Book Image

The macOS User Administration Guide

By : Herta Nava
Book Image

The macOS User Administration Guide

By: Herta Nava

Overview of this book

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).
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
18
About Packt

Summary

You now know the types of local user accounts available in macOS, what they are used for, and how to create and manage them, including creating, deleting, and restoring user accounts. You also know what account attributes are and how to configure login options, including fast user switching. You learned how to use the new Screen Time feature to track usage and set limits for user accounts and family members. In the second part, we saw the structure of the home folder created for each user, and how to delete, migrate, and restore user home folders with the help of Migration Assistant. You are now ready to manage all aspects of user accounts and home folders at a support level.

In the next chapter, we will explore the user security and privacy options available in macOS for the user's data security and protection of the user's privacy.