and I am still playing with both to figure out which one I will land on long term. So I decided to do a screencast to show you what I found and in the hopes that maybe it will help you decide which one is for you, or at least let you see what has changed with Launchbar 6. Really they are both very similar, with a few nuances which really means you can't make a bad decision either way. Both can be customized to almost match each other's features so it really comes down to what you want built in and what you want to customize (I'm still trying to decide myself they are so close!).

I would love to know your thoughts and which launcher you landed on. Let me know what you think by leaving any questions or comments below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 33: NetInstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-06-20T13:17:10-07:00

One of the services built into OS X Server is the NetInstall Service. The NetInstall Service does a number of things to help your clients install or connect to services to help them boot their Macs. Built into the NetInstall Service is a NetBoot, NetInstall and NetRestore service. The NetBoot service creates a bootable disk image that sits on the server that allows your clients to boot their local Macs from that image and run the OS from the server instead of their local machines. The NetInstall service creates a complete OS install image hosted on the server that users can use to install the OS on their local devices. It works like a centralized recovery partition and even lets you customize what is installed and how it is installed. Finally, the NetRestore service restores a volume over the network from the server from a restore image hosted on the server. All of these services appear from the boot screen by holding down the Option Key when you reboot which make these services very easy to access.

In this screencast I focus on how to set up the NetInstall service in OS X Server. I cover how to create a disk image, how to customize the image to fit your needs, and how to set up and use the service once you have everything configured. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 32: DHCP Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-06-13T13:16:47-07:00

DHCP or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is the method most routers and servers use to assign IP addresses to devices on their networks. DHCP is how your computers and devices are connected to your network and how your router or server determines who is connected. OS X Server has a built in DHCP service that you can use to handle and assign those IP addresses to your client machines if you either don’t have a router that is doing that already or you prefer to have the server handle the IP addressing.

In this screencast, I cover how to set up the DHCP service in OS X Server. I cover pros and cons of using OS X Server's DHCP service as compared to a router. I also cover how to set up an Airport Extreme Base Station to work with server's DHCP service, walk you through all of the settings in the DHCP service, and cover how to set up static IP reservations for the clients on your network. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 31: FTP Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-06-06T13:16:22-07:00

One of the more familiar technologies associated with running a server is having FTP access to upload files to the server. FTP or File Transfer Protocol, has been used for years by web designers who work on websites and need to upload their changes to the server hosting the site. FTP is not the most secure way of transferring files but it certainly is the easiest way to do so.

Built into OS X Server is an FTP service that let’s you specify a folder you want to use for your uploads. The service does not allow you to specify multiple folders or to set up nested folders inside that one folder with different sets of permissions for each so if you need that kind of detail, you will have to use another method as server’s FTP service is very limited.

In this screencast, I cover how to set up the FTP Service in OS X Server. I cover how to choose an FTP folder (OS X Server only allows one), how to set the permissions for who has access, what ports to open, and how to connect to your FTP share using Terminal and an FTP Client (Forklift in this case). If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 30: Wiki Customization

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-05-30T13:15:54-07:00

In the first part of our look at OS X Server’s built in Wiki server I covered the basics of host to set up the wiki and access it from your Mac and iOS devices. In that screencast I alluded to the fact that you could customize the wiki to suit your needs. In this screencast I cover how to customize the built in Wiki in OS X Server. I cover how to add media to your wiki, how to set up a wiki and blog, how to add documents to your wiki site to view and share and all of the options available to customize the wiki site to make it your own. As you will see in the screencast you can do a lot of things to make the wiki feel more like your own website. It is however limited in what you can do to customize it. So if you are looking for a custom design, you will have to built your own site.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 29: Wiki Server Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-05-23T13:15:26-07:00

Built into OS X Server is a Wiki Website that you can use to create our own wiki’s, share files, manage your profile and even set up your own blog. For many users the Wiki may be the only website they need if the basic services fit what they are looking for. You can even customize the wiki to make it fit your own style and what you are trying to accomplish. Many schools and organizations run the Wiki Website as their own intranet site giving students and employees the opportunity to work with a website but only inside the school or companies network instead of out on the world wide web. It is also set up to host files that can be assessable from a Mac through the browser or through an iOS device through the WebDav protocol.

In this screencast I cover how to set up OS X Server's built in Wiki Server. I cover how to set the permissions for the service and make sure your wiki content is accessible from an iOS Device. I also cover all of the features of the server including how to set up wiki's for your various work groups. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 28: Website Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-05-16T13:14:21-07:00

One of the ideas behind hosting your own server is to be able to host your own websites and avoid hosting fees. OS X Server does have a built in Web Server that will allow you to host not just one site but multiple sites with virtual domains if you choose to set it up that way.

In this screencast I cover how to configure and set up the Website Server to host your website. I cover how to set up the website service on OS X Server. I cover the built in website and it's services, what each of the settings does, how to create your own website including how to set up DNS, add your website files, and test your new website. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 27: Mail Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-05-09T13:14:15-07:00

One of the reasons for hosting a server may be to control your own email. Email is something all of us use and can be a source of frustration if your email server and client are not working right. The biggest question is whether you should host your own mail server. If you are considering hosting your own mail server here are a few things to consider. First, you have to determine whether your ISP allows email hosting on your own server. Many ISP’s block port 25 and either discourage hosting your own email all together, or they require you relay your email through their server first. Second, you have to consider uptime. If your home server goes down so does your email. If email is critical to you, you may want to avoid hosting email. Next, you will need a static IP address to make this work which usually costs more at your local ISP than a standard account which usually has a dynamic IP that changes from time to time. Finally, there is the headache that comes with dealing with spam and other issues that come up with hosting an email service. So if you consider all of these things and still want to host your own email server, this screencast should get you up and running.

In this screencast I cover how to set up the Mail Server in OS X Server. I cover the configuration process including setting up DNS on your server and at your domain provider. I also cover all of the settings to make sure your Mail Server is configured correctly. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 26:Caching Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-05-02T13:12:43-07:00

Downloading updates is something that all of us do to keep our Macs and iOS devices up to date. Add in a bunch of devices under one roof and you end up using a lot of bandwidth to update the same software on all of those devices because you end up redownloading each update on each device. The Caching service in OS X Server takes care of that issue by keeping (or caching) a copy of the file you download the first time and then sending anyone else who needs that same update to the copy you just made on the server. That way you only download the update once thus saving your bandwidth and saving the time spent waiting for the update to download.

The Caching service cache’s downloads and updates from the Mac and iOS stores. It not only keeps a copy of system updates but any application or iBook you download. To have your client devices point to your server for the updates and downloads is zero configuration. The devices automatically check for a cached download and the same network and if they find that update they use the one on the server instead of downloading a new copy. Of course you need lots of space if you are storing copies of your downloads so you will need a decent sized hard drive and you can limit the size the Caching service can use to store those updates.

In this screencast I walk you through the Caching service. I help you get it up and running and show how it works and how to track the type and size of updates you have on your server.If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mac Power Users: OS X Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-04-28T08:33:40-07:00

I had the privilege of talking with David Sparks and Katie Floyd from Mac Power Users this past week. We had a great time talking about all of the benefits of using OS X Server in the home or small business environment. If you have never listened to the show you might want to check it out this week. I am a long time listener so it was a blast to spend some time on the show talking about Server. You can subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast application or directly at www.macpowerusers.com.

If you have any questions about anything we talked about on the show, feel free to send me an email, leave a comment, or connect with me on twitter using @tolthoff.

Mavericks Server Part 25: Software Update

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-04-25T17:25:50-07:00

Keeping your Mac’s up to date is an important part of maintaining your Apple Computers. Built into OS X is the Software Update Service that checks for new updates and then let’s you know when an update is available for OS X and other Apple Software. Users then typically download the update from Apple’s Servers and then run the update. Depending on how many computers you have on your network and the size of the update, each user would download a unique copy of the same update which could put a strain on your network bandwidth.

To help you better manage your network and make it more efficient, OS X Server has a built in Software Update Server that let’s you download the updates once and then have your users look to your server for their updates instead of all going to Apple’s Servers. It also allows you to control which updates your users have available to them. This comes in handy when an update breaks something else and you want to block your users from using that update. Because they are coming to your server for the update, you control what updates they see and can use.

In this screencast, I walk you through how to set up and manage Software Update on OS X Server. I also cover how to set up your users to point them towards your server for updates. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Macworld/iWorld 2014 Recap

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-04-23T16:59:02-07:00

I know this post is late, I just haven’t had a chance to post yet, but I had an incredible time at Macworld/iWorld 2014! For those of you who may have never had the chance to go to Macworld/iWorld it is different from any tech conference you may have gone to. The great part about Macworld/iWorld is the people and networking that happens at the event. Sure there are plenty of really great workshops. There are also a lot of great products on display from a bunch of Mac Vendors.There are also a lot of application developers at the event showing off the latest in Mac/iOS software. All of this is great in and of itself would make Macworld/iWorld a great event. But when you add to that the opportunity to meet some incredible people who are passionate about the Apple ecosystem, you have an awesome event that I look forward to attending again next year.

This year I had the chance to have breakfast with the community people who work with Don McAllister on ScreenCastsOnline. Don is one of the nicest guys I have ever met and he is brilliant at content development and screencast tutorials. Everything I do with screencasts I learned from Don and I am humbled to be a part of ScreenCastsOnline and I continue to learn new things that make me a better screen caster. If you haven’t had a chance to check out ScreenCastsOnline, I highly recommend you do so as Don is the best in the business and the group of people who work with him on the ScreenCastsOnline Magazine are an incredible group of people and experts in the podcast/publishing/video community.

I also had the privilege of going to the Nosillacastaways Party hosted by Steve & Allison Sheridan from the Nosillacast and podfeet.com. It was an awesome party where I was able to meet a number of people including Chuck Joiner from MacVoices. Chuck is a great guy and I look forward to connecting with him more in the future. I also got to talk with the Nosillacastaways who couldn’t be there via a Google Plus Hang Out. You gotta love the fact that people were able to telecommute to a Mac event! Steve and Allison are incredible hosts and I really appreciated the fact that they put that event on every year. I look forward to next year!

The workshops were great and I picked up a lot of tips and ideas this year. I sat in on David Sparks & Katie Floyd from Mac Power Users workshop on Power User Workflows. I have already picked up two Mail App plugins, SendLater and CargoLifter from ChungwaSoft! I also enjoyed a productivity workshop from Brett Terpstra. Brett has done some incredible things for the Mac Community through developing scripts and applications and it was great to hear his perspective on productivity. There were also some panels we attended including one on meeting the podcasters with my friends Katie, David, Don, Allison, Steve, & Chuck (who I met for the first time this year)!

On the show floor I met a doctor who developed a magnetic ring that lets you easily secure your iPad to your hand without worrying about dropping it called Bakbone. Hearing his story of how he developed this for the medical field and it just took off as other people wanted to use it as well. It was cool to see he was as surprised at how well it was working as anyone else. He was a really great guy and the product is great in its simplicity. You can check it out here: http://www.thebakbone.com.

We also got to talk to some developers who have put some cools software together. I got to see the Backblaze guys who run my favorite online backup that I use for all my Macs. I ran into a developer named Debbie Quetsch who walked me through an incredible chore application for iOS called Chore-inator. It won a Macworld best of show and is an application I wish I had when the boys were younger! Another application I am looking forward to is BusyMac’s new contacts application called BusyContacts. I got to see a walk through by BusyMac co-founder John Chaffee and it looks like a great application that solves a lot of issues I have with managing contacts. There are plenty of other products and applications that I saw that were incredible! The show room floor really is a great place to check out new stuff for your Mac or iOS devices!

Overall, Macworld/iWorld is a great event and I look forward to attending and connecting with everyone again next year!

Mavericks Server Part 24: Profile Manager Device Management

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-04-18T11:12:44-07:00

In the previous screencast I covered the options and benefits to managing users and groups of users through Profile Manager. But there are times when you want to manage the devices your users are doing their work on and have certain settings and/or features set up in advance instead of relying on your users to set those things up. It could be energy saver settings all the way to where those devices look for software updates. Not only does Profile Manager allow you to manage users and groups of users through its interface, you can also add devices and device groups to the list of things you manage and use Profile Manager to push those changes to your devices.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to manage your Mac and iOS devices using Profile Manager. I cover the information Profile Manager provides on each of your enrolled devices. Then I talk about strategies for managing your devices and go over the various settings you can push to your devices using profiles.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 23: Profile Manager Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-04-11T11:07:46-07:00

One of the benefits of using Profile Manager is the ability to manage users and groups from one simple web interface. Profile Manager allows you to make changes once through the web interface and then have those changes pushed to all of your users and groups instead of having to go to each user individually to make the changes on each of that users devices. If you manage a large group of users, it is really convenient to set up a group that includes all of the users you want to manage, set up a profile that you want to effect all of those users, and then have that profile pushed to all the devices those users might use. It can be a huge time saver!

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to manage your users and groups using Profile Manager. I cover some strategies for when to use groups and when to use users in setting up your profiles. Then I walk you through each of the payloads that are available to customize and push to your users and groups.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 22: Profile Manager Restrictions & Settings

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-04-04T10:57:09-07:00

One of the newer features in Profile Manager is a set of restrictions on who can enroll devices, how they enroll those devices, and what actions they can perform using the my devices web portal. This is a great addition to Profile Manager as in past versions it was an all or nothing set up which meant that users had much more control than some IT Professionals liked over certain features. This is a step in the right direction and should help more IT departments to better manage their users and devices.

In this screencast I go over each of the restriction settings. I also cover the basic settings found in each of the tabs in the Profile Manager Web Interface including how to access information on each of your users and devices.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 21: Profile Manager iOS Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-03-28T09:12:20-07:00

Connecting your iOS devices to Profile Manager can really speed up the process of managing and setting up your mobile devises and makes server a really powerful Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution. Instead of having to go device to device every time you want to make a change to one of your services or settings on your devices, you can simply make changes on the web interface and have those changes automatically pushed to all of your iOS devices. Whether you are a home user trying to manage a few devices for your family or an IT professional managing a business, you will want to use Profile Manager to help you set up and manage your devices.

In this screencast I cover how to enroll your iOS devices into Profile Manager so you can manage them and push changes. I cover how to install the profiles you will need to enroll your iOS devices including the proper order you will need to install them. I also cover how to install the basic configuration profile that adds services you have previously set up like calendar, contacts, and VPN to your iOS devices.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 20: Profile Manager Mac Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-03-24T07:43:31-07:00

One of the benefits of Profile Manager is being able to manage your client Mac devices. In order to manage all of these devices they need to first be enrolled in Profile Manager. The process of enrollment involves installing a series of certificates that allow you access to the Mac to push your profiles and changes.

In this screencast I cover how to enroll a Mac in the Profile Manager Service. I cover where to go to get the profile you need to install. I also cover the order in which to install those profiles and how to know your Mac’s have been successfully enrolled.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 19: Profile Manager Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-03-24T07:42:59-07:00

One of the biggest advantages of having a server is being able to manage all of your clients and devices in one place. Built into server is a user interface for adding user accounts and you can bind your client machines to your server to add the to your open directory to allow access to those networks accounts. But OS X Server also includes a built in Mobile Device Management service (MDM) called Profile Manager.

Profile Manager is designed to help you manage the settings and services your users and devices can have access to. It allows you to set up your services and permissions once and then push those changes to all of your users and devices. It really does make managing your clients a much easier process and allows you to do so remotely without having to be in front of each machine.

In this screencast I cover how to set up Profile Manager on OS X Server. I walk you through each of the settings included with the service and walk you through the set up process.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 18: Server Back Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-03-24T07:42:39-07:00

With all the hard work put into getting your server configured it would be devastating to have a hard drive failure and lose all of your work. Also, if you server is mission critical and any downtime is costly, having a solution to get you back up and running as quickly as possible is something very important to think through and consider. That is why a good back up strategy for your server is so important.

Backing up your server is different than the Time Machine Service built into OS X Server. The built in Time Machine Service inside OS X Server is designed to back up client machines not the server itself. You have Time Machine on the server that you can use to back your server up to a connected drive. So Time Machine is available just not through the server app. But a Time Machine back up is not going to get you up and running in a hurry so you will need other strategies to make sure you have options. In this screencast I cover a Server back up strategy that includes, incremental back ups to Time Machine, a bootable clone of your server so you can recover quickly, and strategies for backing up your Open Directory and services.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Mavericks Server Part 17: Time Machine

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-02-27T15:47:05-08:00

One of the benefits of running OS X Server is setting up a centralized back up workflow that allows your users to back up their machines to one drive on your network. Since most users have a difficult time remembering to back up their machines by plugging in their external drives and running Time Machine, it is important to find a set-it-and-forget-it solution to back ups. Built into OS X Server is a Time Machine Server that allows your users to back up to a centralized drive on your server that you select and they can do so wirelessly. This allows Time Machine to run on each computer automatically as if you had a dedicated drive connected to their computer. So without doing a thing all of your back ups take place on a regular basis and each is placed in a backups folder on the drive you select for back ups. It really is a great solution and works like a Time Capsule without having to worry about drive space since you can replace an external drive easier than the drive in a Time Capsule.

In this screencast I cover how to set up the Time Machine Service. I also cover how to connect your users to the back up, set a limit on the size of each back up, and how to monitor your back ups to make sure they are working properly. As always, feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 16: VPN

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-02-20T15:36:46-08:00

With all of the concerns over security today, it is important to make sure you data is protected. One of the places that could potentially put you at risk is unsecured public wireless networks in places like coffee shops or airports. Setting up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a great way to secure your connections to these public networks. In an unsecured environment, someone could “sniff” the packets of information that are being sent from and to your computer over these unsecured networks, making you vulnerable to being “hacked.” A VPN connection basically encrypts all communications from and to your computer over the internet. It does this by routing all your communications over a secure channel through your home computer. So for VPN to work you would need to make sure your server is up and running when you try to connect.

In this screencast I cover the VPN service built into OS X Server. I go over how to set up your VPN service, set your router to allow those connections, and cover how to set up your client machines to use VPN.

If you have any questions along the way feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 15: Messages

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-02-13T07:06:29-08:00

Text messaging is a popular way to communicate. We text with our phones all the time. We also, like to messing one another on our computers and use this communications method to keep in touch in a quick and efficient way. Sometimes we are concerned with the level of privacy our chat messages have and would prefer to have private messaging system as opposed to going through a third party like Apple or AOL.

Built into Maverick Server is a private messaging system called Messages. This service allows you to set up your own iMessage Server so you can have private chats with other clients on your server and the messages you create are stored on your server not in the cloud. This is great for highly confidential communications or for those who just want to make sure they know who is being communicated with for safety reason such as monitoring your kids use of iMessages.

In this screencast I cover how to set up the Messages Service. I cover all of the various settings and how to set up the client machine to use your Messages Service. I also cover how to auto set buddy lists using groups so all of your chat buddies automatically show up in your buddies list without having to add them manually.

As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 14: Contacts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-02-06T15:27:44-08:00

Hosting your own contacts server can be a good way to manage your own contacts and keep that information off the cloud. If this is a concern of yours or you just want to manage your own iCloud-like solution, OS X Server has a built in contacts service that manages your contacts using CardDAV which will sync with all of your Mac and iOS devices.

In this screencast I cover how to set the service up. I also cover how to set up your client machines to work with your OS X Server Contacts Service. In addition I cover how to set up a joint contacts account that all of your users can use for their contacts service so everyone can share a joint contacts list. This can come in handy for couples or family that want to share their contacts in one centralized list.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

What Do You Think About Your Spouse?

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-02-06T07:37:27-08:00

Lately in my work with couples I have seen a problem that creeps up in relationships. Every relationship has conflict. To say there is no conflict in a relationship usually means that one of the two people is holding back and not sharing for the sake of peace. If you really probed under the surface you would find that the quiet person is actually not happy and does have issues that he/she feels needs to be dealt with but for one reason or another doesn't feel bringing those things up will be helpful. So we all have conflict in relationships.

Over time, unaddressed conflict can lead people to begin to guess at their spouses' motives and they start to characterize their spouse by those negative views. So I might think my spouse is selfish because she always seems to want to get her way. Being selfish is not a good thing and the more and more I think about my spouse in a negative light, the more I begin to see that negative trait in her life. She asks for something that I think is unreasonable I say to myself, "See there she goes being selfish again." She balks at doing something that I feel she should drop everything to do and it further reinforces my view that she is selfish. She says she doesn't feel like Chinese food after I make the suggestion that I would like to go there and that adds another thing to back up my negative perception. If this goes on over time, pretty soon I really believe she is selfish and feel like I have a bunch of evidence to prove that is true.

Now if I choose to let my perceptions about my spouses motives guide how I view my spouse it will begin to effect my love for my spouse and my desire to connect with her. Who wants to connect with someone they think is selfish? Let this go long enough and I start to think it is a justice issue and begin to fight everything my spouse is doing and challenge her because selfish people need to be confronted and challenged on their selfishness. Why should you let a selfish person get away with their selfishness? You can see how this could lead to the unraveling of a marriage!

But what if I chose instead to give my spouse the benefit of the doubt? What if I chose to see her as the loving person I married? What if I chose to check things out before assuming the worst? How would that shape my interactions with her?

Going back to my examples above what if I ask about what I see as her unreasonable request and realize that it really isn't that unreasonable at all given the circumstances? What if I find out the reason she didn't drop everything for my request is because she already has a commitment to someone whose need is greater than mine? What if I find out she didn't want to go to Chinese not because she just wanted her way but because Chinese made her sick last time and she wants to enjoy her time with me? The list of possibilities could go on and on. The point is, when I choose to see my spouse in a positive light and give her the benefit of the doubt instead of presuming she is guilty until proven innocent, my attitude changes and the conflict in my relationship goes down because I am not picking as many fights based on my negative reaction to everything she says or does.

So how do think about your spouse? Have you allowed your attitude to change to the point where your spouse is your enemy? If so how is that guiding and tainting your responses to everything he or she does? Can your spouse do anything without you seeing the negative in it? If so you need to adjust how you view your spouse and choose to see the best instead of the worst. Watch how doing that changes your attitude and interactions with your spouse and what that does to your feelings of love and connectedness in your marriage.

Mavericks Server Part 13: Calendar

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-01-31T07:30:46-08:00

For some people having any information in the cloud is something they don’t want to do. Maybe you are in an industry where you need to protect your data and you don’t want to run any risk with the data you are transmitting back and forth whether that be calendar or contacts. You would like to use iCloud or Google but that leaves to much up to chance so you really would like to to set up your own iCloud service. Built into OS X Server is a calendar, contacts, and messaging service that you control that will keep your information off of anyone else’s cloud. In this screencast we will look at the calendaring service provided in OS X Server that works with standard CardDAV protocols.

As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel. Thanks for all your support!

Mavericks Server Part 12: Connect & Automount AFP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-01-24T10:19:42-08:00

Once you have your file sharing all set up you need to connect to those new file shares you set up. Apple has built in a few ways to connect to those files including AFP, SMB 2, and WebDAV built into Mavericks Server. Apple is in the process of moving everything over to SMB 2 but still allows its own AFP protocol for now. It appears AFP may be going away in the future but it is still available in Mavericks. WebDAV is used mainly to connect to shares from iOS devices but could be used on your Mac as well.

In this screencast I cover how t connect to your AFP shares using a couple different methods. I also cover how to set up your shares to auto mount to your Mac at start up. As always, if you have any questions feel free to leaver them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 11: File Sharing & Home Folders

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-01-17T10:11:37-08:00

Mavericks Server Part 10: Bind Clients to Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-01-10T10:04:09-08:00

Mavericks Server Part 9: Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2014-01-03T09:58:50-08:00

Once you have your Open Directory set up you can now begin to set up and manage your users and groups within that directory. In Mavericks Server you can manage all of your users from the server interface and set up what services they have access to. You can set up these permissions for certain services either individually or by setting up groups. Using groups you would set up a group and then add your users to that group. Within the group interface you can add or delete services that all of the users in that group have access to.

In this screencast I cover how to set up your users, how to tell the difference between a network and local user and the advantages of each, and finally how to set up groups and manage your users in those groups. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 8: Open Directory

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-12-27T09:52:37-08:00

One of the advantages of running a server is the ability to set up network accounts to allow you to manage users and groups from one location. The management of these network accounts is done through a directory which stores all of the information about your users and devices. On a Mac it is called Open Directory while on a PC It is called Active Directory. In this screencast I cover how to set up an Open Directory in Mavericks Server and walk you through the various settings to help you get your own Open Directory set up.

As always if you have any comments or questions leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 7: SSL Certificates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-12-20T08:09:55-08:00

Creating a secure connection between your server and the outside world is something everyone running a server should give some thought to. It is important to know that your data is safe and to secure yourself against those who may want to steal it. SSL encryption is a means to create a secure line of communication between your server and any of your devices that you may be using to connect to your server. This encrypted line validates the user and the server and protects your communications from others who may want to listen in on that line or steal the data as it passes over the air.

In this screencast I cover how to set up SSL Certificates in Mavericks Server. I talk about how to use a self signed certificate which is not validated by any outside source. I also cover how to set up a third party certificate and the process of purchasing, requesting, and installing this certificate so it works with your server.

As always if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 6: DNS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-12-13T08:03:45-08:00

DNS or Domain Name System is one of the central services that makes a server function. Without proper DNS set up nothing will work properly with OS X Server. DNS is basically the system that take our language of works and converts or translates those works into our computer systems language of numbers. So an IP address like 10.0.1.1 points to a machine with an address of www.example.com. So DNS is the system that manages that translation and makes sure all requests go to the right server so you get the results you were looking for.
In this screencast I cover how to set up DNS in OS X Server. I cover how to start over in setting up your records. I also cover all of the records and what they mean and what services they are used for. I also talk about how to set up your DNS information on your domain name registrars site so everything gets to where it needs to be.

As always, feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 5: Port Forwarding

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-12-06T07:55:02-08:00

If you have a router and want to use a Server to access services outside your network you are going to need to learn how to forward ports in order to gain access to those services remotely. Routers function as physical firewalls on your network. They are designed to keep certain traffic out, allow certain connections to get outside your network, and to route all of the traffic to the appropriate location. A port is like opening a door through your router for a particular service. Each service has a door it likes to use and is assigned to use. So if you want to use a particular service like web for instance, you would open the door that most websites use which is port 80. If you lock port 80 and don’t allow it to open then you have no access to the web service.
If you are concerned about security and want to make sure there are locks on the door, you could set up an encrypted connection using SSL (secure socket layer) certificates which we will cover in a future screen cast. This service changes the door to port 443 for web service and secures the connection between the two machines. It also validates identity and works like a key to the door.

In this screencast I cover how to set up port forwarding using an AEBS and letting the Server App handle the set up. The beauty of using OS X Server with an AEBS is the port management is built into the app and the ports are opened and closed without requiring a reboot.

As always, feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 4: Network Configuration

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-11-29T07:45:03-08:00

One of the more important things you need to do in order to set up a functional server is to make sure your network is properly configured so your Server can do the things it was meant to do. Part of that network configuration is making sure your Server has a set IP address so you can set all of the computers on your network to get their DNS needs met through your Server so there are no conflicts. Depending on what type of system you are running will determine how you set up your network.

In this screencast I show you how to set up a network using an Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS) where I am allowing the AEBS to handle the DHCP or addressing of all the devices on my network and it also handles the NAT or port forwarding duties as well. In this set up you make sure your AEBS is giving your server a reserved IP address and is pointing to your Server for internal DNS. In other set ups you may have your Server handling DHCP duties as well or if you have a front facing server you might not even have a router so you will be locking down your server with a software firewall that can also be configured to handle NAT if you choose to set it up that way. That set up is beyond the scope of this screencast but I may do one in the future to show how it works.

As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 3: Basic DNS & Server Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-11-22T21:25:27-08:00

Once your server has been installed you are left with a .local server that provides basic file sharing. If you want to use most of the other services you will need to change you host name and decide what type of server you want to create and set up some basic DNS to make that happen. Inside the Server App is a wizard that walks you through the process of choosing a host name that will allow your server to do what you want it to. It also presents you with the option of setting up DNS for you or leaving that up to you to do manually. For most home users, having server set it up for you is probably the easiest way to get your server up and rolling. I will cover more advanced DNS in a future screencast and you can always change your DNS set up later.

In this screencast I also cover some of the basic server settings found in the server tab. These settings help you set up how you want to access your server remotely and I cover each of hose settings and what they do.

If you have any comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 2: Install & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-11-15T21:19:50-08:00

For those of you new to OS X Server or those who stared with a clean install I walk you through the process of installing Mavericks Server for the first time. The overall process is pretty simple and does have some changes from the install process in both Lion and Mountain Lion Server. Instead of walking you through the process of setting up your server’s DNS, the Mavericks install just creates a simple .local server with file sharing turned on. It then let’s you decide how you want to set up your host name and DNS. I will cover the basic DNS set up and one on more advanced DNS in a future screencast but wanted to make you aware of the change in case you are used to previous installs.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mac OS X Mavericks: Clean Install Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-11-08T21:12:17-08:00

There are times when you may want to consider a fresh install of your operating system. If you are having slow downs with your system or have upgraded and never done a clean install or download a lot of software that has left stuff behind, you might want to consider a clean install. In this screencast I cover how to create a bootable Mavericks USB thumb drive using a utility called Diskmaker X. I then walk through the process of booting from that drive, wiping your hard drive and run through the install process. Before you get started you will want to make a bootable back up of your boot drive using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. This will allow you to roll back to your current set up in case something goes wrong with your install.

Overall the install process is pretty smooth but does take some time. One tip, when you hist less than a minute remaining you are looking at waiting more than a minute and in some cases could be 20 minutes or more so don’t stop the install if it seems to get stuck. Give it some time and should finish the install.

If you have any comments or questions leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mavericks Server Part 1: Upgrade from Mountain Lion Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-11-01T21:03:10-07:00

Now that Apple has released Mavericks and it’s update to OS X Server, it is time to consider upgrading to the new Mavericks Server. Before you upgrade I want to make you aware of several issues that people have been experiencing with the upgrade. First, VPN does not work in the upgrade. Just about everyone I have talked to has experienced what I did when I upgraded and that was that VPN stopped working. At this point there is no work around so if you are dependent on VPN you do not want to upgrade until the next point release from Apple and even then wait to see what other’s experiences are. Second, a lot of people are having issues with Open Directory with issues with connections and various crashes. I didn’t have that issue but there are enough people talking about it that I wouldn’t risk it again until the next point release and you hear other’s experiences.

With that in mind, I cover how to upgrade to Mavericks Server and walk through the entire process. The upgrade is pretty simple and goes rather smoothly with the exception of the issues mentioned above.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Upgrading to Mavericks (10.9): A Step by Step Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-10-25T10:50:35-07:00

Well Apple’s new operating system Mavericks is here. I decided to upgrade right away and record the process for everyone who would like to see how the process works and have someone else experiment on their system instead of putting their own system at risk with a new upgrade.

So I put Mavericks through its paces and I have to say the upgrade when as smooth as it could have gone with a couple of issues. One is not to believe the timer when it says you have less than a minute remaining. I found both times I saw that status it actually took from 30 to 40 minutes to complete. So that being the case, make sure you don’t stop the process thinking it is hanging just be patient and it will eventually finish the upgrade. Second, you will have to give permission to the apps that use keychain or contacts because of the changes Apple made in those areas. So expect to have to answer a bunch of pop ups once the process if complete.

Below is the screencast showing my upgrade process step by step. If you have any questions or want to leave a comment you can do so here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mac OS X Mavericks: Prepare Your Mac for the Upgrade to 10.9

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-10-17T10:44:15-07:00

With the release of Apple’s newest operating system right around the corner, it is a good time to start preparing for the upgrade and getting your Mac ready. There are several things you can do to prepare for the upgrade including:
1. Making sure your Mac qualifies for the update.
2. Checking your applications to make sure they are Mavericks compatible (go to www.roaringapps.com).
3. Check your hard drive and permissions using Disk Utility.
4. Make a bootable clone using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner.

In this screencast I walk you through the steps to prepare for the upgrade. I walk through what to do to prepare so you will be ready when the upgrade comes out. As always feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Launch Center Pro 2.0: Action Based Productivity for iOS 7

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-10-11T10:35:59-07:00

Productivity on iOS devices is something many apps attempt to improve. An iOS device is different from a Mac where multitasking is as easy as opening multiple windows and working with keyboard shortcuts. In iOS where you need to drill into items inside apps, there are multiple taps to get something done. That is where Launch Center Pro comes in.

Launch Center Pro is a productivity app that looks to limit the number of actions you need to take to get something done. Need to send a text out to a group of people but don’t want to put in the addresses to go through the steps? No problem! Tap once into Launch Center Pro and click on the action to send a text. You are taken right to an empty text field with all of the names of your group already addressed in the “to” line. Want to upload a photo to Dropbox, copy the link and send it in an email? No problem. with one tap all of those functions happen.

Launch Center Pro 2.0 really is an incredible app for iOS7 to improve your productivity. I have many people ask me to compare this app to Drafts which allows you to take action on snippets of text in a similar way. To me the difference is this, I use Drafts when I have text that needs to be acted on and Launch Center Pro for all other actions that take multiple taps to complete.

In this screencast I cover how to use Launch Center Pro 2.0 and walk you through many of its features. As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

iPhone 5s Fingerprint ID: A Step by Step Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-10-04T10:26:18-07:00

With the release of the new iPhone 5s Apple introduced their finger print scanner allowing you to access your phone more quickly and with added security. One of the things Apple noted was that a high percentage of people were not using a passcode to protect their phones. The hassle of having to put the code in every time you needed to get into your phone was greater than the fear that important information might be lost so people just didn’t do it. People have a lot of things on their phones that are personal and important to protect so Apple decided to unveil fingerprint ID as a way to increase the security on their iPhones. I was fortunate enough to get a phone on launch day and have been playing with the new service and I have to say it is pretty incredible. I can’t imagine using my phone without fingerprint ID ever again. The ease of use of using it has been dead simple and reliable. So reliable that I actually set a long password on my phone instead of the 4 digit default.

In this screencast I walk through the process of setting Fingerprint ID up and how it works. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

iOS 7: Strategies for Improved Battery Life

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-09-26T19:59:26-07:00

Once you have upgraded to iOS 7 you will see a lot of new icandy and features that make the new iOS experience pretty neat. The problem with all of those new functions is they can and do take up battery life and I experienced some battery drain when I first upgraded. Under my normal use the battery was wearing down quickly. So I went on a hunt to figure out what services and functions I could turn off to get my battery life back pretty close to where it was before.
In this screencast tutorial I cover some of the things I discovered that helped improve the battery life of my new iPhone 5s. I go over each and every setting that seems to effect battery life so you can fine tune your own battery experience. It is always a trade off between features and the function of your battery so you don't have to use everything I cover here but as you fine tune your own settings you should hopefully get your battery to where you want it to be.
As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Upgrading to iOS 7: A Step by Step Walk Through

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-09-18T19:58:37-07:00

Upgrading to any new operating system can be intimidating especially if you are concerned not to mess things up. So with the new upgrade to iOS 7 I decided to do a step by step walk through for those who are thinking of upgrading but don't want to jump in without seeing what the process is like. So I decided to film my experience so others could see what I did in upgrading my iPhone.
It has been great to see the response to this video with a lot of different people picking it up including Allison Sheridan from the Nosilla Podcast which I listen to. I have had a few questions along the way with people wondering if it will mess up their jail break (yes it will) and wondering if they really need to back up (yes you should). If you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my Youtube Channel.

Reflector: Mirroring Your iOS Device on Your Mac

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-09-13T19:56:56-07:00

I have been asked alot lately about how I mirror my iOS devices to my Mac for the screencasts I do. So based on viewer requests I decided to do a screencast on the application I use called Reflector.
Reflector allows you to mirror your iOS devices to your Mac using Airplay. Not only does Reflector do a great job of mirroring your iOS screen to your Mac, it also puts the device bezel around your screen and even lets you choose the color (white or black). This really works great for demonstrations because it allows the user to see the actual device instead of just looking at the screen and wondering what they are looking at until their eyes adjust.
Reflector also has the added feature of allowing you to mirror multiple devices at once. So if you are trying to demonstrate the interaction of one device to the other, you can show both devices on your screen and operate them independently at the same time and still capture both screens. This can really come in handy depending on what you are trying to demonstrate.
So in this screencast I demonstrate how Reflector works so you can get an idea of how I do my screencasts. Of course I record these screencasts with Screenflow, the best screen capture and editing software I have ever used. Someday I'll do some screencasts on how I do my screencasts which will feature Screenflow.
Feel Free to leave any comments or questions below or on my Youtube Channel.

Photo of the Week

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-09-08T13:01:50-07:00

This week I thought I would share one of my favorite landscape subjects that is waterfalls. I love taking photos of moving water. Slowing the shutter speed to get that silky smooth water effect really makes the photo pop. This photo was taken north of Crater Lake off on North Umpqua Highway. The falls is called Toketee Falls and is one of the more visited falls in Southern Oregon. It is a short hike to get to this falls but the hike does include a lot of climbing up the well curated trail that includes rock steps and ends in a an observation deck just above the falls. There are some who have ventured to the bottom of the falls but the climb down and back up is not something to attempt without help around.

For this shot I used my Tamron 17-50 lens and used my Marumi CPL and my Marumi ND Filter to allow for a longer exposure. I was fortunate that the light was very even as we got there in the morning before the sun came up on the falls itself. For those who want specifics here are the settings on my camera for this shot:

Camera: Canon Rebel Xsi
Lens: Tamron 17-50
Focal Length: 17mm
Shutter Speed: 4 sec.
Aperture: f/32
ISO: 125

Everpix Part 1: Mac Set Up & Web Interface

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-09-06T13:18:24-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover a great photo service called Everpix. Everpix is a photo service that syncs all of your photos from wherever you have them to it’s service. It then organizes them and give you different views of your photos based on things like highlights and flashbacks. Everpix is one of the few services that will actually sync photos from applications like Aperture and iPhoto so you don’t have to worry about uploaded those photos you just imported because they are already available online ready for you to access and share with others. Everpix has both a web application and iOS application giving you quick access to your photos. Both of these applications work well in giving you great ways of viewing your photos.

In this screencast I walk you through the set up of Everpix. I also cover the web interface and walk you through the various options for viewing and sharing your photos. If you would like to try Everpix and would like an extra 6 months of photo viewing on the service you can use my link here (of course I get 6 months as well:):Everpix Invite.

Managing Your iCloud Storage

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-29T18:23:03-07:00

Apple started sending out emails letting former MobileMe users whom they had given an extra 25GB of storage as a thank you that the free upgrade is coming to an end September 30th. I don’t know about you but I hadn’t worried about my iCloud storage since it came out because 25GB was way more than I would ever use for iCloud. So when I got this email I thought, “no problem. I’ll just check it out and delete a couple of things.” What I didn’t realize, because I wasn’t managing it, my iCloud storage amount and ballooned to 18GB! How could that be?

What I discovered was I was backing up 3 iOS devices which was taking up the majority of data mainly because of photos an videos that were being backed up. These things were causing the spike in my usage and I had to take care of that or may backups would cease. If you are in the same boat, I would recommend the following:

Turn off backup for your camera roll.
Remove any large files you may have added to iCloud by looking at the Apps section of iTunes.
Use a program like PhoneView to move your videos and other files to your Mac and back them up there.

In this screencast I walk you through how to do each of the things above. As always if you have any comments or questions leave them here or on my YouTube Channel,

Starting a Marriage Ministry Part 2: Determine the Needs

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-27T07:29:13-07:00

In the last blog post I talked about some things to consider if you are looking at starting a marriage ministry in your church. One of those things included surveying your people to get an idea of what they need and the best ways to deliver those things. At Saddleback Church I did a survey of all of the married couples of our church and it helped me to shape what we are doing today in the marriage ministry.
When it comes to surveying the couples in your church one of the best tools I have found for doing this is Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey is a survey website that lets you put together surveys, email the link to people you want to survey, and once they respond (their responses are anonymous) aggregates the results so you can see the trends in people's responses. The tool is very easy to customize and use and highly recommend it for any surveying you may be doing.
So I put together a survey to get a handle on where people where at and how best to proceed with the ministry. Below is a sample of the questions I asked. You could ask any questions you feel you need to ask but I really wanted to know their struggles and the best days/times to run events so I wasn't scheduling things when they weren't available. I am so glad I did this as I found that Friday was the best day to do something which is one of the last days I would have chosen had I not asked. Here are the questions I asked:

What types of things have you used in the past to improve your marriage? (Options: Time away, Date nights, Counseling, Small Groups, Retreats, Seminars, Books, Time Alone, Prayer, Working on Self, Other)
Which of the above have you found most effective?
If the church holds classes/seminars dealing with the topic of marriage, which time slots would work best for you (check all that apply).
What would be the biggest obstacle to you attending a marriage event?
If we were to offer other classes or seminars dealing with marital issues, what types of topics would you like us to cover?
What other events and/or resources would you like to see made available to couples?

From the results we received we used these to shape our marriage ministry. It is always valuable to get a handle on where people are at as you seek to shape a ministry. If you shape it in the way they will best receive it, you can help and reach more people. As you will see, I continued to survey after each event to continually refine what we were doing. In the next article we will talk about setting up your model for marital health.

Plex Media Server Part 3: Accessing Your Media Remotely

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-22T07:21:24-07:00

One of the greatest things about Plex is that you can access your media from just about anywhere. Plex has a Mac app, a web interface, iOS and Android apps, support for Roku and other connected devices, it is even on some televisions! With all of these interfaces and the Plex Media Server Software running on your home computer it really allows you to have your media wherever you are!

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to access your media remotely. I take a look specifically at the myPlex web interface and the iOS application. I also demonstrate how you can add media from around the web on the fly into your Plex interface so you can view it on your favorite media device. Plex really is an excellent media server and for a free application it really is incredible! If you want more features you should also consider the Plex Pass which is a paid subscription. For limited time they have a lifetime subscription which really looks like a steal with all the development they have been doing!

As always thanks for all your support! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my YouTube Channel.

Photo of the Week: Out of the Deep

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-15T08:55:49-07:00

One of my hobbies is photography. I love to take landscapes which I share some of the better ones here on my website and in other places like 500px. I thought I would start to do a Photo of the Week and highlight some of my favorites. I probably won’t do one every week but will post from time to time. Enjoy!

On vacation this summer I finally got the chance to visit Mono Lake and all the tufa formations on the south of the lake. I took a bunch of photos I will upload over time. This one I took at dusk just as the colors started to change in the sunset. Because of the color in the lake and the sky I got this awesome combination of colors. I used my Marumi ND and CPL together for this 30 second exposure.

Plex Media Server Part 2: Editing Metadata

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-14T07:13:31-07:00

One of the great features of Plex is it’s ability to automatically match your media to online metadata and pull that information down to display with your media files. While Plex is accurate on this about 90% of the time, there are times when Plex gets it wrong, especially as it relates to your home movies and such. To help you clean this up and customize it a bit more, Plex has a built in media editor that lets you update and change the metadata it displays so you get each entry just the way you want it.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to edit the metadata for your media. I show examples of how Plex could get it wrong and what you need to do to make the changes and make sure those changes stay and don’t get updated again in the future.

As always, thanks for your support! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my YouTube Channel.

Plex Media Server Part 1: Installation & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-09T06:51:28-07:00

I get a lot of questions on my OS X Server Series about how to use a server to handle streaming media to various devices both in and outside the home. With all of us having media both in iTunes and outside of it, using the tools Apple has built into iTunes is not always the best solution. Sure you can use home sharing to get your local media that you have inside iTunes to all of your Apple devices like Macs, iOS devices, and AppleTV’s. But what if you have media that you haven’t put into iTunes? What if you have other devices that are not made by Apple like Roku players or Android Devices? What if you want to access your media outside your home network? That’s where Plex comes into play.

Plex is a media server with a lot of the features most people want in a home media server. Plex combines Movies, Television, Music, Photos and Web services into one easy to use and set up application. Plex automatically pulls the metadata for your media and does a great job presenting it inside the Plex interface. The Plex Media Manager is a web based application so you can access it anywhere you internet access. Combine that with their applications and services for so many different devices and Plex really is a great media server for your content.

In this weeks tutorial I cover how to install and get Plex set up. Next week I’ll cover how to edit and tweak your Media. If you have any questions feel free to comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Starting a Marriage Ministry Part 1: Setting the Direction

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-08T07:03:59-07:00

I haven't written much in a while about marriage ministry and the process we went through at Saddleback Church in getting our marriage ministry off the ground so I thought I would do that in a series of articles on my blog. Hopefully it will help you if you are looking to get something started in your own church.
When it comes to starting any ministry there are a few questions you need to answer:

Is this ministry something our church needs and can do right now?
This is a very important question. Just because a ministry is valid and seems to be a big need does not mean it needs to happen now. You need to make sure your church is ready to do something like this and is on board to make it happen. There are so many things that happen in a church, you want to make sure it is a support not a distraction.

Does your ministry support and help fulfill the vision and mission of your church?
There has been a lot written on vision and mission in business and ministry circles. There was a time where every ministry in the church needed to have a vision and mission statement to be valid. Now having a vision and mission is a good thing but if that vision and mission does not roll up to the overall vision and mission of the church, the ministry can become a distraction instead of a help to the church.
When you look to start a marriage ministry at your church, your vision and mission statement should be the vision and mission of the church. If your ministry doesn't fulfill the vision and mission of your local church, then you shouldn't do it. This will force you to think long and hard about why marriage ministry is important and how it fits in your church. When we set out to do marriage ministry here at Saddleback, we had to consider how it fit the overall vision and mission of Saddleback Church. This thinking also guided how we put the ministry together so it was integrated well with our church (and I'll talk about how we did that and how that works in another post).
Now when I say it needs to line up with your churches vision and mission I am NOT saying you should try to get the church to re-write it's vision and mission statement to include marriage ministry. You don't need that for your ministry to be a success. If your ministry aligns with the vision, mission and strategy of your church people will see it as a value.

What Do Our Married Couples Need?
Don't proceed without first getting a gauge on what the married couples in your church need and are struggling with. So many of us start ministries thinking we know what people need. So we put in a lot of time and energy to develop something that no one needs or wants. Instead of doing that, take some time to talk with people in your church, survey them, and find out what their needs are. I'll give you some ideas of how to make this work in a future blog post. Know your married couples well enough that you know what you are developing is what they need.
If you spend the time up front thinking through the three things, making sure your church is ready for this ministry, that it fulfills the vision and mission of your church, and you have a good idea of the needs of the people you are trying to reach you will have a good base on which to build a solid marriage ministry. In the next article I will talk about how to get this information and get started with the process.

Monitoring Your Server With iStat for iOS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-08-01T08:22:46-07:00

Monitoring your server remotely is something that anyone who has a server wants to do. There are several things you can monitor when it comes to a server. You have the software side which allows you to manage your services and access. l covered how to monitor this in the screencast I did on Server Admin Remote. One of the other things you will want to monitor is the state of your hardware. Knowing if your server is running right or too hot can give peace of mind when you are out on the road. I was on vacation and don’t run air conditioning when I am away. Being able to check the heat of my Mac Mini while I was away in the heat of summer brought peace of mind.

In this weeks screencast I cover how to monitor the physical state of your server using an iOS application called iStat. iStat is a universal iPhone and iPad application that monitors everything from the heat sensors to the fan speed on your Mac. Check out this screencast to see how it works!

If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Online Back Up With Backblaze

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-07-26T13:08:18-07:00

When it comes to making sure all your digital data is safe you need a good back up strategy. For most people, they think about back up after they already lost something they didn’t back up. The key is to put a strategy in place before losing any data so you never have regrets. Depending on how important your data is to you, you may border on paranoid when it comes to data lose. Here are some things to keep in mind when it comes to back up:

1. Hardware will fail at some point.
No matter how well you take care of your computer, hard drive and other electronics we all know that our hardware will fail at some point in the future. It is usually before we think it will happen so it surprises us, but we know it will take place. When it does fail, many times it fails beyond recovery, meaning all of you data could be lost forever.

2. A good backup strategy includes multiple copies
A good rule of thumb is, one copy is good, multiple copies is better. The more copies the more you minimize your risk of losing data.

3. Location of those back ups can be as important as how many backups you have.
You have to take into account the fact that having all your backups in one place means you have a single point of failure. If they are all at your home and get stolen or burned up or damaged by water or some other force of nature you have lost all of your data. If you have your data in multiple locations (at least one more besides your home) you still have your data even if you lose your local copy.

With this in mind, here is my strategy. First, I have a time machine back up of my data. This gives me an incremental back up just in case I accidentally delete something I want to get back. I can go back in time and get it with Time Machine. It also serves as one complete back up. Second, I use a Drobo as an external drive for those backups so if one hard drive fails my data is still safe. Next, I use SuperDuper! to make a bootable clone of my main drive so if that one fails I can boot from this backup and keep working as if nothing happened until I get an internal drive replacement. Finally, I back up to Backblaze online to handle my offsite back up. For things I really don’t want to use like family photos, etc. I back those up to another external drive that I store in a safe place.

With that in mind, I did this tutorial on Backblaze for offsite back up. Backblaze has been a great service that integrates well with the Mac and allows you to set it and forget it. It continually backs up in the background. Whatever strategy you use, be sure to keep all of these possibilities in mind (I’m sure I’ve forgotten some but at this point this is the extent of my own paranoia on the topic of backup:).

Feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel!

Mountain Lion Server: Changing Local to Network User

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-07-19T13:05:15-07:00

When setting up a server, there at times where you don’t want to start over creating a new network account for each user. You may have data associated with that local user and starting over would just create headaches.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to change a local account to a network account and move the users local files over to the server to allow network access from any computer on your network.

As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Remote Time Machine Backups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-07-11T12:56:38-07:00

With the increased awareness of the need for backups there are many options for people looking for ways to keep their data protected in case of a hard drive crash or other disaster. While many have a strategy for backing up their important files and folders while in their own network, few have looked at how those back ups should work when their portable Macs are outside that network. Time Machine, which comes built into every Mac, provides a good incremental back up solution for attached hard drives to back up to. With the OS X Server those back ups can be done wirelessly to your server. But what about when you leave the home or office?

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your portable Mac to enable remote Time Machine backups. This allows your backups to happen over the internet back to your server and allows you to create your very own cloud back up strategy. A couple of things to keep in mind with this approach. First, this is not the complete back up solution. You are protected from hardware failure but if your house burns down you lose your back up. So you will need to consider other offsite back up. Second, this is not foolproof. Because of things like bandwidth and internet interference you could cause your back up to get corrupted if you have major interruptions. So just because it is possible I would caution you in using Time Machine this way. Like anything else your mileage may vary so I want to make sure I put in that warning to start!

As always feel free to leave a comment or question here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Remote Network Account Access

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-07-05T12:50:41-07:00

Connecting to your server using a network account is one of the benefits of using Mountain Lion Server. It lets you log into any computer on your network and have your own desktop and home folders show up on that Mac as if it was your own local machine. With Home Folders being stored on the server itself, it can become challenging for mobile users who are in and out of your network to connect to those folders.

To make this work you can use Mobile Accounts (which I covered in another screencast HERE) which will keep those home folders in sync between your server and the local portable Mac as a solution. Or you can have your users log into their network accounts over the internet and still have access to them. There are pros and cons to each solution with the obvious one being network and server bandwidth which directly impacts speed.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your portable Mac to allow your users to connect to their network accounts over the internet. I also cover how to connect and log into their account through your Open Directory remotely.

As always, feel free to leave any comments or questions below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Changing Your Host Name

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-06-27T12:45:00-07:00

One of the most important pieces of running OS X Server is making sure your DNS is correct. The hostname is at the center of your server’s DNS and you want to make sure the information you have is accurate. You can change your host name using the Server Application but there are somethings you need to keep in mind if you do choose to change it.

In this screencast tutorial I walk you through how to change your Host name. I also cover the services you will need to update once that change is done to make sure you don’t have any of your services break in the process.

As always feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Little Snitch Part 3: Profiles

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-06-12T07:56:11-07:00

One of the great features added to version 3 of Little Snitch is the ability to set up profiles for different networks you may connect to on a regular basis. I have a different sense of what I need security wise when I am outside my network than when I am outside it. With a laptop it is easy to forget that coffee shops and other shared wifi networks are places where your computer is more vulnerable to attack and getting hacked. Granted it is not a huge threat, but any geeky computer person knows what is possible and it is that paranoia that drives us to caution when it comes to connecting in the outside world.

Little Snitch 3 provides a profile feature that allows you to have different sets of rules for different networks. So when I am at home there are one set of rules for home. When I am at a coffee shop, there is another set of rules and Little Snitch 3 keeps track of where I am and automatically switches to the rules I have defined for that spot. It really is a great feature because it does have a set it and forget it set up.

In this screencast I cover profiles and how to set those up in Little Snitch 3. As you will see, this really is a great feature set and one you will use a lot with your mobile Macs!

Little Snitch Part 2: Rules

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-06-12T07:48:44-07:00

Continuing my look at Little Snitch 3, I cover in depth how to work with rules that you set up in the application. Little Snitch not only allows you to set rules based on applications and system processes on a connection by connection basis, it also monitors those rules and shows where you might have contradictions or redundant rules that could be deleted. This helps you maintain a simple rule set that makes it easier to manage.

Little Snitch also gives you suggestions of rules you might want to implement and sets up temporary rules for you to look at and decide if you want to keep or discard them. It really is a great way to keep tabs on your entire network and set up a rule set that you are comfortable with.

One thing I always have to let people know about Little Snitch is the pop ups that warn you of connections can seem overwhelming at first. With every connection asking for your permission to accept or deny you really get a good sense for how many programs are trying to connect. But with all of those connections at first you can feel like the program is getting in your way. If you stick with it and go through all the pop ups and make decisions on what you want to allow and what you want to deny, over time these will become fewer and fewer and you will have the protection and limits to access that you wanted with very little hassle. So stick with it as this really is an incredibly useful tool!

Little Snitch Part 1: Network Monitor

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-06-07T07:23:29-07:00

With all of the recent news and concerns over what the government can and can’t see of your personal information, more and more people are looking for ways to monitor what goes out from their computers onto the internet. With security being an issue as well, it would be great to be able to monitor on a moment by moment basis who is trying access our computers.

Little Snitch provides a great solution to this problem. With it’s network filtering, it lets you see on a connection by connection basis who is trying to get into your computer from the outside and who is trying collect data from your computer from the inside. This network filtering puts you in control of each of these connections and even lets you set up rules for different locations or networks that you might connect to with your mobile Macs.

In this screencast, I give an overview of Little Snitch 3 focusing mainly on the network filter. I cover the basics of the application and all the features present in the network filter including how to get a reading of your current network and how to take snapshots in time to review later.

If you have a server, Little Snitch 3 is a great tool to help you keep tabs on your server and gives you a moment by moment opportunity to block those who may be trying to access your server.

Mountain Lion Server: Hosted Mac Mini Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-05-30T23:14:47-07:00

One of the great things about a Mac Mini is its cost, efficiency and size. Each of these things makes the Mini a great server and now you can host these kinds of servers not only at home but in a datacenter as well. Recently I started working with MacStadium on some tutorials on how to get your Mountain Lion Server up and running in a hosted environment. Through this process I have really come to see the advantages of hosting your Mac Mini inside a datacenter. There is just something about knowing someone else is looking out for your hardware and knowing for sure that your Mini is always on and reachable with the included static ip address.

The MacStadium team has been great and I really see the value in the products they have to offer. You can see more about MacStadium’s services at their website www.macstadium.com. If you do happen to decide to host your server, I there are various tutorials up on their blog, some of which I have been contributing on how to get your Mountain Lion Server up and running in a hosted environment.

In this screencast tutorial I give an overview of having your Mac Mini Server in a hosted environment. I cover the differences between a home hosted versus data center hosted server, some of the costs and benefits of a hosted server, and some of the basics of logging in and working with a server in a hosted environment.

As always feel free to leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel!

Mountain Lion Server: IceFloor Firewall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-05-24T17:09:15-07:00

Earlier I covered how to set up the built in PF Firewall using system preferences found on every mac. I covered the basics of getting the firewall set up and when you might want to consider using a firewall. But there are times when you want to engage more of the advanced features found in the PF Firewall build. You might want more control over the actual ports that the firewall allows access on and you may want to specifically block certain IP addresses and block those who are trying to gain access to your server.

In this screencast tutorial I cover some advanced firewall administration for the built in PF Firewall using a donation ware software program called IceFloor. I cover how this software may be helpful for home users, how to set the software up, what settings to put in place, and ways to customize and test your firewall.

As always feel free to leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel if you need any help or have any questions.

Mountain Lion Server: SFTP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-05-17T17:02:52-07:00

Connecting to your files on a remote server to move them back and forth between your server and a remote computer is something that can be difficult if you are not familiar with the terminal. FTP is an option but it is not that secure as it sends your passwords in plain text. That is where SFTP is a benefit and a great way to move files around using a file manager client like Transmit or Forklift.

In this screencast I cover how to connect to your files and folders remotely using SFTP. SFTP is more secure that FTP and is a great way to navigate remote file systems. I talk about how to set up SFTP, how to connect to your shares both through the terminal and through an app called Forklift. I also cover some basic commands to move files from one server to another.

As always if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: SSH

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-05-10T16:51:06-07:00

Being able to connect to your server remotely is one of the benefits of having a server. I have already covered some of the ways you can connect to your server remotely and in this screencast I cover how to connect to your server using SSH or Secure Shell. SSH allows you to connect to your server through the terminal allowing you to have full root access to your computer. Now SSH is used over port 22 which is often looked for by bots and hackers who look to try to guess your password to gain access to your server. For added security you may want to watch my tutorial on IceFloor to see how you can block known offenders and those who continually try to guess your password.

In this tutorial I show you how to access your server remotely and how to copy files back and forth using terminal. In the next screencast I will cover how to do this using the more easy to use SFTP through a file management program called Forklift.

As always feee free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Modeling a Healthy Marriage For Our Kids

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-05-06T09:24:20-07:00

Marriage can be hard enough without the addition of kids. Take two people who are naturally selfish each with a crazy schedule. Add a schedule for each kid including school, homework, and other activities. Then add all of the issues that come from raising kids including discipline, chores, hygiene, etc and you have the makings of a time-starved marriage. Many couples handle the chaos by resolving themselves to the fact that they are just not going to have much of a married relationship, never mind dating and romance. They figure that once the kids are old enough to be on their own, they will somehow rekindle the romance and pick up where they left off before the kids came into the picture. The problem is, most couples who have this perspective, wake up one day and realize they don’t really know the person sleeping next to them. With no effort put into the relationship they are left with a partnership instead of a marriage. Not only does that type of marriage hurt the couple, it also models for their kids what marriage is all about for good or bad. So how does a couple keep the marriage going while dealing with changes that happen in a home with kids?

Make Time a Priority
First, we need to make time together a priority. One of the biggest relational issues I have found in surveying couples at Saddleback Church is time. In fact time is usually second to communication which can’t happen if you don’t have time! Now your time together may be different than it used to be, but you need to make it a priority if you are to stay connected to one another. Not making time together a priority tells your kids that marriage is not really that important and there really is no work to it. So what do you do to make time for one another? Instead of dividing and conquering all the time, make it a point to ride together to pick up the kids or drop them off at the next event. During those events grab a cup of coffee or hang out together. Another opportunity is when the kids go to bed (make it early) or while the kids are in school. Find those moments where you can connect. There is wasted time you could definitely utilize!

Protect Your Time
Second, let your kids know that mommy and daddy need their time together. Your kids need to learn what a healthy marriage looks like and the only way they will learn is by observing how important that relationship is to you and how you model it for them. If you only exist together, your kids will learn that marriage is about sharing resources. If your only interaction is arguments or disagreements, they will learn that marriage is about winning. If they see no romance in your relationship or love for one another they may actually learn that marriage destroys relationships instead of being one of the most intimate of all relationships. You get the point. Model the marriage you would want your kids to have so they have a chance at having it. Otherwise, they won’t have the skills or the background to know how to have a healthy marriage.

Grow Your Marriage
Third, make marriage enrichment a priority. There are plenty of marriage enrichment activities you can plug into and there are more resources in the area of marriage than at any other time. If you don’t work on your relationship your relationship will not grow, in fact it will go backward. Plus modeling for your kids that you actually take the time to learn how to love one another better is a lesson that every parent would want for their kids.

Connect Spiritually Together
Finally, make time to grow spiritually together. Those who are followers of Jesus Christ know that sharing together what you are learning through time in scripture and prayer is an important part of building a strong marriage. It doesn’t have to be difficult. It could involve talking about what each of you is learning in your bible study and prayer or reading a devotional together. Here again, is another opportunity to model for your kids what role faith plays in your marriage so they can “catch” the importance and see what it looks like.

Adding kids can feel like you are blowing up your marriage or at least putting it on hold for a while. But putting your relationship on hold does not help you to grow healthy kids. Instead it has the potential of growing kids who know nothing of what it takes to have a great marriage. You’ll also end up with a marriage that lacks intimacy and connection. So the big question is, what are your kids learning about marriage through observing you?

Mountain Lion Server: RADIUS Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-05-03T11:01:25-07:00

Security on wireless networks can be a problem for those who are concerned with their one SSID getting out to those outside their network. While this may not be a big issue for home users, it can be a big one for those running a small business. Built into Mountain Lion Server is the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) Server which only allows those with user credentials on the server to access the wireless network. Instead of one SSID and password to access the network, users are asked for their user name and password that they use to log into the server. This creates added security and server level authentication for your wireless network.

As always, feel free to leave questions or comments below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Splashtop iOS Screensharing

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-04-26T10:54:19-07:00

Continuing on in looking at iOS applications that allow you to access your server while you are on the go, I take a look this week at Splashtop. Splashtop is an iOS screen sharing application that allow you to access your server desktop on your iOS device and use it like you were right in front of your server. You simply install a little program on your server that communicates with the iOS application, install Splashtop on your iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad), login and you are set to access your server.

Some of the controls do take some getting used to but there is a handy guide to help explain how each of the services work. The latency is really good and it makes it a great tool for every server administrator to have. As always, if you have any questions feel free to leave them below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Server Admin Remote

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-04-19T10:46:49-07:00

Being able to monitor your server remotely is something that every IT guy needs to ability to do. But if you have to login with a screen share just to check the status of your services it can be time consuming and cause even the best administrator to procrastinate. I found an iOS application that allows you to check on your services, stop and start services, check logs, and look at your resources. The app is called Server Admin Remote and you can get it from the iTunes Store.

In this screencast I cover how to download, set up and use the application on your iPhone. This really is a great little app and should come in handy for helping you check in on your server. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave one below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Firewall Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-04-12T11:04:40-07:00

Protecting your server is important especially when you are making services available over the internet. If you are using a router, you in essence have a hardware firewall that protects you against those from the outside trying to get in. There are instances when you want to specifically track and monitor those trying to get into your server especially when SSH is enabled and the various bots in the world start running DDoS attacks on your server. That is where a software firewall is helpful.

In this weeks tutorial I cover how to set up the built in firewall on OS X Server. I cover the basic set up and various options found in the GUI built into system preferences. In a future screencast I will cover how to run the server with the command line and a third party GUI called Icefloor.

As always if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Dealing with Dissappointment in Marriage

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-04-11T08:03:01-07:00

Expectations of how things should go and when they should happen in relationships can be a deep source of pain and disappointment and can cause us to develop a short term view of relationships. The reality is that your spouse will let you down and you will let your spouse down. It is also reality that you will feel your spouses offenses against you are greater than your offenses against your spouse. We always weigh our own experience of pain more heavily. When we allow this evaluation and constant pondering about our woes and what we feel we are lacking in life because of our spouse to drive our emotions and perception of the world, we will grow resentful and heap all of the problems in our life onto our spouse. When we do that, the intimacy that we should have with our spouse goes out the window because who could feel close to someone we believe is the source of all of our problems? This then leads to emotional separation which, left unchecked, is how people get to the place of wanting physical separation. For those who leave a marriage based on this cycle, they believe there is someone out there who won’t let them down, not realizing that they had a major role to play in the downfall of the marriage. So they go out and find someone else only to experience the inevitable let down that happens when two imperfect people live together in close quarters and then experience the same process and wonder how they got there again. So how do we avoid this trap that has caused so many people pain?

Have a Long Term View of Relationships
The first thing we all need to do is to remember that great relationships are always based on a longterm view and are developed over time. There is no instant success in relationships. We never really arrive because marriages are living organisms of sorts. They are either growing or declining. We have to work at our marriages if we hope to stay connected and close with our spouse. This work takes place over a long period of time. I can’t tell you how many couples I have worked with who quit just before they could have experienced the greatest sense of peace and closeness in their marriages. A history with someone is not something that is easily developed or easily thrown away and a longterm view of a relationship allows couples to relax and not spend every moment of their lives evaluating whether or not the relationship is “working.” The relationship will work if both parties have a long view towards building a healthy marriage. It usually takes years to get over our own views of how things should “work” and when we finally let go of our demands and choose to love and move towards each other in life, we experience a rhythm to life that we never even had on our radar as part of the “dream.”

Admit and Respond as if You Are an Equal Part of the Problem
As I said earlier, we are all experts on how the other person is failing. Few of us are experts on our own failures or if we do admit we have areas where we have failed they are usually minor compared to what we believe our spouse is doing to fail us. When we work to fix our spouse or complain or criticize our spouse for all that he/she does wrong we are only causing more problems in our marriage and pushing our spouse away. If we really want to experience all that our marriage has to offer we have to look in the mirror and make our own behavior the project we are working to improve. If you have not been working on yourself as it relates to your marriage or if your list of what is wrong in your relationship is longer for your spouse than it is for you, you are probably still blaming your spouse for most of the problems. It is the rare case where only one person is causing all the pain in a relationship. It takes two to tango as they say and we all have to admit we have a part to play in the problems we face as a couple.

Get a Grip on Your Expectations
Many times we believe that our expectations are always reasonable and everyone in the world has the same view and is experiencing all the things we feel we are lacking. We get into the comparison game from a distance and assume that those we admire have it all together and are getting what we are not in our marriages. The reality is, everyone is experiencing conflict. Anyone who says they are not, either has a spouse who is dead, or someone is not talking and it usually isn’t the one who is saying everything is great! Take some time to evaluate how many of your expectations put an unfair burden on your spouse to come through for you in order to make you “happy.” Any expectation that puts my happiness or mood in the hands of another person is dangerous and unfair. Just as we teach our kids that someone else is not responsible for how they act, we too need to avoid making our spouses responsible for how we act or feel.

Marriage is a beautiful and difficult thing. It can be the source of our greatest joy and connection and the source of our greatest pain and rejection. But the measure of success in a marriage is not how much joy I experience on a regular basis, but how much we grow together in the midst of conflict and joy. It is the ability to work through difficult times and still stay connected that is measure not only of the strength of our marriage, but the character we possess individually.

Mountain Lion Server: Server 2.2.1 Update

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-04-05T14:23:48-07:00

I have had a lot of questions lately about the changes Apple made to Server with the 2.2.1 Update. Some of the confusion is between previous tutorials I have done and the new changes that were made so I decided to make a tutorial to take into account a few of the changes that people were asking about. Apple’s Support Article covers the changes they made with this update found here:

Here are some of the main changes:

1. Caching Service: This allows you to cache any updates that have been downloaded from the Mac App Store so they don’t need to be re-downloaded. I covered this in detail in a previous screencast.

2. Centralized SSL Certificate Management: Apple took the SSL Certificate management out of the Server hardware area and moved it to it’s own service. I cover the changes in detail for those who had difficulty with the new interface.

3. Time Machine: Changes include seeing which computers are backed up, when they were backed up, and the size of the back up.

As always feel free to leave comments here or on my YouTube Channel.

NEW! All Video Tutorials in One Place

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-04-01T14:46:53-07:00

I have had a lot of feedback lately asking me to put all of my tutorials on my website in an easy to view format. Some of you don’t like using the YouTube interface and would prefer to come to the website instead to view the tutorials in one place. So to make it easier, I have added a section to my website on Technology which includes all the tutorials sorted by topic. It is a start and I still have things I want to do make it better but I think it will make it easier for you to view them in order instead of using the playlist feature on my YouTube Channel.

I also included a donate button for those who want to buy me a cup of coffee (Starbucks is one of my regular hang outs) for the work on the tutorials. Please don’t think you have to donate to use the tutorials, I am just doing this for those who wanted to do something but didn’t have a way to do it.

If you get a chance to check the tutorials section out, give me some feedback on what you think and how I could improve it. You can email me or leave a comment here.

I love doing these tutorials and helping others with things I have learned. I also love to hear how they help others so drop me a line if you get a chance.

Mountain Lion Server: Mobile Accounts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-03-29T14:40:39-07:00

One of the advantages of Server is the ability to have your home folders on the server so you can log into any computer on your network and have your desktop and home folder set up available just as if you were on your local computer. But one of the problems of doing this is dealing with mobile computers. What happens when you take your laptop outside the network if your home folders are on the server?

To solve this problem, Server has the ability to set up mobile accounts where basically sets up a sync service that keeps your home folder in sync between the server and the client machine. Before a client leaves the network, the home folder syncs to the client machine. When the client comes back into the network, any changes the client has made get sync’ed back to the server to keep everything the same. This way the client can still log into any computer on your network and still take their laptop on the go.

As always, feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: Work Group Manager Preferences

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-03-22T14:35:00-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover the preference settings available in Work Group Manager and I compare them to the setting available in Profile Manager. Apple is definitely moving away from Work Group Manager towards having everyone use Profile Manager but has chosen to keep Work Group Manager around for those how still like to use this legacy software for managing their directory.

Work Group Manager can still be used to manage all of your users, groups, devices and device groups in a non web interface on your server. It still works well and gives you another option for setting up your server.

As always feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: Bind Clients to the Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-03-15T14:29:14-07:00

Your Open Directory allows you to connect your computers to that directory which gives you more management options. There were some comments lately about how to bind a computer to the server on my YouTube Channel so I thought I would do a tutorial to show how this gets set up. You want to bind your machine to your Domain Name and not to your .local name. Some had it where the .local was the only server option available on their network. This was caused by having the primary DNS be the router instead of the server. A simple change in the router set up fixed this for those I was talking to.

In this video tutorial I cover how to set that up properly. I also cover the process for binding your clients to the server and what it looks like in Work Group Manager.

As always feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: Work Group Manager Overview

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-03-08T14:23:05-08:00

The Server Application gives you plenty of functionality for you to set up and configure your server. But Apple still provides Work Group Manager as a way for you to set up and configure services on your server. It works with your Open Directory and includes some more detailed information to help you tweak your server.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to download and install Work Group Manager. I give a basic overview of the application and cover how to use it to work with users and groups on your server.

As always, thanks for watching. Feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel if you have a question.

Mountain Lion Server: Remote Server Access

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-02-28T14:17:44-08:00

One of the advantages of having a server is being able to access it remotely. I had some questions lately about how to do that so I decided to do a screencast on it to demonstrate how to make that happen.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to connect to your server remotely. I demonstrate a couple of ways to do this and how to make sure you set it up properly without accidentally installing the server components on your non server device.

As always feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: NetInstall

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-02-22T14:10:55-08:00

With the new digital distribution of Apple’s operating systems it makes it more difficult to reinstall on various computers if you need to do so. With Server you have the ability to set up various images that you can then use to do a clean install on your computers over the air on your own network. The advantages of doing this is the fact that you can customize your install and don’t have to worry about creating your own media to make the install happen.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up a disk image to be used for your NetInstall. I also cover some of the customization options to simplify the install process and then show how the process works.

As always feel free to leave a comment or question here or on my YouTube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: DHCP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-02-15T14:04:44-08:00

DHCP or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, is what is used to assign IP addresses to the devices on your network. DHCP is usually set up through the router as there needs to be addresses given to your devices if they are to show on your network and connect to the internet. Server gives you the option to control DHCP through your server instead of through a router. There are advantages and disadvantages to either solution and I cover those in this tutorial. For most people the router will be the best option since a router is usually always on while there a times when a computer is shut down, thus shutting down your DHCP service. But for many in corporate environments controlling the DHCP from the server is important.

As always feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: Connecting iOS to WebDAV

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-02-07T13:56:12-08:00

One of the struggles most people with iOS devices have is getting the documents on their Macs onto their iOS device. Sure you could use Dropbox or some other cloud service. Or you could use iTunes to sync certain files and folders through certain apps you may have on your device. But sometimes you just want to have your files available right off your computer without having to go through another service.

In Mountain Lion Server you can specify certain folders to be available to your iOS device and then connect to those files through the WebDAV interface built into your iOS device. This makes all of your files portable and allows you to use them where you are at on the road (provided you have a public domain address or VPN).

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to connect to those files and folders you designated for sharing with iOS devices. I cover how to do this in a couple of apps to give you an idea of how it works. As always, please feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Wiki Customization

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-01-30T13:49:55-08:00

Mountain Lion Server’s Wiki allows you to customize elements of it to make it your own. You can edit each of the elements on the site beyond the basic navigation. You can add banners, videos, audio, and other elements to make the site look unique. In this screencast tutorial, I cover how to customize the wiki and go over each of the customization options. While these options don’t quite allow you to create your own site in any way you want, it does allow you to layer some things on top of the existing layout.

As always, thanks for checking out my tutorials. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

MacWorld/iWorld

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-01-28T15:02:38-08:00

This week is MacWorld, a week where ifans of all sorts converge on one spot to geek out talking about and learning about all things Apple. This event has been going on for quite some time but I have never attended. There were plenty of times I thought about it but for one reason or another my schedule would not cooperate so I never made it. Well this year I am finally making the trek up to San Francisco to see what it's all about. I'll get to go with my dad who is a big Mac guy as well and really is the one who got me started on Mac stuff (I still remember when he got and Apple II and then eventually the first Mac). I really excited to see what it's all about.

While I'm there I'll have the opportunity to meet Don Mcallister who is making the trip from the UK. I have watched Don's screencasts from ScreenCastsOnline for many years and if you haven't heard of him or checked out ScreenCastsOnline and you own a Mac you really should check it out. You can get the screencasts as standalone tutorials or subscribe to the ScreenCastsOnline Monthly Magazine and view them in a magazine format with articles by leading Mac experts. I have had the privilege of collaborating with him lately with screencast content and it has been awesome working with and learning from Don. We are finally going to connect face to face.

I am also looking forward to attending the Omnifocus 2 unveiling party happening on Thursday night which will be presented by David Sparks, Merlin Mann, and Ken Case from the OmniGroup. It will be a lot of fun to check out the updates and be able to get early access to the private beta. I'll have to let you know how it looks! On Friday night I look forward to going to the Nosilla Castaways party on Friday night to meet Allison and some of the other podcasters I have heard but haven't met yet. Of course we'll also attend some of the workshops and roam the show floor. It should be a great trip!

I'll try to put updates on my twitter feed so if you are not following my on Twitter by sure to follow me @tolthoff. I'll also try to follow up with a blog post sometime next week.

Mountain Lion Server: Wiki Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-01-28T14:36:54-08:00

One of the great advantages of using OS X Server is the built in website that comes with it. For those who just want to get their feet wet with having their own website to those who are running a small business and want a collaboration tool that all of their employees can use to communicate and share ideas, the built in website is a really nice option and has a decent amount of functionality and customization. Now if you are a person who has a vision for how you want your website to look and feel and you want the freedom to add pages and functionality on the fly, then you are still probably better off having our website hosted or hosting it on your server. While the customization on the built in site is nice, it really isn't built for a complete redesign and you have to work with the built in tools to make it work.

In this screencast tutorial I go over how to set up the Wiki Service which functions along side the Website Service to create the built in Wiki Website. I also give a basic tour of the site to give you an idea of what you can do with it. In the next screencast I will cover how to customize your site to make it your own.

As always if you have any questions, feel free to comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

The Respectability of Honest Weakness

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-01-24T09:23:14-08:00

I haven't posted any of my journal devotionals in a while so I thought I would post today's. I wrote this today in my sacred space (or Starbucks to other people) at my regular time early this morning. Hope you enjoy it!

Today I read Exodus 3-5 and Luke 22. It is interesting that God chooses people who are not perfect to serve him. You would think the God of the universe could choose people who have no flaws or very little flaws. Or, at least, you would think he would not talk about their flaws in the Bible. Especially the flaws of leaders that he chose and established.

In our society we think that perfection or the appearance of it is something we should strive for. Heaven forbid that anyone ever know that we failed at anything. So we go about life trying to look as perfect as possible. We all know that perfection is not really possible so we admit to a few flaws that we are pretty sure everyone else struggles with or ones that are socially acceptable. Somewhere along the line we bought into the lie that true respect comes from being as close to flawless as possible.

The reality is that people really don't respect those who pretend to be perfect. Most of the reason for this is that we can see the flaws of another person better than that person can see it in themselves. So it is like having a person who says they never make mistakes make one right in front of you and still hold onto the belief that they don't make mistakes. We don't really respect people like that even if we are polite to them and don't point out those flaws. The people that we most respect are those who make mistakes but are able to admit them, make amends and move on. There is something very attractive about authenticity and humility. We want to support those kind of people and root for them to do well.

God knew this when he chose people he knew were flawed and had weaknesses. He saw their strength of character behind the image that others had of them and he chose them even when they didn't think they were worthy of being chosen. Take Moses. Here is a man who God used in mighty ways and became famous enough that most people in our society today know who he is. But Moses was flawed. He had a temper problem that lead him to kill a man. He had stage fright so much so that he argued with God over whether he was the right guy to send because he couldn't speak in front of people. Yet God still chose this short-fused-stage-fright of a leader to lead his people Israel out of Egypt on one of the most miraculous and important journey's of their lives.

Take Peter. Here was a guy who was a fisherman by trade who had no problem talking, so much so that he kept putting his foot in his mouth. Peter was not educated, he was not well spoken, he was a wild card that you never knew what he would say or do and most times he would probably embarrass you. This same guy who with one breath committed to dying with Jesus, chose to deny that he even knew Jesus when the true prospect of losing his life was presented to him. God chose this man to be God's spokesman at the start of the church and before government officials.

Each of these guys had weaknesses but each of these guys also did mighty things for God. They both had in common the commitment and loyalty needed to see something through and the faith to follow God's commands no matter where they led. Their weaknesses make them human to us and easy to relate to. Their admission of their weaknesses and how they handled their failures shows us what authenticity looks like. Their weaknesses give us hope for our own lives as we seek to follow God.

*Lord, thank you for using ordinary people to do extraordinary things for you. It gives me great hope in my own life to know that you can use flawed people for perfect purposes. Please help me to be a man of faith who has the steadfastness to see my calling through. Amen.*

Mountain Lion Server: Web Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-01-18T08:51:00-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Website service. This service is not only used for hosting your own personal websites. It is also used as a part of making the Wiki Service work so it is a service that will be running whether you are hosting your own website or not. In the screencast I talk about things to consider when hosting your own website including:

1. Does your ISP block port 80?
If your ISP blocks port 80 then you will not be able to host your own website as that is the port that those outside your network will use to access your site. You may have to call your ISP to see if there is a way to open that port. In many cases they will want you to purchase their business internet service which is usually more costly but does come with a static IP address which helps with the next issue.

2. Do you have a static IP address?
If you are using a dynamic IP address, which most home users are, you are leasing an IP address that could change at any moment. Once this IP address changes all of your web services will go offline until you discover the change and update your domain registrar to point your domain name to the new IP address. This will cause your website to be down until you make the change. Now most ISP's don't change the IP that often. It usually happens when you reboot your modem, but the risk of it changing might be too big, especially if you are dependent on having your website up and running 24/7. For home users who are only doing this for family it is not as critical, but for the rest, you really need a static IP.

3. Are you ok with Downtime?
Running a web server that hosts critical websites means that uptime of your sites is up to you and your server. So if you have a power outage and your server goes down, so does your website. If you forget you are hosting a site and turn off your server, you lose your site. So you really need to weigh the costs before you decide to do your own hosting.

Hopefully that gives you some things to consider before hosting your site. In the tutorial I cover how to get your site going and even how to set up virtual hosting if you are looking at hosting various domains/websites on your one server. This includes a look at the DNS service so if you haven't covered that yet, you may want to view my tutorial HERE.

Thanks for watching! If you have any comments or questions leave them here or on my Youtube Channel!

Mountain Lion Server: Profile Manager-Devices

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-01-10T08:44:38-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to manage all of your devices using Profile Manager in Mountain Lion Server. Managing many devices can be difficult especially if you have to update the settings on those devices one at a time. With Profile Manager you can set up profiles for each device or device group and those changes get pushed over the air to all of your devices. Once your devices are in Profile Manager (you can see my tutorial on how to do this HERE), you can choose to manage them either individually or put them into device groups and manage them that way. You can set up everything from passwords to what items are in the dock. There really is a great amount of customization available and the great thing about Profile Manager is you can access it from any web browser anywhere you are (as long as you have either a .private network and you VPN in, or a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name).

As always feel free to leave a comment or question here or on my Youtube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: Profile Manager-Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2013-01-04T08:36:49-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I continue my look at Profile Manager and show you how to set up profiles for Users and Groups. Users and Groups are initially configured in the Server App so whatever you set up there will be what is showing in Profile Manager itself. The cool part of this service is the level of customization you can do to a profile and how easily it pushes those changes to a particular user the next time that user logs in.

I cover each of the settings in both the User and Groups screens. I also share my own strategy of using groups to manage users instead of having to update each individual user’s profile one at a time. In the next screencast I will cover how to set up device specific profiles which is another great way to manage the settings on your network.

As always, if you have any questions feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Mountain Lion Server: Profile Manager-iOS Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-12-27T08:26:27-08:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to enroll iOS devices in Profile Manager. I just got a piece of software called Reflector which allows me to mirror my iOS devices on my Mac. This has allowed me to capture these devices using my screencast software called Screenflow. This should be great for future screencasts as I will now be able to show you how to do the set up on your iOS devices and even include some iOS only tutorials in the future.

In this particular screencast I go over how to get your iOS device enrolled in Profile Manager so you can manage that device and push profile changes to it over the air. As I demonstrated in the previous screencast, you need to first install the trust profile if you are using a self signed SSL Certificate before you do any other installations. Forgetting this step will cause Profile Manager not to work and you will waste hours of tweaking for no benefit. After that profile is installed you can then install your other settings and make changes in Profile Manager itself that will be pushed to all your devices.

As always if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel. Thanks for watching:).

Mountain Lion Server: Profile Manager-Mac Enrollment

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-12-21T17:01:43-08:00

Profile Manager is one of the best parts of Mountain Lion Server. It allows you to manage all of your Macs and iOS Devices from a your server either locally or remotely. It gives enterprise control over your devices that was previously only available to those running enterprise level servers.

If you haven’t had a chance to view my previous tutorial on setting up Profile Manager start with that tutorial first by clicking HERE. In this screencast tutorial, I continue my look at Profile Manager and walk through how to set up your Macs to use the service. I cover how to install the needed certificates to allow your Macs to be managed and cover how they look once enrolled within Profile Manager.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or leave a comment on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Caching Service

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-12-14T16:55:30-08:00

Now that Apple has two methods for pushing updates to client computers, Software Update and the Mac App Store, it makes it difficult to manage updates and the bandwidth for each and every client on your network. To help with this for Macs that use the Mac App Store, Apple has created the new Caching Service to allow the Server to save any updates that clients on your network download so future downloads will happen from your server instead of Apple’s Servers. The Caching Service only adds updates when someone accesses an update and downloads it.

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to configure the Caching Service and set your clients to use that service instead of the Mac App Store. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Software Update

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-12-07T16:49:46-08:00

Software Update is Apple’s method of pushing updates to their software to Macs. The problem with Software Update is the time it takes to download each of those updates individually for each machine and the bandwidth it takes for each of those individual downloads.

In Mountain Lion Server Apple has included a local Software Update Service that allows you to download all of Apples’ updates to your server and then point your clients to your server to download those updates. In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Software Update Service and how to point your client computers to use your Server instead of Apple’s Servers to get their updates.

If you have any questions along the way, feel free to leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Back Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-11-30T16:42:18-08:00

Back up is one of the things we usually think about after we needed a back up which causes us to leave all of our data. Running a Server is as much about making fast recovery possible as it is keeping your data safe. In this screencast tutorial, I cover how to use Time Machine in Mountain Lion Server to allow wireless back ups of all of your client machines to a centralized location. I also cover creating a bootable backup of your server using a program called SuperDuper! which will allow you to be back up and running in no time should you have a major hard drive failure. Finally, I cover how to back up your Open Directory so you can restore that data should you have problems with your server.

As always if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Mail

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-11-23T16:34:23-08:00

The dream of hosting your own web server is something most of us who are interested in things like servers have toyed with. Being in control of what comes in and out and having our own customized email address is appealing. But anyone who has run and email server knows the headaches administrating email can be!

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your own Mail Server. I go over the pros and cons of hosting your own email. I talk about the basic requirements of hosting your own server at home and how to set up your clients to use the service. As always if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: FTP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-11-16T16:28:43-08:00

FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a way to transfer files between two computers. FTP is used for uploading and downloading files from a server and offers an easy way to access certain folders and files.

In this screencast tutorial, I cover how to set up your own FTP share in Mountain Lion Server. I talk about how to log into your FTP share using Terminal and an FTP client.

As always if you have a question, feel free to leave a comment below or leave a comment on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: VPN

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-11-09T16:20:14-08:00

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is a protocol that allows you to set up a secure connection between two devices. This secure connection allows you to appear as if you are on your local network so you can access the services you have running on your server. One of the things a VPN on a Mac will not do, however, is run bonjour services which means all your other local computers will not show up in your finder side bar and you won’t have home sharing services in iTunes and iPhoto work remotely. There are some things you could do to make that work but it does take a lot hacking and is probably the subject of another article.

In the screencast tutorial below, I cover how to set up the VPN Service on Mountain Lion Server including how to set up the right range of addresses that won’t interfere with your regular DHCP range, which protocol to use (L2TP or PPTP), and ways in which you can export a profile to use to set up your client machines. I also cover setting up and connecting to your VPN Service remotely.

As always if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Messages

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-11-02T16:11:58-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Messages Service on Mountain Lion Server. Messages is Apple’s new and improved iChat Service which allows you to set up a private chat service that lets you communicate both in and outside your network. This service can be convenient especially now that Apple is using it for it’s own texting service over wifi.

In this tutorial I cover how to set up the Messages Service and connect all your clients to the service. I also cover how to use the service and get your buddy list set up and running. If you have any questions along the way, feel free to leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Contacts

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-10-26T16:03:56-07:00

One of the benefits of having a server is the ability to host your own services like Calendars and Contacts. In Mountain Lion Server the Contacts Service allows you to set up your own contacts directory and push changes to all of your devices. In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Contacts Service including how to set up the services and get your clients set up to use the service. I also cover a couple of options for setting up your Contacts including individual accounts and a shared family Contact Book. If you have any questions in setting up the service, feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Calendar

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-10-19T22:07:54-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Calendar Service on Mountain Lion Server. Calendar allows you to manage a CalDav standard calendar for all of the users on your server. It allows you to set up locations and resources that you can make available for scheduling and sends invitations to those you invite to events that you schedule. I cover not only how to set this up on the server but also how to configure your clients to use the service as well and even include an optional way to have one calendar that all of your users have as their primary calendar for those families that only want to worry about one standard calendar for the whole household.

As always, feel free to email any questions or leave a comment on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Connect & Auto Mount AFP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-10-12T21:59:54-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to connect to any AFP shares you have set up both locally and remotely on your devices. I also cover how to set up certain files and folders to auto mount every time you log into your computer so they are mounted and ready to go when you need them instead of having to repeat the process of mounting your files and folders every time you log out or reboot.

If you have any comments or questions feel free to email or leave a comment on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: File Sharing

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-10-05T21:52:35-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the File Sharing Service on Mountain Lion Server. File sharing is one of the basic things everyone thinks about when setting up a server. The need to share the same files among multiple users and have them stored in a centralized location is what servers do best and Mountain Lion Server has an excellent and easy to set up file sharing service. The service includes the ability to set the permission levels of shared files and folders with either Read & Write (the user can both view and upload/change content), Read Only (the user can only view the content but not download or upload), Write Only (the user can only add content but not take any away), and no access which hides the file or folder from the user so he/she doesn’t even know it is there. The service all allows the ability for the shared file or folder to be shared as AFP (Apple File Protocol) or SMB (Windows File Sharing Protocol), shared with iOS devices over WebDav, or used to set up and store home folders on the server. I cover all of these topics in the tutorial below.

As always, if you have any comments or questions feel free to email, or comment on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-09-28T21:43:19-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up users & groups on Mountain Lion Server. I explain how to tell the difference between local and network accounts and what the advantages are of each. I also talk about how setting up groups can make easier for you to manage multiple users at one time and how you can create groups for family members that allow you to do things like make on change that effects all the kids instead of having to change each child manually.

As always if you have any questions, feel free to email or leave a comment on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Profile Manager Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-09-21T21:36:57-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up the Profile Manager service. Profile Manager is a powerful MDM (Mobile Device Management) application that puts the power of enterprise servers in the hands of home users. Profile Manager is a great way to manage all the devices in your household like Macs and iOS Devices from a web browser. The beauty of Profile Manager is you can manage these devices from any computer or device that has a web browser so you don’t need to be at your server to manager your devices.

In this tutorial I walk you through the steps of setting up the service which includes Apple’s Push Notification Certificate and SSL Certificates for secure connections between your server and your other devices. In future screencasts I will walk through each of the features available to manage and customize on your devices.

If you have any questions, feel free to email or comment on my YouTube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Open Directory

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-09-14T21:25:03-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up Open Directory on Mountain Lion Server. Open Directory Service sets up a Network Directory or LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) which allows the set up of network accounts. This allows you to set up various services on MLS that require network accounts such as Profile Manager and home folders stored on the server that allow users to log into them on any computer in the network.

There are two ways to set up Open Directory in MLS. In this tutorial I walk through how to set up the service itself. It can also be set up by starting up Profile Manager, which checks to see if an Open Directory Master exists and if it doesn’t, then it walks you through the process of setting one up.

Let me know how you enjoy the screencast and feel free to email or leave a comment on my YouTube Channel if you have any questions or comments.

Needs Obsession

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-09-11T08:01:50-07:00

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Recently in my work with couples I have noticed this obsession that keeps many couples from growing a healthy marriage. It seems so logical at first that most would say, "What's wrong with that?" but looking at what it does to relationships tells me it is not a healthy focus. The focus I'm talking about is usually called by many couples "meeting my needs." Now on the face of it we would all say that we have an expectation that our spouse should meet our needs. After all there are books written on the subject of needs all over the place. Everyone recognizes that we all have needs. So why would I say that the concept of needs is causing problems in relationships?

The main thing I see for many couples is the focus on their own needs and more importantly how their spouse is failing to meet those needs. That blame then leads to resentment and a sense of entitlement. They start to feel like their spouse is not doing their job and begin to evaluate and rate their spouses performance when it comes to meeting needs. This just leads to greater disappointment and resentment and eventually the couple begins to move apart because their conversations turn to negotiations and lectures on needs and who is doing what in the marriage. In a twisted way we cause to happen what we suspected from the beginning. Since we assume our spouse didn't care, when we push them to do what we want them to, we drive them away. When they fail to engage we say to ourselves, "Ah-ha, see I knew you didn't care." Overtime each spouse starts to feel ripped off and criticized at the same time and distance is the natural result which only reinforces the idea that the other person is not meeting their needs. I've even had some people say that it feels abusive when their spouse ignores them or doesn’t meet their needs.

The problem in all of this is one of focus. Do we all have needs in a relationship? There is no doubt we do. Most times, however those needs are overblown. We call wants needs all the time and when we confuse the two it only creates more problems in a marriage. Everything you and I want is not necessarily a need and we need to be careful to make the right distinction between the two.

When it comes to true needs the problems come when I focus on what I need instead of what the other needs. This approach then makes me an evaluator of the other person's performance. It immediately develops a sense of entitlement in my mind and I start to have feelings of neglect and being ripped off. Compare this attitude to the one Jesus had. “..since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” Just as Jesus did not demand that others serve him, even though he had every right to, we need to stop demanding that our needs be met and start to focus on our spouse. When I choose to focus on the other person and understanding my spouse more and the needs that my spouse has, I take the focus off the other person's performance and I begin to see the other person from a place of compassion and love. I am then more naturally able to respond to the other person's true needs and since I understand him/her better my responses more accurately hit the needs of my spouse. This in turn usually causes my spouse to want to return the gesture and you then start to have a better relationship where each of you is better able to meet each others needs occasionally. I say occasionally because rarely will you ever have every need in your life met all the time. We are not good at it as humans and since we are living in a fallen world where things don't work the way they should, we will always live with some sense of longing for more. There are needs that only God can fulfill in our lives and we have to be careful not to make our spouses the source of fulfilling those needs. It is impossible for them to do that and we are setting them up for failure.

The more we choose to look to the needs of our spouse, the more likely we will be to have most of our needs met. The more we choose to focus on what we feel we are not getting out of the relationship, the more we will feel resentment and cause our spouse to move away from us. The choice really is ours and where we choose to focus. If you are feeling ripped off in your relationship, take a look at your attitude and how much you are focusing on what you are not getting out of your marriage instead of focusing on how much you understand and meet the needs of your spouse. My guess is, your marriage reflects where you choose to set your focus.

Mountain Lion Server: DNS

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-09-07T07:12:47-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up and check the DNS of your server. DNS stands for Domain Name System and it is responsible for connecting an IP address to a particular name. For instance, every website like www.toddolthoff.com had a domain name like 192.0.0.0.0. That number is difficult to remember so that is why we use things like toddolthoff.com. Your DNS controls all the naming not only on your server but also the computers on your network. So if your DNS is off, your server will not function and you will have trouble getting your services to work.

In this tutorial I cover how to set up your DNS and how to check to make sure your DNS is working properly. If you have any questions feel free to leave them here or reply on my Youtube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: SSL Certificates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-08-31T07:06:28-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover SSL Certificates. SSL Certificates allow secure connections between computers keeping that communication safe from those who might want to get to that information. These secure connections are used by banks and other organizations that want to protect what is being transferred between their website and your computer. You can usually tell if a website is secure by the https in front of the web address (the “s” shows it is a secure connection).

In this tutorial I cover how to set up a self signed SSL Certificate for Mountain Lion Server to allow you to have secure connections with your server. This is required if you are going to use Profile Manager and is recommended for things like Calendar, Address Book, Mail, etc. I also cover how to integrate a third party verified SSL Certificate and how to get that certificate added to your server.

As always if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Port Forwarding

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-08-24T07:48:51-07:00

In this screencast tutorial, I cover how to set up port forwarding on your router. If any of the services you set up on your server are to be access outside of your home or work network, you will need to open up a port to the internet for that service. Your router serves as a hardware firewall that keeps people out of your home network. It is a great security tool but it also will keep you out of your home network if you try to login outside of your network. The router can open up secure “ports” or holes that allow you to use certain aspects of your sever while you are outside your network. In this tutorial I look at how to do that with an Airport Extreme Base Station from Apple and show how the Server App is a great and easy way to make that work. The great thing is your router no longer has to reboot every time a port change is made! For those of you without an Airport Extreme, you will have to open your ports manually. Here is a link to known ports for the various services available on your Server: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629. As always if you have any questions feel free to respond here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Network Configuration

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-08-15T07:44:23-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your network for Mountain Lion Server. Making sure you have your server with a permanent IP is important especially if you are using your server for DNS services. You also need to make a decision on how you will handle DHCP and whether your server or router will be giving out addresses to the devices on your network. In this tutorial I cover how to get these things set up so you are ready to enable the other services available on Mountain Lion Server. As always if you have questions or feedback, feel free to respond here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Install & Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-08-10T07:39:38-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to do a clean install of Mountain Lion Server starting from an install of Mountain Lion. I walk through the whole install process and what it looks like to get your server up and running. If you are new to server and are wanting to try it out on your system, this tutorial should help you get everything up and running. I will be doing a full range of tutorials on all the features and components of Mountain Lion Server so watch for updates here on my blog or on my Youtube Channel. I usually put a new tutorial out every Friday so if you subscribe to my channel you will get updated when new tutorials are posted. If you have any questions feel free to respond here or on my Youtube Channel.

Mountain Lion Server: Upgrade From Lion Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-08-07T07:32:40-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to upgrade your server from Lion to Mountain Lion. I walk through the process of getting ready for the upgrade including making sure you keep a copy of your Mountain Lion install so you can use it later to create a USB bootable copy and to use it for Netinstall on your server. Having done the upgrade myself things seem to be pretty stable. There is a known issue with VPN and the interface with managing an Airport Extreme Router. If you get an error message related to your Airport Extreme and/or have problems with VPN, follow the directions on this Apple Support Article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4353?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US, which basically has you delete your airport password from Keychain Assess and relaunch your Server App. If you have any questions on the upgrade process feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel.

Guest Spot on ScreenCastsOnline

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-06-14T21:53:33-07:00

This week I had the privilege of having one of my screencasts on MoneyWell shown on my favorite Mac tutorial site ScreenCastsOnline. Don McAllister who is the Host and Founder of the weekly screencasts was really one of the people who inspired me to do screencasts as a great way to educate people on how to use Apple Software. I started with my own YouTube Channel and started with screencasts for my family and friends and found others were interested in viewing the screencasts as well, especially the ones I have recently been doing on Lion Server. You can see my other screencasts at my YouTube Channel below or here on my site by clicking HERE.

If you haven’t checked out ScreenCastsOnline and you are an Apple Computer user I highly recommend checking Don’s tutorials out as they are very well done and a great way to learn new ways to use your Mac. Click the screenshot below to check out my guest spot and to get a feel for the great service Don has to offer. Thanks for using my screencast Don and making it look even better to boot!

Home Server with Lion Server: VPN Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-06-12T22:27:37-07:00

VPN is something many people are interested in having for their own security while connecting to outside wired and wireless networks. With concern over security and wanting the ability to connect to your home network as if your computer was on that network locally, make a VPN Server something that is nice to have when you are on the road. Lion Server gives a simple way to set up your own personal VPN Server so you can have this connection and makes it fairly easy to set up.

In this screencast I cover which VPN protocol to choose, how to set an IP Range for your VPN Server, and how to install VPN manually on a client machine. I also show you how to connect to your VPN from a client computer and how to end your VPN session without having to use System Preferences. Enjoy!

Home Server with Lion Server: iChat Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-06-09T22:22:25-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to set up your own personal iChat Server for your home server. We will cover how to set up and configure a jabber based chat server including server federation, limiting domains that can be chatted with, setting up the ichat server on clients, and how to enable auto buddy detection for the other clients on your network. Having your own personal iChat Server can be a great way to communicate and send things quickly to other members of your family. There are many other services out there but there is something about having a private and unified home messaging system. With Mountain Lion Server this will most likely change to include the iMessage application that Apple has been using for iPhones and other devices, which I will cover when the update comes out in July. But for now iChat is still a great way to communicate across all the computers in your home.

Home Server with Lion Server: iCal Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-06-08T22:17:58-07:00

In this screencast I walk through how to set up an iCal Server on your home server. I cover the basic set up of email notifications and resources, how to connect clients to your iCal calendar, how to add events to the calendar with resources, and the difference between individual and a shared family calendar and how to set them up. There are advantages and disadvantages to setting up your own calendar on server especially with iCloud and other calendaring services out there to handle the syncing of all of our calendars. But if you are looking for a way to have a great home calendar that everyone can be on that includes managing rooms and resources in your house, iCal Server is something you should check out!

Home Server with Lion Server: Address Book Server

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-06-07T07:40:37-07:00

In this screencast I cover how to set up your own personal Address Book Server using Lion Server. I talk about how to get the service started, how to add contacts to your new address book, and how to connect your client computers and users to your server so they can access and edit their contacts on your server. I also talk about the pros and cons of having one centralized address book for your whole family versus each person having their own address book and only having some contacts on a centralized address book. Let me know if you have any questions or comments below and feel free to share this on your social networks with the links at the bottom of this post.

The Consequence of Character

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-06-07T07:36:32-07:00

Today I read 1 Chronicles 3-5. The history of our life is usually determined by our actions and the impression we leave on the people we leave behind. How we choose to live our life not only has consequences for the present, but for our future and the future of the generations that follow us. We tend to have a short term view when it comes to the choices and decisions we make today. That perspective can cause us to think about what we think will make us happy now only to find out the downside is worse than any kind of happiness we may have gotten in the moment.

In the lineage of the tribes of Israel and Judah, each descendant is named in each of the tribes. The tribe of Reuben is mentioned not as the great tribe of the first born son of Jesse, but rather as the tribe that should have been the first born but was no longer considered that because Reuben lost his birthright to Joseph because he chose to sleep with his father’s concubine. So in a moment of passion that probably felt right to him (or he was able to rationalize away why it was wrong) he sinned and that sin which he probably felt was done in secret became a permanent mark on not only him, but on his family lineage as well.

When I think about the choices I have made in life that were based on how I felt in the moment instead of doing what I knew was right, those choices have had consequences, some obvious and some not. There is something to be said for consistency and building into our lives things that keep us from going the wrong path or doing the wrong thing. Having regular contact with God and not living in the dark or hiding small parts of ourselves is one way to build into our lives things that keep us on the right path. When I choose to do something else or let my mind be occupied with distractions, those things keep me from doing what I need to do to stay consistent. Sometimes apathy or doing what I feel instead of what I know I should do can be things that start me on the path towards sin. I must always keep in front of my mind what happens when people compromise or when they get lazy. Finishing well is not so much about what you have accomplished in life. Rather finishing well is about how you accomplished the huge task of living a life of character no matter what your accomplishments or achievements.

Lord, please help me to be a man of character. I would rather be steady in who I am and end this life as a man of integrity than to become famous and sought after and lose my integrity along the way. Please keep me sensitive to what I do and the impact it has on others. Amen.

Home Server with Lion Server: Connect & Auto Mount AFP

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-04-30T17:39:12-07:00

In this screencast tutorial I cover how to connect to the AFP shares we set up in the last tutorial. I show you how to connect both locally and remotely while on the road and also take a look at how to set up your AFP shares to auto mount so every time you start up your computer or login your favorite shares will automatically mount on your computer and be read for you to use. This comes in handy in a home server setting where a couple wants to share files that they both work on but don’t want to keep separate copies on both of their computers. This way they can be working not he originals and keep them in one place on the server. It also helps for the kids who can easily lose files or delete them by accident. This way they are located on the server and can be given permissions that don’t allow the kids to edit the files. Let me know what you think in the comments and be sure to share this video with your social networks:).

Home Server with Lion Server: File Sharing & Home Folders

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-04-23T17:29:55-07:00

In this screencast I cover how set up file sharing with Lion Server. One of the advantages of having a home server is the ability to share files with other people on your network and being able to access those files remotely from your server. In this tutorial I show you how to set up your users so they have permission to use the AFP file sharing protocol on your server so they can connect to those share points both locally and while they are on the road. I also cover one of the best features of Lion Server (especially for those with kids) and that is home folders. Home folders allow you to store a user’s home directory and all of their settings centrally on your server. The advantage of this is the fact that your kids can now log in to any computer on your network and have access to their stuff. No more arguing over who gets to use what computer! Let me know what you think in the comments below and be sure to share this video with anyone who might need it through your social networks.

Misconceptions About Prayer

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-04-16T09:17:09-07:00

When it comes to prayer many of us have learned different things at different times that have led to a lot of misconceptions about what prayer is. We pray in groups and feel the pressure to perform because in those settings we are not really praying to God but we are speaking to one another. In those times of prayer we are concerned with saying something profound or something that will actually have an effect in the lives of those we are praying with. Over time we get focused on the outcome and forget that prayer is about a relationship with God and our communication with him. As a result we develop different misconceptions about what prayer is about and it leads us to a place of not really wanting to pray or seeing the purpose of it. Here are a few of the misconceptions I have seen:

Quoting Scripture Leads to More Effective Prayers
One misconception is that quoting scripture in our prayers makes them more powerful or more effective. This misconception comes from how we have experienced group prayer. Have you ever noticed that we tend to all pray based on the way the first person who prays in a group starts? So if the person quotes scripture we think we have to too. Since most of us can only think of John 3:16 on the spot, we sit there trying to figure out how we can make that verse fit our prayer. If you have ever prayed with Pastors we tend to use scripture in our prayers from time to time. Because we see a Pastor using scripture we begin to feel like quoting scripture in our prayers is what makes them more effective. So we stress out over whether we know enough scripture off the top of our heads to use in our prayer life. This eventually leads us to a place where our prayers are dry and repetitive instead of from our hearts. There is no where in the Bible that says we have to use scripture in our prayers. We are asked to come to God with an open heart and have an honest dialogue with him. If we want to use scriptures in our prayers to remind us of who God is and what his promises are to us, fine. But those scriptures are for us not for him. He already knows what he said so we don’t have to feel like we need to quote scripture to him in order for him to hear our prayers.

Effective Prayers Lead to the Answer You Want
We have this idea that if we just learn how to pray right, our prayers will be more effective. “More effective” is usually code for getting what we want. We all want to pray knowing that God will answer those prayers in the way we want him to answer them. But we figure we need to perform the right kind of prayer to get the answer we want. So we look for ways to pray better and angles we can take to get what we want. We hear of “prayer warriors” who seem to be really effective in prayer and we want to be just like them. The problem with all of this is that prayer is not about getting what we want. Instead prayer is about a relationship with God and a desire to have our wills aligned with his. For most of us, we look at how Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane when he said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26: 39). We take that to mean that we ask for what we want but then we hedge our bets by saying, “But God if you want to do something else then your will is ok too.” The reality is, Jesus was not hedging his bets or telling God he was ok with his will if he didn’t want to take the suffering away from him. He was really saying, “I want your will to happen no matter what. Since I am weak, please align my will to yours so I make sure I go through with the suffering ahead of me.” Effective prayer is ultimately about aligning our hearts and wills with Gods so much so that we stop asking for things that we want and starting praying for things that God wants.

As Long as I’m Thankful God Will Answer My Prayers
Some of us think that it is the attitude of our hearts that determine if God will do what we want him to or not. So we make sure we thank God for what he is going to do for us. In some way, we think that if we thank God ahead of time for something we want him to do he is obligated to do it out of politeness. After all, what are we thanking him for if he doesn’t come through and do it? We point to passages like Philippians 4 where it says in verses 6, “Be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God,” and we figure that the passage is telling us to thank God ahead of time. The problem is, the word in that verse for thanksgiving is past tense. It literally means thank God for all the things he has already done. In doing this we can trust him more because we know he has been there for us in the past and will continue to be there for us in the future. Our thankfulness is a remembrance of who God is and what he has done and that is what leads to his “peace that passes all understanding.”

Get a Head Start on Praying for What You Need
Most of us are concerned with making sure our future is secure. There is nothing we can do to control the future so we worry about it and stress about it all the time. This spills over into our prayer life. We figure it takes a number of prayers for God to know we are serious so we better get a head start and pray and ask for everything we need for the future instead of always waiting until the last minute and hoping for a miracle. So we tend to pray “Costco Prayers” where we ask God for what we need for the month or year and then come back to him later for the next installment. Yet the Bible tells us that we are to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In other words, we are to pray for what we need just for that day not for the whole month or year. The reason God asks us to do this is to remind us of our dependency on him. If we got everything up front we would only remember our dependency on God once a month or once a year. Instead we need to be aware of that dependency on a moment by moment basis.

Prayer is something that all of us struggle with from time to time. We have misconceptions about prayer that come from our experiences with public prayer and some of our own anxiety when it comes to the things we worry about in this life. But prayer really is a time of communicating with God and getting to know his heart so well that our very wills are aligned with his so that we are more concerned with doing what he wants us to do than getting him to do what we think is best.

Home Server with Lion Server: Users & Groups

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-03-30T09:30:51-07:00

One of the main reasons to have a server is to manage all of your devices and the users in your network. For home users this usually means your family and all the devices in your household. When setting up users in your household who will access the services you have available on your server you need to determine who needs what type of access and what services each person is allowed to access. So at home, you may want to limit the access your kids have to certain services like email, calendar, and maybe even some web services. You may want to give your spouse the ability to administer the server just in case you are not around to do it. Lion Server gives you the ability to set that up.

When managing multiple users it can be time consuming if you have to make changes on a per account basis, so Lion Server has the ability to set up groups that allow you to make changes to the group that filters down to all the users in that group. That way you can set up groups for your kids or other groups that allows you to make those changes once that will affect everyone in that group.

In this screencast, I cover setting up users and groups in Lion Server. I cover how to determine the difference between a local and directory account, how to add new users and set the right permissions for services, and how to use groups to make changes once that affect all the users in the group. Building on this in Part 7, we will cover how to set up home accounts on the server.

Home Server with Lion Server: Profile Manager Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-03-23T08:40:11-07:00

One of the best things about having a server is being able to manage the devices you have in your network from a centralized location. IT professionals have had the ability to do this for years but now with Lion Server, home users can now do the same thing with Profile Manager. Profile Manager allows you to manage all of your Apple computer, laptops, and iOS devices. Using profiles you can push changes to all devices at once, remotely wipe or reset devices, change passwords, and allow or restrict certain things.

In this tutorial, I cover how to set up Profile Manager. In the set up, Lion Server makes sure you have an Open Directory set up and your SSL Certificate in place (required for running Profile Manager). Open Directory allows you to manage global accounts and allows remote access as opposed to a local network directory which only allows local accounts. I am doing this tutorial early because Profile Manager sets up al the services required to run it without having to start each service separately. In a future screencast I will cover the web interface that is used to manage your devices and groups.

Should I Date My Spouse?

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-03-20T13:42:43-07:00

Dating is something of a lost art form in our society today especially as it relates to married couples. It seem like all the creative ideas, the things you see in movies, were gone the moment you said “I do.” We guys used all our good ideas to actually get our wives to say yes and set the bar so high for ourselves that we could never measure up on our best day. Our wives used to think we were the best thing since sliced bread and let us know about it both verbally and non-verbally in how they responded to us. There is something about getting into the regular rhythms of life that cause us to abandon one of the most enjoyable and fun parts of our relationship with one another. While we may never go back to the days of husbands who think they are poets and wives who actually think the poetry is any good, we certainly can revive the excitement of dating one another and making that time as important as any other appointment or activity in our lives.

Research shows that time together is one of the leading indicators of whether a marriage is going to survive or not so making time for one another is not a luxury you add from excess time you happen to find, it is a necessity if you want to have a healthy relationship. So what do you do on a date? What do you do together once you make the time?

Well I don’t pretend to have all the answers for every couple out there because we are all different. For some jumping out of an airplane together is fun. For other, more normal people, dinner is just fine. Whatever it is that you enjoy as a couple here are a few things to consider:

Pick a Regular Time and Block it Off Your Calendar
This whole dating thing cannot be something you get around to when you have time. Just like any other important appointment you would never miss for fear of getting fired or missing a huge opportunity, your date life needs to be a high priority. For Cheryl and I our date time is during the day on my day off while the kids are in school. It works best for us and is a time we look forward to. Figure out what works best for you and make it a recurring event.

Talk Together About What You Want to Do
Instead of putting the pressure on one person who has to determine all the details and might or might not get it right, talk together about what you want to do. If you like the idea of coming up with new things and really want to have one person take the lead, trade off each date time on who will plan the day. Whatever you do make sure you have time to talk and connect together. A date where you only face forward and never interact with one another is not a date. That is happening to have someone near you while you do something else. Make your date a time to connect. For Cheryl and I, we go to Starbucks in the morning and spend time talking together and usually go to lunch together. We leave the time in between flexible so we can decide what we want to do week to week.

Check in with One Another and Reconnect
In your date time together talk about life and use it as a time to catch up with one another. This is not a time to bring up all the things your spouse is doing to make your life miserable. That is not a date but an interrogation! This is a time to enjoy your time together and focus on the other person instead of what the other person can do for you. A few things you could ask each other would be:

-How has your week been?
-What are some of the challenges you are facing right now?
-What has God been saying to you lately in your time with Him?
-What things are you excited about?
-What plans do we need to make together as a couple?

These types of questions allow you to explore one another and enjoy talking together. Remember not to use questions to manipulate your spouse or lecture them. This is a time to enjoy one another’s company.

Do Some Kind of Activity Together
Explore some things you like to do together. It may be as simple as going out to eat all the way to bike riding together. Whatever it is pick something you both enjoy and find a hobby you can do together.

Kindle your Physical Relationship
I know just putting this one out there some of you just let out a cheer and some of you want to stop reading. I put this out there not to say that every date has to end with sex. In fact that would be the wrong reason to have a date if the whole thing is just a set up for sex unless you both agree that is where you are going. I put this out there because the physical part of many couple’s relationships is something that can be left unattended. Over time sex becomes less and less an expression of the relationship and more and more a looming expectation or an experience laden with fears of disappointment. Like anything else, sex is something that we need to be intentional about if it is to be an enjoyable part of our relationship. With so many misunderstandings and hurt feelings that can surround our physical relationships, talking about it and making time for it are vital. Sometimes just scheduling when you will have sex can take the pressure of guessing when the right time would be away and can create a great opportunity to connect. In a future article I will talk about how to talk about sex but for now, consider how you will tend your physical relationship together whether that is during your date time or not.

Hopefully this gives you a place to start in thinking about your dating relationship. Guys remember your wives like to be pursued and what you did to get her to say yes to marrying you probably would still work today. Ladies remember your husbands liked it when you showed that you appreciated them and what they did had an impact on you and doing the same today for your husband will have a profound effect on how he pursues you. Now get out there and start dating each other and remember why you fell in love with each other in the first place!

Home Server with Lion Server: SSL Certificates

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-03-17T06:32:53-07:00

If you are looking at accessing your server from a remote location or are going to have devices that access it from the internet, you will need to have an SSL Certificate set up. An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificate is an encrypted connection from a remote computer to another computer. This encrypted line keeps people from “listening in” on your connection and allows your server an extra layer of validation.

In most cases you want an SSL Certificate from a trusted third party registrar who vouches for the identity of your server. You would want this type of certificate if you were hosting a business or a server that a lot of people from the outside world would be accessing. Since we are talking about a home server, the only people accessing your server are people in your household so you really don’t need to buy a certificate you can generate one within the Server.app which is called a self-signed certificate. This certificate still keeps your information secure and works just like a purchased certificate. The difference is that you will get a message when logging in the first time saying that the certificate is not validated by a third party and to make sure you know who generated the certificate. Once you check allow you won’t have to answer that question again and everything works behind the scenes.

In this screencast, I show you how to set up one of these certificates and get it installed on your server.

Home Server with Lion Server: Port Forwarding

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-03-09T08:33:10-08:00

In order to give your server and its services access to the internet, you need to make sure your router opens up access or “ports” to the internet so you can access those services over the internet. Opening this access is called “Port Forwarding” because it tells your router to forward certain traffic that comes in on a certain port to the proper service on your server. So your router serves as the gate keeper for all traffic in and out of your server as your router serves as a physical firewall keeping out traffic you don’t want to access your server. Thus, your router with port forwarding enabled allows you to access your server remotely over the internet while keeping others trying to access our server out unless they have been given access by you.

If your router happens to be an Airport Extreme Base Station, you can have Server App manage your router for you, making sure all the necessary ports are open and allow access to the services you have configured. If you don’t have an Airport Extreme or would like to do your own port forwarding, you can do this in the software that came with your router. It will usually be referred to as NAT (Network Address Translation) and will have a section for you to add ports that you want to open up. For Lion Server, you can see a list of ports it uses for certain services HERE. Below is a tutorial I put together that explains port forwarding and how to do it both in the Airport Utility that comes with the Airport Extreme Base Station and through the Server App in Lion Server.

Home Server with Lion Server: Network Set Up

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-03-02T16:40:49-08:00

To make sure your server will function properly you need to make sure you have the DNS of the server set up properly. You need your host name set up and configured, which means determining whether your server is local only or will be accessed on the internet and, if internet accessible, making sure your domain name points to the right external internet address of your router/server. To make sure that your server is accessible from both the internet and internally at the same address all the time, we need to make sure the server is assigned a static, or permanent, IP address. In most network settings there is what is called a DHCP server which distributes addresses to computers that come on and off the local network. The DHCP server works with a bank of addresses and makes sure no computers have the same addresses so everything runs smoothly. In most cases your router is the device that is distributing these addresses. Once a computer goes off the network that address could be used for another machine that is just coming on, so there is no guarantee that your server will get the same address every time your network goes down and comes back up, or your router reboots, or you reboot your server. This is where a static IP for your server solves this problem.

In this tutorial I walk you through the steps to assigning a static IP assigned to your server using an Airport Extreme Base Station. I also cover how to update the network settings on your server to make sure it is reading the right information. This is the second part of my home server tutorials and I’ll be following up with one on port mapping in the coming week.

MoneyWell 2.0: Event Based Budgeting

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-02-24T07:17:31-08:00

Budgeting is on one of those things most of us like to think we do but spend little time actually implementing it. If we do put a budget together we look at it after the fact and realize that we didn’t stick to it. For those serious about making budgeting a reality might use an envelope system of budgeting where their check is cashed and cash put in envelopes that represent their budget categories. Once the envelope is empty, you don’t spend any money in that category until the next check comes in. It is a physical way of keeping you from spending money you don’t have. The problem with that system in today’s world is the fact that everything is digital and it is difficult to keep on top of all of it. That is where MoneyWell 2.0 comes in. With MoneyWell’s event based budgeting system, built into the money management program, is the ability to set up buckets (the equivalent to envelopes) for each budget category and set up the amount each bucket has available to spend. From there you can monitor your money, just like you could with envelopes.

In this tutorial I cover the changes from version 1.7 of MoneyWell to it’s 2.0 version. I also cover the basics of using this software to set up a budget using an event based system which makes it far more flexible than the old version and saves a lot of time manually calculating what goes into each bucket category. I like the new system and think you will as well.

Wrestling with the Soul

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-02-20T08:15:24-08:00

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Matthew 16:26

I have had several talks with people lately and been reading a lot about the care of our souls. So many of us are good at doing the work of ministry but struggle when it comes to actually being a good minister. We have this thing where we substitute our work for the actual relationship we have with Christ and this causes many of us to go down the road of burn out and fatigue in ministry. How do we get a handle on our internal lives to help us to serve from a place of being filled up?

It seems to me there are two things working at the same time. On the one had we have the issue of desire and on the other hand we have the issue of our identity. These two things need to work together if we are to live from of place of taking care of our souls.

Desire
The issue of desire is an interesting one. Many of us like the idea of having a close relationship with Christ but few of of us want to do the work required to actually have it. We talk all around it and even attend courses and events to learn about how to have it, yet when it comes to actually doing what is necessary to have that close relationship with Christ, we have excuses or substitute things we think are of equal value in its place. We tend to want to take the easy road to relationship when there is nothing that can replace actually spending time with someone to get to know them. I see a similar thing in many couples who come to me for counseling. They all like the idea of marriage and what they can get out of it, but few really want to put the work in to have the marriage they want. So they take short cuts and stop communicating and start complaining when things don’t go their way. They all come into counseling looking for a short cut around the hard work it takes to maintain a relationship. In our spiritual lives, we too take short cuts all the time and then wonder why we don’t have the relationship with Christ that we all so desperately want. If we are going to take care of our souls and grow in our faith, we need to develop the desire and then respond to it in our pursuit of relationship with Christ.

Identity
The other issue that creeps up in our lives and effects how we serve and minister to others is our identity issues. To maintain spiritual health we need to be anchored in such a way that our lives are not thrown around by the things that come our way. When we are in a place of complete trust and we are taking care of our souls, we handle things in life with a depth of character that only a settled identity could have. But because of the fall and our humanness we struggle with two sides of a vicious coin. On the one side we have insecurity that says my identity is wrapped up in what others think of me and pride which says I am always right and others need to recognize how great I am. We tend to fluctuate between these things when we are driven by anxiety or need to feel we matter. The insecure side is looking for others to validate us and when they don’t come through we claim to be victims of some wrong and sulk and manipulate to get some sense of self from others. On the flip side if we are prideful we assume others are wrong and we get cynical and critical when others can’t seem to get with the program and see things from our perspective and act in our timing which is always right in our eyes. Cynicism and feeling sorry for ourselves are sure signs our life is not balanced and we are not taking care of our souls. Our call is walk in the middle of those two things and hold them in check because we know our identity is not found in what others say about us or how smart we are. Our identity is in a relationship and that relationship is with Christ.

The more we pay attention to our desire and settle the issue of our identity we set the stage for a soul that can be cared for and grow. As we seek to be authentic people whose back stage is the same as their front stage we learn that living life the way God intended is not just the right thing to do, but the only way to live.

Money Management with MoneyWell 2.0

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-02-18T08:04:57-08:00

Managing finances can be a difficult thing with today’s complexities. Finding just the right computer software to help you with the task can be intimidating because there are so many titles out there. Most of the software out there really doesn’t help you manage your money. Instead it just becomes a fancy reminder of how badly you have managed your money and tells you where your money went instead of where it should go. In my search for good financial software, I came across a great software package called MoneyWell.

MoneyWell is not just a digital ledger for your finances, though it does that very well. It is also an envelope system at the same time. MoneyWell uses the analogy of buckets that you fill with money instead of envelopes. You set a budget based on your spending for different categories and MoneyWell lets you know how well you are doing against that budgeted amount. So you can actually see where your money is going instead of lamenting after the money is already gone. I have used this software for a few years now and I have really grown to love it.

Recently the developer of MoneyWell, Kevin Hoctor, put out a new update which changed the interface quite a bit. It really made it nicer to look at and updated it to the new Lion/iOS look and feel. Many people got upset and felt it was completely different and there was some uproar over at the Mac App Store about it. In and effort to show how the program is similar to old one and some of the things that have changed, I did this screencast. Hopefully it will help people to decide whether to upgrade or not. Personally, I like the new interface and some of the changes that were made. There are some things I would like to get back, but over all it has been a good upgrade for me.

Home Server with Lion Server: Set Up & Installation

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-02-16T07:59:06-08:00

As we get more and more sophisticated as home computer users and have more and more devices we have to manage as a result, the idea of a home server is becoming more and more attractive. Apple has recently made their industry grade server software very accessible for the home user with Lion Server. Deemed as “the server for everyone,” they have lowered the price from $400 to a $49 add on to your existing Lion Client install. They have also simplified the Server App interface and made set up relatively easy with assistants that do most of the work for you.

Still with all of the improvements, this is still a server package and as a result has some complexity to it over what you may be used to with your current client software. To help you through the process of setting up and installing a home server, I am doing a series of screencasts on Lion Server to walk you through the process. This tutorial includes thinking through hardware, setting up a domain name if you want to access your server from outside your home, initial installation, and setting up your host name. All of this is done from the perspective of adding Server to your existing lion install not a new computer set up.

Recognizing Who is in Your Boat

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-02-14T06:50:23-08:00

Today I read Exodus 39-40 and Mark 4:35-41. There is something incredible about the majesty and wonder of God. When we are in the presence of God and see him work in the situations in our lives, it silences all of our complaints and wonderings about why thing work the way they do. We need to spend more time in God’s presence so we experience more of his work in our lives.

I think its human nature to want to take short cuts. We want to find the easy way around things and look for the easiest way to get there. In our walk with God we want to experience his presence but we don’t want to do any of the work to make it happen even if the only work we have to do is spend time with him. We know it is a good thing to do but we want the miracles without any of the relationship. I think about the disciples who spent their whole lives with Jesus. They were constantly seeing miracles and hearing him teach. They saw him in his downtime and how he handled the stress of life. You would think at some point they would come to expect miracles out of Jesus. But again human nature gets the best of us and here they are in a boat in a storm. Jesus is sleeping peacefully and they are panicked over the waves and wind. I can only imagine what was going through their minds as they thought they might die on one hand and on the other, there was Jesus sleeping as if nothing was happening. I wonder if it ever crossed their minds that he knew something they didn’t or if they were just upset with him for not helping them do all they could to save their lives. Of course, then you have the other side with Jesus probably wondering, “When are these guys ever going to get it? They have been with me all this time and they still don’t get who I am. Can’t they even believe I have power over the wind?” I can picture their reaction after Jesus calms the wind. They were in awe, the novelty of having miracles happen in front of them never gets old. They may even have felt a little embarrassed over their panic and lack of faith.

In our lives we too struggle with the faith thing. We want to be near Jesus and now him well, but something in us doesn’t quite get it. We get caught up in the busyness of our lives and are focused on the waves and the wind that life brings our way and seem to forget we have Jesus in our boat quietly waiting for us to recognize he is there. When he does do miracles in our lives, we are in awe and thankful but we quickly forget when the next set of waves comes our way. We say we believe and know who Jesus is, yet we live as if we really don’t believe that. What does it cost to spend a little time with him everyday? A half hour more sleep in the morning? A little less TV at night? What is a relationship with him worth?

Lord, thank you for your presence in our lives. Forgive me for the times when I forget you are in my boat. Help me to live out my faith and do more than just say I believe. Please help my family through the current storm we are facing with Tyler and please free his mind. Amen.

Overcoming Patterns of Conflict in Marriage

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-02-06T07:32:03-08:00

In my work with couples I have found that we tend to follow certain predictable patterns when we allow our relationship to drift or get out of control. We all want to experience happiness and closeness in our marriages. None of us married our spouse because we wanted to learn how to fight better or because we wanted to work on patience. We genuinely thought this person would make us happy and we thought we would be happy together. Happiness is not a bad thing. In fact if you got married for any other reason there is something wrong. But when we make our happiness dependent on what the other person does and allow that person’s actions to dictate our mood, we have set up unrealistic expectations that are bound to lead to anger and despair.

Typically what happens in most relationships is the man pursues the woman to the point where they get married. He is the most charming man in the world and does things he normally wouldn’t have done all in the name of love. Once they get married, he thinks that his life just goes on as it used to with the addition of a wife in the picture. He doesn’t really think much in his life will change and, in fact, he is off to the next thing he feels he needs to pursue like a career. The woman has bigger plans for the relationship. She sees a man that she can talk with and relate with and feel safe with. Someone who will always cherish her and someone she can trust. During the dating phase she is caught up with this man who always thinks of her, is thoughtful, talks to her, and makes her feel safe. She admires and respects him and let’s him know it not only by what she says but in how she even looks at him. She knows her life will change when they get married and she abandons everything to put her attention on the marriage.

Once they get married these expectations hit reality and things don’t seem to work like they thought they would. The wife suddenly feels like she went from first place to somewhere down the list. While she wants to spend every minute with him, he wants space. So she pursues thinking that something must be wrong. He interprets the pursuit as her trying to control him or smother him so he withdraws to create space. She pursues even more because his withdrawal confirms for her that something really is wrong and he’s just not willing to talk about it. They might start to argue over things that don’t matter. He feels he can’t win a fight so rather than engage he starts to play the silent game where he communicates he is mad non-verbally but won’t engage in the discussion figuring he can’t lose if he doesn’t play. She starts to feel more insecure in the relationship because she has no idea what is happening in his head. Since he won’t talk she starts to be more critical of him which gets him mad but she figures bad engagement is better than no engagement at all. He takes the criticism as disrespect which causes him to withdraw even more. His withdrawal makes her feel insecure. Eventually he has completely checked out and she hates his guts for making her feel that way. So how does a couple get past this point?

In every marriage it takes two to cause an argument or a conflict. It really doesn’t matter who started it or who each feels is more at fault. Bottom line there is no perfect anyone in a marriage. If a couple is to move past this crazy situation there are a few things they need to consider:

Get Control of Your Mood
As I stated earlier, it is important that your mood is not dictated by your spouses behavior. If you tie your mood and how your respond to your spouse or your interpretation of how they act, you will feel bad more than you will feel good. Feels are not a good gauge of reality and to make someone else responsible for how you feel is a totally unfair situation that will only set you and your spouse up for disappointment. Feeling happy should not be the main goal. Connectedness is what you should be after and connectedness can only be developed when both parties own their own mood and responses.

Pinpoint Your Part
It is easy for each of us to point out what the other person is doing wrong. We are experts on our spouses failures. Yet when it comes to labeling our part most of us tend to struggle. Or, if we do admit we did something wrong, it always seems minor compared to what we claim our spouse has done to us, as if it is a scoring system. The reality is, there is no conflict without two people doing something wrong. The sooner you are able to label your part, the sooner you will be able to move towards a solution because your attitude and behaviors are really the only thing you can control. So know what your part is.

Seek Forgiveness
Be the first one to admit your wrong, label it, express your regret, and ask for forgiveness. The fastest way through an impasse is when one party is quick to admit, confess, and seek forgiveness for their part. When was the last time you said, “I’m sorry” and meant it?

Gain Empathy
The more you see the cycle you and your spouse have gotten into, the better you are able to have empathy for your spouse instead of blaming your spouse for all the things that have gone wrong. Just as you have been caught up in the cycle so has your spouse. The more you are able to see those things, the better you will be able to have empathy for your spouse and give him/her the benefit of the doubt. When we give our spouses the benefit of the doubt we create an atmosphere of understanding which causes us to draw near one another instead of apart.

Choose to Engage in a Positive Way
This is probably one of the more difficult things to do. The husband needs to stop disengaging for fear of being criticized or “losing” the fight and start engaging his wife in order to bring back a sense of security that she needs to move towards him. This won’t be easy and won’t even be believed at first. But if you choose to be consistent and engage, you will have more opportunities for positive things to happen than if you take your ball and go home because you don’t feel you can win. The wife must stop trying to make her husband into what she thinks she needs to be secure by pointing out all of his failures and choose to see the things in him that she can respect and point those out. Realizing that your happiness is not dependent on your spouses reaction and choosing to look and speak to him the way you did when you were dating, will cause him to want to draw near to you.

Conflict in marriage is something every couple that has ever walked this earth has experienced. It is not the end of the world, nor is it a sign that the relationship is in trouble. How we handle that conflict and how we choose to interact with one another is where most marriages get into trouble. If husbands would truly understand their wives needs for security and work hard to make her feel secure in the marriage, their wives would be their biggest supporters and their conversations would be richer. If wives would understand their husband’s need for respect and look for ways to speak into his life through that language and choose to define him by his successes instead of his failures, their husbands will be drawn to them. When this happens you have a marriage that is not perfect, because no one is perfect, but one that is connected.

Slink: Remote Computer Management

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-01-31T07:47:49-08:00

One of the things I am constantly having to do is fix my relatives computers. I am the resident computer guy so they all naturally come to me for help. Now I don’t mind helping and I actually enjoy it in some ways, but it can be extremely frustrating when you can’t actually see the screen of those you are trying to help. Because my relatives are spread out all over the country, I am not able to sit with them to help them resolve their computer issues. If you have ever tried to help someone on the phone and walk them through what to click to fix the problem, you know how frustrating that can be. Well I’ve found a program that has helped me to support my family that is cheap and works extremely well and it’s a program called Slink.

Slink is a remote computer management program that is simple to use. You install the main management component on your computer. Then you install a small preference pane program on each of the computers you want to manage. You only pay for the management component which is currently $19.99 US in the Mac App Store. Once this is all set up, you add your relatives computers to your computer list and connect to those computers with a unique code that each has. Once you have those computers added, you only have to click the computer you want to connect with from a menubar drop down, plug in their password, and you are all set. The cool thing is it sets your computer up as if you are on the local network of the computer you are trying to help. That way you can share the screen and connect to any of the bonjour services that your relative may have running on their computer, including iTunes home sharing and iPhoto sharing.

It really is a neat package. I did a screen cast walkthrough on it which you can view below. The developer Olof is a really great guy and offers excellent support. If you are the IT department for your family you will find this tool indispensable!

iTunes Match Part 4-Troubleshooting

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-01-24T15:49:32-08:00

In this screencast I go over some things you can try to get some of your uploaded files to match. Since Apple doesn't tell us what they use, we can only guess at some of the things that might make a match happen. Based on some research on what some have reported as working for them, I show how to change metadata and song length in an attempt to move a song from uploaded to matched. I have had limited success with this, but since I have had a few songs work, I thought I would share this just in case you have a few songs you really want to try to get matched. If you have any other suggestions of things to try or something that has worked for you, leave a comment in below and if I can get it to work I'll try to do another screencast on it.

iTunes Match Part 3-Upgrading Your Music

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-01-21T15:47:13-08:00

In this screencast I cover how to upgrade your music to iTunes Plus 256kbps. We also cover a way to determine which songs in your library need to be upgraded and I walk you through how to get all of your iTunes Match music on other computers for streaming or downloading.

iTunes Match Part 2-Understanding Your Match Results

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-01-20T07:05:18-08:00

Here is another screencast I did on iTunes Match. In this screencast I cover how to see your match results and determine what was matched, uploaded, or ineligible. We also talk about how to begin to troubleshoot some of the issues in iTunes Match. In a future screencast we will cover how to upgrade your songs and some techniques for getting some of your unmatched songs to match. Enjoy!

Taking Care of Our Souls

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-01-19T08:38:24-08:00

I’ve just started reading a book by my friend Lance Witt entitled Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul. In the opening chapter of his book, he has a sentence that I think summarizes the issues most of us deal with when it comes to our spiritual formation. He says, “Having talked to some whose ministry has come crashing down around them, I can tell you the convergence of outward success, self-deception, soul neglect, and relational isolation creates the perfect storm for disaster.” These four things are important things for us to keep in mind as essentials when it comes to thinking about our own spiritual growth as leaders.

Outward Success
There is something about us that causes us to want to be successful in life. There is nothing wrong with doing our best and striving towards goals we have set in our lives. We are called to be good stewards of the things God has given us. The problem comes not when we do all we can to do our best to use the gifts God has given us. The problem comes when we actually start having success and begin to believe that we are the source of that success. When you and I get to this place we begin to believe what others tell us about ourselves and pride starts to set in. When that happens, we start to drift away from our close relationship with God because our ego has no need for any kind of dependence on anyone or anything. Meanwhile, our soul and character begins to be neglected and our interior life doesn’t have the strength to support the weight of our exterior life. When this happens we are set up to find some kind of relief from the pressure that success brings and many end up doing things that end our ministry. We have got to get beyond measuring how well we are doing by the numbers and successes of the things we do in the ministry and start to measure our success by our reflection on those successes and failures we have in ministry and how we have grown in and through each experience. The more our focus is on our interior life, the more we will have the character to handle the successes in our exterior life.

Self-deception
We all have a propensity towards fooling ourselves. There is something about the fall that allows us to talk ourselves into anything right or wrong. None of us likes to admit weakness or failure so we excuse those things away and don’t choose to work on what is most important. Without ruthless honesty about who we are and where we are at, we will never be able to truly grow to become more like Christ. It is in moments of self deception that we hide pieces of our lives in the dark corners of our soul and don’t want to shine a light in those directions for fear we might be exposed or look bad in front of others. The reality is, however, that the more we actually live in the light and let our weaknesses and dark spots show, that we actually experience the freedom and peace that we are all after in this world. The more I work to hide what is going on in my life, the more I get caught in playing a role and create more stress and tension in my life because I now have to remember and juggle this person who is not naturally who I am. I have talked with many people who have thought their sins where too great for anyone to know and that people would hate them if they knew what they were struggling with. These same people, when they chose to stop deceiving themselves and put their dark corners into the light, experienced a level of acceptance and grace that they never thought they would experience. Most people admire leaders who are transparent more than they do leaders who seem to be perfect. As humans we have a built in meter that tells us someone can’t be as perfect as they are presenting and we look for ways to expose it. If you hide in self deception, you will be found out eventually, and as you wait to be exposed, your life is filled with stress.

Soul Neglect
It is so easy in ministry to neglect our souls. We are so busy with the work of the ministry that we talk ourselves into thinking the work of the ministry is the same as taking care of our souls. When I was going into seminary I remember my dad telling me something that literally saved my soul. He said not to think that my study in class was a substitute for my time with God. He said if I didn’t take care of my soul and build my relationship with God I would end up dry and discouraged. I took his advice and was able to come through seminary ready for ministry. I knew plenty of other guys who didn’t heed that advice and burned out before they even got started. As leaders, we need to remember that our soul needs to be filled up and our relationship with God is the single most important thing to keep in tact as we seek to minister to others in His name. Neglect your soul and you have just hurt your congregation more than anything else.

Relational Isolation
This one issue is one of the biggest reasons leaders, and really any human being, fall. When we have no one in our lives to speak truth to us and to help us see ourselves and our choices from the perspective of reality rather than our well crafted rationalizations, we really are vulnerable. There is something about us as leaders that causes us to shy away from true relationships. We tend to believe the lie that people want a leader who has no faults and therefore we need to keep our distance from people if we are to keep our image up and ultimately our job. There is also a prideful side that causes us to think that we are the one’s who have arrived or are further along than the people we lead so we really don’t need the same level of accountability as the people we lead do. When we buy this lie we are missing out on an important aspect of how God created us. There is something about community that God built into everyone of us. He wants relationship with us and asks that we have relationship with others. When we are relationally isolated we literally lose something that God intended for each of us to have. When we lose that sense of connection and have no one who can see our lives and speak into them, we have no way of knowing how we are doing spiritually and can end up in a place where we talk ourselves into doing the wrong things for what we perceive as rational reasons. We all need the support and the accountability relationships bring if we are to grow as followers of Jesus Christ. Isolate relationally and that need to connect will come out in dysfunctional ways.

As we look at how to help one another to take care of our souls and to grow our lives and characters to look more like Jesus Christ, we have to look out for the things that can do the most damage. If we don’t manage our outward success, self deception, soul, and relationships our impulses and exterior pressures will manage us and drive us to a place of dryness and vulnerability. But the more we manage our souls and choose to live in the light in relationship with others the more we will experience the growth and stability we need as leaders and followers of Christ.

Saying "I'm Sorry"

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2012-01-12T07:15:23-08:00

We all have been taught at one time or another in our lives that we need to say we are sorry. We are told that when we do something wrong we need to admit it and then seek to make it right with the person we have offended. This act of confession & making a relationship right is something that was established long ago. In the Old Testament we see the importance of admitting a wrong and making it right. Leviticus 5:5 says, “when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned.” Not only are we to confess our sin we are to do it from a heart that truly understands the pain that was caused. David in the Psalms confessed his sin in many different circumstances. He says, “I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.” When was the last time you were actually troubled over what you did wrong? So true confession is a process of understanding the depth of what I have done wrong. It is almost common sense to anyone you talk to, yet when it comes to adult relationships we struggle to actually admit anything we did was not for a good reason regardless of how much it hurt the other person.

In marriage confession and forgiveness is a huge key to building and maintaining an intimate relationship. Who wants to be married to someone who believes they are never wrong and seems to be an expert at pointing out every time you are wrong? Yet that is how many of us live and act in our marriages. We are experts on our spouses short comings and failures and we are blind, or at least feel we have good reasons, for our own failures. So rather than drawing our spouse towards us we become the source of pain that pushes our spouse away, which we then point out as one of our spouses problems that needs to be fixed. If we are to have intimacy in our marriage we need to put into practice what we were taught as a kid and what we teach our own kids today.

Confession: Admitting When You Are Wrong

Confession is something that few of us like to practice in our society because it puts us in a one down position and we don’t like to be seen as failing at anything. We know we are not perfect, but we really don’t want someone else to know it because we feel it puts us in too vulnerable of a position. After all, we have good reasons for why we did what we did. Those reasons usually have to do with something the other person did that “caused” us to respond the way we did. So rather than confess anything or admit we are wrong, we feel at some level our spouse deserved what he/she got which causes us to feel a sense of being vindicated or that our actions where somehow just given the circumstances. The reality is, we are rationalizing our behavior and selling the intimacy we could have in our marriage for the cheap imitation of feeling superior to our spouse or getting even. If we are to grow close to our spouse we have to admit when we are wrong.

There are some who do confess when they are wrong, usually after it is so obvious to anyone who looked at it or because we want to hurry up and get past the conflict. So we confess quickly with little or no feeling or heart put into it, almost like we are demanding the other person move on, like we did when we were made to do it as kid. The motivation is not to truly understand our wrong and make the relationship right. That would feel like rubbing our noses in what we did wrong. Instead we just want to move on from the incident as quickly as possible. The result is usually our spouse questioning whether we really are sorry or not responding in the gracious way we felt our apology warranted. Then we get mad all over again, this time at the fact that our spouse won’t move on as quickly as we think he/she should and we start the argument all over again, this time with more ammunition about how our spouse has no grace. This game we play with confession and forgiveness only reinforces the fact that too many of us are out to be right instead of being intimate. We want intimacy but without any kind of cost. The reality is that you cannot have intimacy without being willing to be vulnerable. If you are unwilling to be vulnerable, the best you can have is proximity.

How to Seek Forgiveness
True confession and forgiveness, starts with a true realization of how I have wronged my spouse. It is not just to get over the situation or to quickly move on from an argument so I can sleep at night or move on to my next thing knowing I have resolved the conflict. Instead it is truly feeling how it must have felt to be my spouse when I offended him/her.

From that heart I confess and admit my wrong to let my spouse know I understand the pain I caused and I am truly sorry for the way I hurt him/her. Then I ask for forgiveness and wait for my spouse to respond. He/she may not be ready to forgive me and that is ok. I need to give the time and space for my spouse to process the event in his/her own way. It is important to never confuse forgiveness with reconciliation. Forgiveness can be given but that does not mean that everything is back to normal instantly. Forgiveness is not the ultimate do over. There was still pain and there is still a cautiousness that results that needs to be worked through for true reconciliation to happen. The pain we cause our spouse has consequences and those consequences usually have to do with the time it takes to recover to a place of full reconciliation and intimacy. But without confession and forgiveness, true reconciliation cannot happen.

So when you have wronged your spouse, even if your spouse wronged you in the process. Take some time to consider your part, confess your part to your spouse and ask for forgiveness, In doing so you demonstrate your commitment to him/her, empathy for their pain, and you start a process of reconciliation that leads to greater intimacy.

iTunes Match Set Up Walkthrough

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-12-30T18:11:16-08:00

In this screencast I walk through the set up process for iTunes Match. I talk about what iTunes Match is and record my process of signing up and starting the match process. In future screencasts I will show other tips and tricks to making iTunes Match work for your music collection. So far iTunes Match has been a great way to get all of our music on all our household devices. Check out the screencast and see what you think. Enjoy!

Family Advent

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-12-22T07:44:15-08:00

One of the things I love about Christmas is celebrating advent with my family. There is something about the lights, the time off the kids have from school, and their wonderment that makes remembering what God did for us in sending Jesus to this world to live among us and bring us salvation such a special time. As a family we spend time weekly leading up to Christmas remembering different parts of the Christmas story. I thought I would share the format we are using this year in this blog post. I know it is late in the season and Christmas is almost here, but take a couple of the ideas and see if they work with your family. Merry Christmas and enjoy celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Day 1: Angel’s Announcement to Mary and Joseph

Read: Luke 1:26-38 (Mary); Matthew 1:25 (Joseph)
Question to Ponder: What do you think it was like to get a message from an angel? What does it mean that the angel told them about Jesus ahead of time?

Activity: Take a moment and write down one thing the Lord has told you or taught you this past year. Then share that thought with the family.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for working through ordinary people like Mary and Joseph and for their faith and trust in you. May we respond to the things you are trying to teach us in our lives in the same way they did to the message of Jesus’ birth. Thank you for all you did to tell us ahead of time that Jesus was coming in your word. Amen.

Day 2: Shepherd’s encounter with the Angels and Jesus

Read: Luke 2:8-20
Question: Why do you think the shepherds were so excited? What do you think it looked like to glorify and praise God?

Activity: Write a thank you letter to Jesus for all he has done for you. Be sure to thank him for who he is and share why you are excited to celebrate his birthday. Place the cards under the tree so we can read them out loud on Christmas morning.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for coming down to this earth as a human just like we are and for showing us how to live. We are excited to celebrate your birthday with you this month and look forward to the day we can celebrate with you forever in heaven. Amen.

Day 3: Wisemen Bring Gifts

Read: Matthew 2:1-18
Question to Ponder: What did each of the gifts the wisemen brought signify? Where they worth a lot?

Activity: Make an ornament to hang on the tree as a gift to Jesus. Write one thing you want to give him this year from your life. It could be sharing with others or anything you want.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of life that you have given us by coming to this earth, dying for us, and being resurrected from the dead so we can have that new life. Help us to be wise in our own lives like the wisemen were in how they responded to Herod. We give you our lives as you gave yours for us. Amen.

Day 4: Jesus’ Birthday

Read: Luke 2-1-20 & John 1:1-14
Question to Ponder: Why is Jesus’ birthday so important?

Activity: Tell the Christmas story using the nativity set as props. Each person takes turns reading a piece of the story and placing the nativity pieces in place. Then sing happy birthday to Jesus and each person takes turns reading their thank you notes to Jesus out loud. Close by singing “silent night” together & prayer.

Advent Day 8: Giving to Others

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-12-08T07:20:39-08:00

Read: Matthew 25:31-46

How aware are you of the needs of those around you? On any given day it could be the more obvious needs that we usually try to ignore like the guy on the street with a sign asking for food or money. Or the woman pushing a shopping cart with all her possessions in it. But there are also the more subtle ones that are easy for us to miss not because we are trying to ignore them, but rather because we are too busy doing our own thing to actually notice. The woman who is struggling with two kids and grocery bags trying to get to her car. The person sitting in the corner of a coffee shop quietly sobbing over news he just got on his cell phone. The person who has come by your office several times bothering you with simple questions that don’t make sense who really wants to talk about some issues in his life but doesn’t know how to break the ice to start the conversation.

There are people all around us who need our care. As Jesus said in Matthew there are people who are thirsty and need a cup of water, hungry and need food, or cold and need clothing. He tells us that when we take care of these needs that people have and give to others it is as if we are doing it to him. How do we get to the place where we see others as Jesus does? Or even see Jesus in others so we pay attention and respond to them as we would to him? There is such a tendency to be so busy doing good things that we don’t even see the most important things in this world. I want to have the eyes of Christ this Christmas and beyond to see the needs around me and respond to them as he would if he were me. If the God of the universe could give our world the gift of his presence as a baby and ultimately his death as a man, the least I can do as an act of gratitude and worship to him is to serve those he came to die for.

Lord, help me to see others with your eyes. Make me aware of the needs around me and give me the means to respond to those needs. Amen.

Uploading & Sharing Photos in Google+

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-12-08T07:08:07-08:00

In this longer screencast, I cover the photo sharing aspects of Google+. This screencasts covers the size limits of photos uploaded, the process of uploading and managing photos, how to share and edit photos online, and how Google+ interfaces with Picasa Web Albums. I really like the photo features of Google+ and many photographers have been moving from Flickr to using Google+. The free uploads and unlimited storage of high resolution photos and the great sharing features and active photo community make it a great place for photo sharing. Take a look at the screencast and let me know what you think.

National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO)

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-12-05T07:52:52-08:00

Well I haven’t done much writing on my blog in the month of November. I put a few screencasts up but just couldn’t seem to get any writing done. The main reason was because of my participation for the second year in National Novel Writing Month. I love to write and I know that the more I write the better I will get at it. The usual problem with writing anything of length is the motivation and consistency to do so. I have found that NANOWRIMO really helps to motivate me to focus on a long writing project consistently for one month. The challenge is to write 50,000 words in a month. Now I know that sounds like a lot of words in a short period of time and it is. But knowing that others around the world are doing the same thing and being able to track your progress and theirs really makes it fun to try to get after a goal that big.

For the second time in two tries I have reached the goal and as a result have gotten a good start on a couple of books I wanted to write. Each region has groups that set up write in’s at local coffee shops or libraries. There was a Facebook page for South Orange County where people posted inspiration and their writing totals. It really was and is a neat community of writers all going after the same personal goal and inspiring each other to do the same. South Orange County wrote 15,256,586 words in 30 days with all of Orange County writing 26,709,767 words! Some pretty impressive stuff there.

It was great to be a part of it and to get 50,000 words towards a writing project I am doing jump started in a month. Thanks to everyone involved for the inspiration and sharing your stories. I look forward to NANOWRIMO 2012!

Advent Day 5: The Light of the World

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-12-05T07:08:23-08:00

Read: Matthew 4:12-17, Isaiah 9:1-3, Matthew 5:14-16

In my advent reflection this morning I read about Jesus being the light of the world who came into a world of darkness to show us the way. It is interesting to think about the fact that the bible uses light as a symbol of who Christ is and was when he came to this earth. Light illuminates the things around it and makes it easier to move about and function in a dark space. Light keeps us from hurting ourselves or from grabbing the wrong thing when we can only base our decision on what we feel. Light allows us to see things for what they really are instead of guessing at what we think something is and hoping we are right.

Light is a perfect example of who Jesus is. He came to bring us the truth and embodied that truth in his life here on the earth. He lived the life that God always intended for us to live, not because God loves rules or wants to spoil our fun. As the author and designer of life, he knows how he created us and what he intended for us that we would experience joy in living. Because we thought we knew best and wanted to do our own thing we went in the direction of darkness and are merely settling for a cheap substitute for joy so we are constantly trying to manufacture it instead of experiencing it through living the way God intended. He sent Jesus to show us the way to live and to understand how thinks were designed to work in this world. Through the life of Christ and his lighting the way for us we are able to see things for what they really are, move around in this world with intention and purpose and no longer have only our feelings on which we base decisions. Living the way God intended, in the light, is the source of purpose and joy because we are living as our creator intended.

I pray that this Christmas I would continue to do everything I can to live in the light instead of hiding in the darkness. The more I am who I am in every situation in life and don’t try to play a role or look good for others, the more I am relaxed and can live in the moment and enjoy the life I have been given. The more I live for other’s perceptions the more I stumble around and am captive to those perceptions. I want my life to shine as a light as Jesus’ life was a light to this world.

Father, thank you for sending Jesus to this earth to show me how to live. Help me to walk in the light that you have shown me and live my life in the fullness you desire for me. Amen.

Setting Up Your Profile Page on Google+

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-11-18T13:29:18-08:00

This is the second screencast in the series I’m doing on Google+. In this screencast I cover how to set up your profile page and what all the security features look like. If you have any questions or comments feel free to respond below. Also if there are other screencasts you would like me to do leave a comment and I’ll see if I can make it happen.

You can also follow all my screencasts at my Youtube Channel. Enjoy!

An Overview of Google+

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-11-11T14:34:10-08:00

Here is a screencast walkthrough of Google+, Google’s new social media site. Google+ is a lot like Facebook but with some added features. You also get the integration of many of the other Google services into Google+ and it has become a pretty big hangout for photographers especially with unlimited uploads at high resolution (2048x2048 pixels). I will be adding more screencasts on each feature of Google+ but this should get you started if you always wondered what it was and wanted a tour without having to commit. Let me know what you think and any other screencasts you would like me to do in the comments below.

You can also follow all my screencasts at my Youtube Channel. Enjoy!

SuperDuper!: Backing Up Multiple Drives to One

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-10-28T11:20:04-07:00

I recently had my dad ask how to update two drives to one. He has two internal drives in his MacPro that he he wants to back up to his Drobo without using Drobo Copy which has been giving him errors lately. He doesn’t want to go through the process of partitioning his Drobo which I have tried before on a Drobo and is not really the way I like to use my Drobo either especially since my space needs could change at anytime and having to repartition a Drobo takes a lot of time and takes away the benefit of just adding storage. I prefer to use it as one big drive myself.

To help him see how to back up two drives to one, I put together a podcast to walk him through the process. The basic instructions on how to do this can be found in the manual for SuperDuper! found HERE. Enjoy!

Thoughts on Helping Our Kids Grow Spiritually-Part 2

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-10-24T09:57:17-07:00

Credit: Free images from acobox.com

Discipleship
Developing the character of Christ and looking for ways to develop spiritual habits that connect our boys to Christ are challenging things to do with so many competing things in our boys lives. They are involved in church as well as school but we need to be the disciplers of our kids. To make this happen in our boys lives we have two things we do in this area.

First we want to have a time where our family engages in discussing what God is doing in our lives so they see that our faith is not merely a meeting we attend a couple of times a week but something we live out and integrate into our lives. So we make sure we eat lunch together after church on Sunday and we review what they learned in the children’s program that day and we share what we learned in big church. We are fortunate that our church puts the videos they use with our kids online along with a study guide for families to use to discuss the things they learned (http://saddleback.com/mediacenter/saddlebackkids/). I use my iPhone to view the video and the discussion guide and we have a great time sharing and looking for ways to apply the things we have learned.

Second we want the boys to see the power of scripture in their lives and to begin to develop the habit of spending a regular time with God in his word. So each boy has an iPod with the bible reading app on it. They have a daily reading plan and we have them read or listen through that plan. The great thing about the YouVersion Bible App (http://www.youversion.com/mobile/iphone) is that they can track along with it and it will read it to you. So they boys have an instant plan and can choose how they want to engage the text. I also created an internal blog on my Mac using Lion Server (you can use any kind of word program) where they journal what they have learned at least a couple times a week. Those journals are then available for everyone to see so we also learn from one another.

These two things have helped us to develop habits in our kids lives and to have spiritual conversations to help them to grow.

Ministry
One of the things every kid needs to know is that they are unique and good at something. They also need to understand that the things that God has given them are not for the purpose of using them for themselves but to use for the good of others. 1 Corinthians 12:7 says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” So our gifts are not for ourselves but for others. One of the things our boys need in their lives are the following:

They need to know they are loved unconditionally
They need to know we are proud of them.
They need to know they are good at something.

What we on regular basis is express our love verbally and let them know how proud we are of them, not just for their achievements, but because of who they are. If our boys are going to ever minister to others they need to be filled up with love and sense of who they are in Christ and we can model that through our love and expression of how special they are to us. We also point out the gifts that God has put in their hearts and has given them and help them to see ways they can develop and use those things to serve others.

Mission
Helping our boys have a global worldview and a heart for people and the gospel is something that is important to us. In our boys Kids Small Group experience they were able to share their testimonies with a younger group of kids and really got to process what it meant for them that Christ was their savior. Part of helping them to be open to sharing this with their friends is to help them to remember the things God is doing and has done in their lives and to also help them develop a biblical worldview so they know how to respond to the challenges they will face on a daily basis. To help with this we use the things they may view on television through commercials or their cartoons to talk about whether those things are presenting a biblical perspective or not. One thing I learned from our Pastor was to have the boys be able to point out which of the aspects of lust (lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life) does each commercial appeal to. It actually makes commercial bearable and a teachable moment at the same time! In addition to having these world view discussions, we try to remember all of the times we have seen God show up in our lives. Remembering those things is a theme expressed throughout the scriptures and is something that parents are commanded to do with their kids in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” One of the things we are going to start doing is recording the ways we have seen God show up in our lives and write them on stones that we will put in a pot that we will pull out and review often. Helping our boys to reflect and remember is a crucial part to helping them have a biblical worldview.

As you can see nothing here is rocket science. These are just some basic things we are trying to do with our kids to help them always remember God’s presence in their lives and to help to grow to have a love for God that is greater than their love for anything else. We are not perfect at this and have times where we are not as consistent as we want to be. But having a plan has helped us to stay focused on what is important! What are some ways you help your kids grow spiritually?

Making the Move to iCloud

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-10-18T21:34:37-07:00

Apple recently revamped their MobileMe service and moved it to iCloud which is a way to keep all of your information in sync between your devices and also available in the cloud. This is a major update and involves a few steps to get everything moved over so I thought I would do a screencast to record my process of moving my MobileMe account over to iCloud for those who are visual and want to see what will happen step by step before they take the leap. In the video I reference a few sites that Apple has put up to help walk people through the process so I am putting the links below for those who just want the facts and don’t need to see the walk through. This is my first podcast so there are probably some things in the production that are not quite right such as the number of times I say “um”.

How to Set Up iCloud: http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/

MobileMe Move Site: http://mobileme.com/move

Autism and Social Awareness

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-10-17T06:50:32-07:00

There is an interesting article on Ars Technica about a study done with people who have autism and their response to social pressure when it comes to charitable giving. You can see the article HERE. The conclusion of the article says:

So, it is clear that people with autism don’t increase their charitable donations when they are being watched. Why not? There are two potential explanations: first, they aren’t able to make the cognitive leap to understand how others form impressions of them, or second, that having a good reputation simply isn’t rewarding to them.

Although researchers aren’t yet sure why this phenomenon occurs, this is good evidence that disorders on the autism spectrum are characterized by a problem with theory-of-mind and social representations. We have a long way to go in discovering the neurological underpinnings and behavioral ramifications of autism, but it’s an important step in understanding the how the disorder works.

Having two boys on the spectrum, both diagnosed with Aspergers which is a high functioning form of Autism I could see where this might be true to a point. My boys are not really concerned with their reputation when it comes to things that don’t really directly effect them like giving money, etc. Where they do have awareness, however, is to social ridicule. They are concerned what others think if they think they might be embarrassed by it. For instance, they know when people make fun of them or when acting out in certain ways might lead to being made fun of because they have experienced it in the past. My son will only melt down at home or in a place where he thinks no one is watching (unless he is so angry he doesn’t care, which is another issue). They also will react after the fact to try to keep from being made fun of again or be in that uncomfortable situation. Where they struggle is with understanding something is off socially in the moment. They miss the nuances that so many of us naturally pick up and learn how to navigate. So in this particular article there is the nuance of knowing that how much they give would even have an effect on what people think about them that would be missed. Bring the idea up to them that how much they give might effect what that person thinks of them and just might increase what they gave in that moment because they do want to do what is expected of them most times.

Interesting stuff and it just shows that there are a lot of factors at play here. One thing I have learned from interacting with other parents with kids on the spectrum is how unique each child is. They may have the same diagnosis but how that diagnosis manifests itself can be different depending on the child. I’m glad research is being done and hopefully will lead to greater understanding.

Thoughts on Helping Our Kids Grow Spiritually-Part 1

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-10-13T07:44:56-07:00

Credit: Free images from acobox.com

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to raise spiritually healthy kids. I have three boys at home, two of which have Aspergers (a high functioning form of Autism). Cheryl and I are challenged on a regular basis to figure out ways to keep them engaged spiritually and looking for ways to help them process things from a biblical perspective. I find that many approaches to raising biblically healthy kids usually are either too complex to make them practical or involve making sure your kids attend the church regularly. Now all of these approaches are valid and have some good points to them, but in the day to day of a busy home with kids who are being asked to do more and more when it comes to school work, how do we practically develop the habits necessary to help them integrate their faith into their lives?

At the church I attend we have the five purposes as a paradigm for things to aim at as it relates to spiritual growth. Those five things are worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission and they come from the Great Commandment (Matthew 22) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28). These five things serve as the basis for what our children’s small groups process uses to train our kids. As Cheryl and I thought through this process we decided to look for ways we could make these five things visible in our own home and reinforce what they are already learning in their small group. Here are some things we have been doing on a regular basis:

Worship
We want to help our kids connect their lives to God and learn that worship is about bringing the moment by moment things of their lives to Him. As Romans 12:2 says,“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Beyond talking to them about life and processing the things that are happening from a biblical worldview, we started praying a blessing over them every night as a part of our bedtime ritual. I will pray with each boy separately and pray Numbers 6:25-27 “ May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. I also pray Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” I will then pray for the events of the next day and for their character. We started this about 4 years ago and today the kids are always making sure that I don’t forget to this. It has created a teachable moment and a way to worship God together on a daily basis.

Fellowship
Helping our boys learn to do relationships is quite a challenge especially when we have two boys who don’t understand all of the nuances of relating to people because of their Aspergers. Yet we want to make sure they know how to handle conflict and how to resolve the issues that can creep up in relationships. Beyond processing what happens in relationships on a regular basis we have set up two things we want them to catch: Confession and Forgiveness. James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” The ability to see a wrong that they have committed and confessing that to the person they have wronged is a huge piece of being able to have deep fellowship with others. Most conflict in relationships is due to the fact that people don’t know how and refuse to admit their part and apologize for it. Confession deals with the guilt we carry around in life and frees us from being ruled by it. Forgiveness is all about releasing the resentment we might have towards someone else. Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” We are to forgive as God through Christ has forgiven us. So we teach the boys to handle confession and forgiveness like this:

Confession: “I’m sorry I did ____________. Will you Forgive me?”
Forgiveness: “I forgive you for doing that. We are ok”

In doing this we are hoping that they catch the fact that they need to quickly release the guilt and resentment they could have in life and that relationships with others are worth healing and making right.

In Part 2, we will discuss the other three purpose areas and how we are trying to help our boys to see those things and live them out in their own lives. These are just starting points but we have seen some cool things start to happen in their lives as a result. What are some things you have done in the areas of worship and fellowship to help your kids grow?

The Myth of Private Sin

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-10-04T06:58:29-07:00

Today I read Ezra 7-10. We would like to think that the things we do wrong in life are only between us and God and are just a private affair. After all, how I live my life should be no one’s business. Besides, if I do anything wrong I am only harming myself. If I do something directly against someone else, like stealing or murder, sure I should be busted for that. But the other subtle things in life that I do are just personal sins that I have to deal with. So we go about life thinking there are only consequences for us and down play any impact those things might have on others.

In Ezra’s day, many in the remnant of Jews who returned to rebuild the temple had gone against God’s commands to not intermarry with the people of the land. I am sure they thought that their disobedience was a small thing. What harm could it be to the overall scheme of things? Besides, it was their decision and didn’t involve anyone else from the community. The reality was, however, that everyone in that community was effected by the sins of the people who chose to disobey God in this area. Part of the command had to do with whether or not the community would be blessed by God or not and whether his hand would be on them. Their personal sin had implications for an entire community.

There are very few sins in this life that are not social or at least have secondary effects on those around us. The decision to take up an addiction, something that seems private, has devastating effects on relationships and the people who know the addict. The decision to love money more than God causes a person to use people and love money instead of loving people and using money. The list could go on and on. When we buy the lie that says it is only hurting ourselves, we get defensive when it is even hinted that our personal life is having a negative impact on the lives of others. But the reality is, there are few sins that don’t had social implications.

The community in Ezra’s day handled their sin in a public way by mourning over what they had done wrong and seeking to put things right according to the laws of their day. Even in the way they needed to put things right had negative consequences for the wives and children they had taken against the commands of the Lord as they were sent away from the community. It is important for us today to realize how much our actions effect others and change our perspective on how private our private lives really are. We need to confess the things we have done wrong to God and seek to make amends and live in the way God set up in the first place. Only then will we understand and live in a way that our lifestyle is one in which we truly love our neighbors as ourselves.

Lord, help me to live my life according to the way you have set before me to live. May the things I say and do not bring harm to those around me. Make me a man of integrity. Amen.

Criticism & Relationships

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-09-27T07:44:12-07:00

I see a lot of people in marriage who try to use criticism as a way to connect with their spouse or to help make their spouse a “better person.” I really believe that most people think that their approach to criticism is a good one and only have the best of intentions for their spouse. In fact they feel their form of criticism is constructive or not really criticism at all. The problem with criticism is no one really wants it. Think about it for a moment. How many people would raise their hands and say they could use more criticism in their lives because they really want to grow and be the best they could be? Would you really want to receive the criticism you give to your spouse?

Criticism in a marriage almost always leads to defensiveness and some kind of resentment. Criticism says, “You have something wrong with you and I am going to point it out to make sure you change it because I don’t struggle with those kinds of things in my life.” It almost always comes across as a superiority thing and usually feels condescending at best. It usually communicates that you do not really accept your spouse completely and won’t accept them until they get certain areas of their lives “fixed.”

So if criticism is not constructive, how do I help my spouse change the things that are off? First you need to check your motives. Are you really concerned with helping your spouse grow? Or are you trying to make your own life easier by getting your spouse to go along with your program? If you are doing it for selfish reasons then it will almost always come out wrong. Next, Have you built into the life of your spouse? If you have invested no time into your spouses life and haven’t recognized the positives in your spouses life and pointed them out, it will be difficult to hear your words of correction. Think about it this way, do you honor your spouse as much as you try to change her/him? How many encouraging comments do you give to the number of critical ones? Would your spouse even be able to hear your words of help in areas of her/his life that she/he may need to work on? Or, are you so negative that she/he can’t even hear your words anymore? Have you banked enough encouragement in her/his life that she/he respects and responds when you point out a fault?

If you want to have influence into your spouses life, you need to be a person your spouse trusts and knows has her/his best interests at heart. It is when you have that kind of relationship that it is easy to listen to things you may need to work on in your life. Of course in that kind of response it is not criticism at all but truly helping one another to grow.

Nineteen Year Anniversary

todd@toddolthoff.com — 2011-09-12T07:57:47-07:00

Nineteen years ago today, I stood before God, my family and friends, and pledged my love, life, and faithfulness to my beautiful bride and the love of my life. It was a beautiful day in September and I will never forget seeing her for the first time in her wedding gown as the doors opened and she began walking towards me. I remember thinking how beautiful she was and feeling like the luckiest guy in the world in that moment. I smiled so much that day that the muscles in my face hurt (and it wasn’t just from smiling from all the pictures that are usually taken at a wedding).

Our story was not necessarily unique as stories go but has enough uniqueness to make it uniquely ours. Cheryl and I grew up in the same church together. We both have pictures of events we were in at the same time, but as is the way of things as young kids, I had no use for girls at that time so I never really noticed her. It wasn’t until high school that I really “noticed” her. She was dating someone else at the time so I never really talked to her too much and I probably never would have as I was pretty shy in those days. It took a divine intervention to bring us together.

Cheryl’s school had a Sadie Hawkins Dance, which is basically an excuse for the girls to ask the guy who would never ask her to a dance because he was too shy or usually too dense to know she liked him. Cheryl and a bunch of girls from our youth group decided to put the names of some guys from the youth group into a hat and they had to ask the person whose name they drew to the dance. Now it is pretty obvious to me now that they put the names of people in the hat who they were sure didn’t have a date which is how my name got into the hat. I think I weighed all of 60 pounds and if I stood sideways you wouldn’t notice me except that my nose stuck out. So, in God’s divine providence, Cheryl drew my name out of the hat and she asked me to this dance.

Now I had no idea of the name drawing so I assumed she liked me. After all, why would a girl ask a guy to a dance if she didn’t like him? So I thought it would be a good idea if we went out before the dance and she said sure. So in order to impress her, I decided to take her to Sizzler. Sizzler for those of you who don’t know, is basically Denny’s with a salad bar. It actually sounds better than it really is. So we went to this place and I wanted to impress her so I ordered the biggest drinks they had and they give you a tray to take the drinks to your table while you wait for the food. As we got to the table I tilted the tray and the drinks began to slide off the tray. It all happened in slow motion because that is how I remember it. Coke went everywhere but all of the ice from the cups went into the purse of a women whose back was to us. Being the godly guy that I was I turned to Cheryl and said, “Quick let’s go before anyone notices.” We went and sat in the back corner. I was so embarrassed. As we were sitting there we saw the woman go to get her purse and see all the ice in it. She then looked up at her son and smacked him on the back of the head assuming he put the ice there. So I caused a kid to get busted for what I did on my first date with my wife!

So that is how it all started. We dated for six years until I could graduate from high school and college. I remember the day I proposed to her. I had already taken her dad out for breakfast and asked for her hand in marriage. I was ready to get engaged and wanted to make it special. I told Cheryl we were going to Santa Cruz to hang at the beach and then go to dinner afterward. There was a special spot at a Christian Conference Center where Cheryl and I spent a lot of time talking together along a creek. I knew I wanted to propose to her there so I had my friend Jimmy take the wedding ring and a huge shell and set it on the beach of that creek with the ring in the shell and wait for us to come so I could propose. The plan was perfect and I figured she would have no idea.

One thing about my wife is the fact that she has a way of smelling out any surprise. Her parents tried to throw a surprise party for her and all I had to do was take her out for dinner and bring her home to a house full of all her friends. I did well all the way up to where we were going into the door and she wanted to make me go first. I asked why and she said so everyone on the other side of the door would say surprise to me not her. She really can sniff this stuff out. Well on the day we were going to the beach she was getting all dressed up with full make up and everything. I was pretty dense at that time and thought, “Oh good. She will look great when I propose,” not thinking that she was thinking the same thing.

When we got to the Conference Center, where we always would stop when we went to Santa Cruz, she was looking around everywhere on the way to our spot. Then she asked me point blank, “Where is Jimmy?” She even knew my friend was there! Well we get to beach and the shell is there but she doesn’t see it because she was too busy looking for my friend. I start to worry that she will either find him or he would pass out somewhere in the weeds so I point out the shell to her. She sees it and says, “Cool my mom loves these things.” She picked it up and the ring fell out and by the look on her face I knew I had her. I got down on my knee and proposed. Now most women would say yes and the violins would start playing with hugs and kisses. Instead of yes, she says, “Did you ask my dad?” Now I have an audience in the bushes and this didn’t quite go how I thought it would. I told her I did and thankfully we then had the violin moment followed by a voice from the bushes saying, “Can I come out now?”

We have story after story like that. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend and such a beautiful woman as Cheryl. She knows me better than anyone else and knows what I need to hear at the times when I am the most high and the most low. She has a way of looking at me that tells me when she is proud of me and her eyes are the most beautiful I have ever seen. To say I am lucky is an understatement. I can’t imagine my life now nineteen years into my marriage apart from her. It doesn’t mean we haven’t had our lows in addition to our highs, but we have chosen to work through those points and it has led to a strength and comfort with one another that everyone really dreams about. This strength and comfort only comes through a track record and a history and history is only built over time. I am so excited today to be married to my high school sweetheart and look forward to another nineteen years and beyond of building this history we have that we call our marriage! I love you Cheryl, and happy anniversary!