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Explore macOS tools and architecture for executing support tasks and system administration, and prepare for the Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) certification exam

Key Features

  • Delve into macOS Big Sur, from installation to managing apps and optimizing your environment
  • Become an Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) with this comprehensive macOS support guide
  • The book is not intended to be a user guide, it covers concepts pertinent for a user acting as an administrator

Book Description

Apple is pushing the capabilities of its technologies to help users achieve high performance, including improvements in its OS running across all Mac systems, macOS, and new technologies such as M1 Silicon chips. This book walks you through macOS from a system administration and support point of view, exploring its latest features.

The book starts by explaining macOS architecture, installation, and startup processes to enable you to get started with the OS. You'll learn how to manage users and discover techniques for user security and privacy. Moving on, you'll get to grips with the macOS file system and learn to manage disks, volumes, and partitions for effective file management. Most of the examples covered in this book are from an administrator's perspective; however, when relevant, a standard user's perspective is also presented. You'll find illustrations for Mac systems running macOS 11 (Big Sur), and when necessary, for macOS 10.15 (macOS Catalina). Finally, you'll explore advanced topics such as networking and using command-line tools for administration tasks.

By the end of this macOS book, you'll be well-versed with macOS features, administration tasks, and best practices. You'll also be able to apply the concepts to increase your chances of success in obtaining Apple certifications such as Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP).

What you will learn

  • Understand the fundamentals of the macOS system and architecture
  • Configure key services and perform essential troubleshooting in your Mac system
  • Install, update, and configure your local macOS system and identify the stages of the startup process
  • Create and manage a local user account and set up your customized macOS environment
  • Manage your file systems, storage, and permissions
  • Explore practices and techniques to work with apps, networks, and security for your Mac system
  • Delve into administration tasks such as managing service resources and peripherals

Who this book is for

If you are a Mac system administrator, support and help desk technician or engineer, or Mac power user looking to explore macOS architecture and tooling, then this book is for you. The book assumes beginner-level knowledge of the macOS environment and system administration.

Table of Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright and Credits
    1. The macOS User Administration Guide
  3. Dedication
  4. Contributors
    1. About the author
    2. About the reviewers
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
    4. Download the color images
    5. Conventions used
    6. Get in touch
    7. Reviews
  6. Overview of the macOS System, Architecture, and Features
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Overview of the macOS system and architecture
    3. Overview of the macOS general features
    4. Exploring the new features introduced in the latest macOS releases 
    5. New features introduced in macOS Big Sur
    6. New features introduced in macOS Catalina
    7. Touring macOS
    8. Exploring the macOS version history
    9. Comparing macOS to other leading operating systems
    10. Exploring the industry standards used by macOS
    11. Multicast DNS
    12. Swift
    13. Summary
  7. Installing and Configuring macOS
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Requirements for macOS Big Sur
    3. Requirements for macOS Catalina
    4. How to find out your Mac model and specs
    5. Installing macOS
    6. Upgrading macOS
    7. Automatic upgrades
    8. Manual upgrades
    9. Manual upgrades to macOS Big Sur
    10. Through the internet
    11. Reinstalling macOS
    12. Reinstalling macOS via internet recovery
    13. Reinstalling through the macOS Recovery system
    14. What is the macOS Recovery system?
    15. Accessing the macOS Recovery system with macOS Catalina and earlier (Intel Mac)
    16. Startup Disk
    17. Startup Security Utility
    18. Network Utility
    19. Terminal and Reset Password
    20. Accessing the macOS Recovery interface with macOS Big Sur (Intel Mac)
    21. Accessing the macOS Recovery interface in Macs with the M1 chip
    22. How to perform a reinstallation with macOS Catalina Recovery
    23. How to perform a reinstallation with macOS Big Sur Recovery
    24. How to perform a clean installation
    25. Using an external installer
    26. Formatting the external volume or USB
    27. Downloading a macOS installer from the App Store
    28. Using the createinstallmedia command
    29. Testing and using the bootable installer
    30. Updating macOS
    31. Software updates
    32. Disabling update notifications
    33. Automatic App Store updates
    34. Manual App Store updates
    35. System updates
    36. Firmware updates
    37. Configuring the macOS installation
    38. The Setup Assistant process
    39. Adjusting the system settings
    40. Benefits of configuring iCloud
    41. Summary
  8. The Start Up Process
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the macOS start up process
    3. Primary system initialization stages
    4. Power-on or BootROM firmware
    5. Booter
    6. Kernel
    7. System launchd
    8. FileVault initialization
    9. User session stages
    10. loginwindow
    11. Logout, shutdown, and restart
    12. launchd
    13. Files and processes involved in launchd
    14. Visualizing the processes
    15. User environment
    16. Using energy-saving features
    17. Sleep mode
    18. Battery preferences (macOS Big Sur)
    19. Safe Sleep and Standby
    20. Waking up the Mac
    21. Using start up modes
    22. Safe mode
    23. Verbose
    24. Single-user
    25. The T2 Security Chip and Secure Boot
    26. Summary
  9. User Accounts Management
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Types of user accounts
    3. Local user accounts
    4. Standard user account
    5. Administrator user account
    6. Root user account
    7. Guest user account
    8. Sharing Only user account
    9. Group user account
    10. Other user accounts
    11. Network user accounts
    12. Mobile user accounts
    13. Managing user accounts
    14. Creating standard user accounts
    15. Initial setup of a new user account
    16. Using your Apple ID or iCloud account
    17. Creating a new Apple ID
    18. Turning a Standard account into an Administrator account
    19. Configuring additional account preferences
    20. What are account attributes?
    21. Deleting user accounts
    22. Restoring deleted user accounts from a disk image
    23. Restoring deleted user accounts kept in the Users folder
    24. Managing the root user
    25. Enabling the root user
    26. Logging in as the root user
    27. Disabling the root user
    28. Managing the Guest user
    29. Adjusting the login options
    30. Automatic login
    31. What is fast user switching?
    32. Using Screen Time (macOS Catalina and later)
    33. Tracking usage
    34. App Usage
    35. Notifications
    36. Pickups
    37. Limiting usage
    38. Downtime
    39. App Limits
    40. Always Allowed
    41. Content and Privacy
    42. Understanding user home folders
    43. The user home folder structure
    44. The Desktop folder
    45. Using Stacks
    46. Quick Actions
    47. The Library folder
    48. The Public folder
    49. Deleting local user home folders
    50. Migrating and restoring local user home folders
    51. Migration Assistant
    52. Your data is on a Windows computer
    53. Your target Mac is running OS X Mavericks v10.9.5 or later
    54. Restoring manually
    55. Summary
  10. Managing User Security and Privacy
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding password types in macOS
    3. User account passwords
    4. Apple ID account and password
    5. Keychain passwords
    6. Resource passwords
    7. System firmware passwords
    8. Managing passwords in macOS
    9. Changing local user account passwords
    10. Changing account passwords through Users and Groups
    11. Changing account passwords through Security and Privacy
    12. Changing the root password
    13. Resetting local user account passwords
    14. Resetting account passwords with the Users and Groups preferences
    15. Resetting account passwords with macOS Recovery
    16. Resetting account passwords with the Apple ID
    17. Resetting local account passwords and the login keychain
    18. Resetting local account passwords with FileVault enabled
    19. Using a recovery key
    20. Using iCloud
    21. Using the Reset Password assistant
    22. Configuring a firmware password
    23. Understanding the Keychain system and iCloud Keychain
    24. Types of keychains
    25. Default keychains
    26. System keychains
    27. Other keychains
    28. How the default keychain works with iCloud
    29. Enabling iCloud Keychain
    30. Managing keychains
    31. Creating a new keychain
    32. Adding keychain items
    33. Locking keychains
    34. Changing keychain passwords
    35. Safari keychain information
    36. Managing privacy in macOS
    37. Security and Privacy settings
    38. Location Services
    39. Protecting yourself from cross-site tracking
    40. Privacy while using the Dictation service
    41. Summary
  11. The macOS File System: Disks, Volumes, and Partitions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the macOS filesystem and storage 
    3. Understanding general concepts
    4. What is formatting?
    5. Differences between disks, partitions, and volumes
    6. Disks and drives
    7. Partitions
    8. Volumes
    9. macOS partition maps (schemes)
    10. Understanding the macOS filesystem
    11. What is a filesystem?
    12. macOS volume formats
    13. The advantages of APFS
    14. Space sharing
    15. Encryption
    16. Defragmentation
    17. Additional filesystems supported by macOS
    18. File system domains in macOS
    19. Managing disks, volumes, and partitions
    20. Examining storage
    21. About This Mac
    22. Disk Utility
    23. System Information
    24. Managing partitions
    25. Examining and modifying partitions
    26. Formatting/partitioning a disk/volume
    27. Adding a non-APFS partition
    28. Erasing/reformatting disks
    29. Resizing/deleting a non-APFS partition
    30. Using APFS volumes
    31. Converting volumes to APFS
    32. Adding a volume to an APFS container
    33. Deleting/erasing an APFS volume
    34. Mounting, unmounting, and ejecting disks/volumes
    35. Unmounting and ejecting
    36. Mounting
    37. Optimizing storage space
    38. Store in iCloud
    39. Optimize Storage
    40. Empty Trash Automatically
    41. Reduce Clutter
    42. Summary
    43. Further reading
  12. Understanding Ownership and Permissions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding ownership and permissions
    3. What are ownership and permissions in macOS?
    4. Access Control Lists (ACLs)
    5. Access hierarchical rules
    6. Case 1
    7. Case 2
    8. File flags
    9. macOS's filesystem security policy
    10. Managing access and ownership
    11. Verifying an item's ownership and permissions
    12. Changing an item's ownership and permissions
    13. Ownership in non-system volumes
    14. Granting and changing permissions
    15. Deleting permissions
    16. Permission customization examples
    17. Example 1: Restricting access to an item
    18. Example 2: Propagating folder permissions
    19. Using macOS shared folders
    20. The Public and Drop Box folders
    21. The Shared folder
    22. Summary
  13. System Resources and Shortcuts
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding system resources
    3. Types of system resources in macOS
    4. Extensions
    5. Frameworks
    6. Fonts
    7. Preference files
    8. LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons
    9. Logs
    10. System resource domains
    11. Sandboxing
    12. Managing system resources
    13. Uncovering hidden files and folders
    14. Accessing the Library folder temporarily
    15. Accessing the Library folder permanently
    16. Managing font resources
    17. Installing fonts
    18. Font location preferences
    19. Resolving duplicate fonts
    20. Disabling/removing fonts
    21. Understanding shortcuts in macOS
    22. Types of shortcuts
    23. Aliases
    24. Symbolic links
    25. Hard links
    26. Creating shortcuts
    27. Summary
  14. Understanding Metadata and Searching
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding metadata in macOS
    3. Types of metadata available in macOS
    4. File flags
    5. File system tags
    6. The AppleDouble file format
    7. Additional extended attributes
    8. Using macOS tags
    9. Viewing tagged items
    10. Using tags
    11. Creating tags
    12. Creating tags from the Finder
    13. Creating tags from a file preview
    14. Deleting tags
    15. Advanced tag management
    16. macOS searching tools
    17. Using Spotlight
    18. Using Siri
    19. Summary
  15. Managing Apps and Documents
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding apps in macOS
    3. Supported macOS environments
    4. Native macOS
    5. Universal macOS binary
    6. Unix-based
    7. Open source
    8. App compatibility
    9. Compatibility with 32- and 64-bit apps
    10. Universal and Intel apps
    11. iOS and iPadOS apps (Apple M1 silicon)
    12. Using the App Store
    13. The App Store and your Apple ID
    14. Logging in to the App Store
    15. Creating an Apple ID
    16. Creating an Apple ID without a payment method
    17. Managing your account
    18. Installing and managing apps
    19. Installing apps
    20. Installing from the App Store
    21. Installing iOS and iPadOS apps (Apple M1 silicon)
    22. Other installation methods
    23. Drag and drop
    24. Using packages
    25. Examining packages and bundles
    26. Updating apps
    27. App Store
    28. Automatic updates
    29. Manual updates
    30. Uninstalling apps
    31. Launchpad
    32. Dragging to the Trash
    33. Custom uninstaller
    34. Exploring installed apps
    35. Exploring app preference files
    36. Monitoring open processes and apps
    37. CPU
    38. Memory
    39. Energy
    40. Disk
    41. Network
    42. Managing app extensions
    43. Types of extensions
    44. Finder
    45. Sharing menu
    46. Managing app extensions and widgets
    47. Sharing apps
    48. Family Sharing
    49. Enabling Family Sharing
    50. Purchase sharing
    51. Start sharing purchases
    52. Stopping purchases and Family Sharing
    53. Managing documents
    54. Using the Launch Services, Quick Look, and Quick Actions features
    55. Launch Services
    56. Quick Look
    57. Quick Actions
    58. Using the Autosave, Versions, Locking, and Resume features
    59. Autosave
    60. Versions
    61. Locking
    62. Resume
    63. Using documents in iCloud
    64. Summary
  16. Backups and Archiving
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Archiving in macOS
    3. ZIP archives
    4. Disk images
    5. Creating disk images with the Disk Utility
    6. Changing a disk image's format
    7. Restoring a disk image to a disk
    8. Using Time Machine for backups
    9. Understanding Time Machine
    10. Where can you store your backups?
    11. Configuring Time Machine
    12. Stopping Time Machine backups
    13. Restoring a Time Machine backup
    14. Using the Time Machine interface
    15. Restoring only specific items
    16. Using the Migration Assistant
    17. Using macOS Recovery
    18. Summary
  17. Networking in macOS
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding networking concepts
    3. Networking models
    4. The OSI reference model
    5. TCP/IP model
    6. Fundamental networking concepts
    7. Host
    8. What are network interfaces?
    9. Ethernet
    10. Wi-Fi
    11. FireWire
    12. Thunderbolt Bridge
    13. Bluetooth
    14. USB
    15. VPN
    16. PPPoE
    17. 6to4
    18. How to identify which network interfaces are available?
    19. LAN and WAN
    20. What is a MAC address?
    21. IP addresses and subnet masks
    22. IPv4
    23. IPv6
    24. Subnet masks
    25. Router address
    26. Network protocols
    27. What is DHCP?
    28. What is DNS used for?
    29. TCP and UDP
    30. ICMP
    31. macOS network configurations
    32. Initial network configuration
    33. Connecting to Wi-Fi
    34. Other types of networks
    35. Ad hoc networks
    36. Enterprise
    37. What are network locations?
    38. Configuring additional network services
    39. VPN configuration
    40. Bonjour
    41. Advanced network configurations
    42. Custom Wi-Fi configuration
    43. Manual TCP/IP configuration
    44. NetBIOS/WINS
    45. 802.1X configuration
    46. Network proxies
    47. Manual Ethernet configuration
    48. Summary
    49. Further reading
  18. Using macOS Network Services
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Using network services in macOS
    3. Understanding network services in macOS
    4. Types of network services in macOS
    5. Network services accounts
    6. Mail
    7. Notes
    8. Calendar
    9. Network calendar services
    10. Reminders
    11. Contacts
    12. Messages
    13. FaceTime
    14. Safari
    15. Configuring network services and apps
    16. Automatic configuration for essential apps
    17. Manual configuration for essential apps
    18. Adding additional email accounts
    19. Configuring services with an iCloud account
    20. Configuring Messages
    21. Continuity
    22. Sidecar
    23. Continuity Markup and Sketch
    24. Text Message Forwarding
    25. Cellular Calls
    26. Continuity Camera
    27. Auto Unlock
    28. Handoff
    29. Universal Clipboard
    30. AirDrop
    31. Apple Pay
    32. Instant Hotspot
    33. Summary
  19. Using macOS Sharing Services
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding sharing services
    3. What are file-sharing services?
    4. Network file service protocols
    5. Using file-sharing on macOS
    6. Enabling file-sharing on macOS
    7. How to connect to file shares
    8. Automatic discovery
    9. Authentication
    10. Manual connection through SMB and AFP
    11. Manual connection through NFS, WebDAV, and FTP
    12. Creating automatic connections
    13. Disconnecting from a mounted share
    14. What is AirDrop?
    15. Remote controlling and screen sharing
    16. Remote controlling via System Screen
    17. Connecting
    18. Authenticating
    19. Controlling
    20. Adjusting settings
    21. Remote controlling via Messages Screen Sharing
    22. Remote controlling via Apple Remote Desktop (ARD)
    23. Other sharing services
    24. Internet Sharing
    25. Printer Sharing
    26. Bluetooth Sharing
    27. Remote Apple Events
    28. Remote Login
    29. Media Sharing
    30. Summary
  20. Managing Security in macOS
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding System Security
    3. macOS security features
    4. Recommended security measures
    5. Bonjour/zero-configuration and mDNS security concerns
    6. What is System Integrity Protection?
    7. Understanding hardware security
    8. Firmware password
    9. T2 Security Chip (Intel-based Macs)
    10. Secure Boot
    11. External Boot
    12. Activation Lock
    13. Macs with the Apple M1 silicon chip 
    14. Understanding application security
    15. Application security technologies
    16. App sandboxing
    17. Code signing
    18. File quarantine
    19. Gatekeeper
    20. Malware detection
    21. Notarization
    22. Verifying app security settings
    23. Opening a non-notarized or unidentified app 
    24. Understanding Data security and encryption
    25. Types of encryption
    26. What is FileVault?
    27. FileVault Recovery
    28. Enabling FileVault
    29. Turning off FileVault
    30. Changing your recovery key
    31. Recovering FileVault access
    32. Using your iCloud account
    33. Resetting with the local Recovery Key
    34. Resetting using the regular user account password reset methods
    35. Encryption with the Apple M1 chip
    36. Encrypting external media
    37. Understanding User security
    38. The iCloud Security Code and two-factor authentication
    39. Login options
    40. Automatic login
    41. Display of usernames
    42. Enabling the firewall
    43. Screen Time
    44. Find My
    45. Locating your Mac on a map
    46. Playing a sound
    47. Locking your Mac
    48. Erasing your Mac
    49. Guest accounts
    50. Family Sharing
    51. Summary
  21. Using the Command Line
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Using the command-line tool
    3. When and why you should use the command-line interface
    4. Understanding the structure of a command-line string
    5. The sudo command
    6. The command-line interface in macOS
    7. Using macOS Terminal
    8. Creating customized profiles
    9. Using marks and bookmarks
    10. The default shell on macOS
    11. Terminal shell commands
    12. Common commands
    13. Uncovering hidden files and folders
    14. Hiding specific files and folders
    15. Monitoring and diagnosing the system
    16. Summary
    17. Further reading
  22. Troubleshooting Tips
    1. Troubleshooting app issues
    2. Troubleshooting disk and volume issues
    3. Troubleshooting system and startup issues
    4. Troubleshooting network issues
    5. Troubleshooting network services issues
    6. Troubleshooting with logs
    7. Summary
    8. Further reading
  23. About Packt
    1. Why subscribe?
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