FamilyJens

Q: Admin no longer has access to all volumes on the Mac

Before OSX Server I used the filesharing in El Capitan to share one folder for some users. As it is written only listed users have access to this folder. But ADMINS have access to ALL volumes on this computer. As well to the folders which are not entered in the filesharing dialog.

This worked as it was described.

 

Now I installed OSX Server (I'm in testing mode ) I only use the filesharing option. But I deleted/changed some entries in "Server / My Mac mini / access"

Now I (admin) have only access to the one shared folder when connecting from different device and to my user folder. But there is a volume (external USB drive with enabled rights management) to which I have no access after installing the Server and change something I did not realy understand at this point.

Mac mini, OS X Server

Posted on Jan 25, 2016 1:03 PM

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Q: Admin no longer has access to all volumes on the Mac

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  • by FamilyJens,

    FamilyJens FamilyJens Jan 30, 2016 3:48 PM in response to FamilyJens
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2016 3:48 PM in response to FamilyJens

    Could no one help? With I have to set everything as a share in the filesharing option. I don't know why I (admin) no longer have access to all drives.

  • by Leopardus,

    Leopardus Leopardus Jan 31, 2016 1:33 PM in response to FamilyJens
    Level 4 (1,087 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 31, 2016 1:33 PM in response to FamilyJens

    Servers by nature require much higher security than client stations. Just think about it, if compromised, the data of a complete community or group could be compromised and exploited to their detriment. In OS X Server, your highest authority is with the original administrator, but actually it is also not! ..... Since the introduction of SID as a further protection layer, and even before, we have seen that the admin user is only allowed to make changes within a specific framework. Best is to read a bit and more about the subject. There are lots available : The blogs of Jesus Vigo with TechRepublic, Rich Trouton from DerFlounder and of course it will help to read the books from Reid Bondonis and use them as a practical tool whilst setting up and learning. Also worth watching are the videos from Todd Olthoff on Server.

     

    In short, when more access is required, consider it carefully, plan for what, when, where and the duration. And Backups, plenty thereof. You might make more than one mistake, with the subsequent restores. Also have a look at this discussion: How do I set privileges on shared folders so complete workgroups has r/w access to all folders?

     

    Leo

  • by FamilyJens,

    FamilyJens FamilyJens Feb 5, 2016 1:51 PM in response to Leopardus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 1:51 PM in response to Leopardus

    I read something about SIP and your posted link. Thank you for it.

    I understand the reason to make a system more safer also for the admin user.

    But my main problem maybe not SIP.

     

    I had standard OS X El Capitan. I enabled file sharing. So with this when loged in as admin I could access all drives on my Mac. This is written in the filesharing menu too.

    Standard users can access shared drives and admin users can access ALL drives.

    So my problem is not that I can't access system files which are prevented by SIP. My problem is that I can't access the drives whichs are not prevented by SIP.

     

    On my Mac

    Macintosh HD (internal) contains MAC OS X

    Harddisk "Pictures" (external USB)

    Harddisk "Documents" (external USB)

     

    When logged in as admin I can't access the external USB drives unless they are marked as shares in the filesharing dialog. But as I wrote in the quote and as it was functional before when logged in as admin I should get access to this drives without setting them up in the filesharing menu.

    So I want to get this function back. It was the standard function before I played with OS X Server.

     

    Or is it a fuction of OSX Server that this does not wor any more and everything works right?

  • by UptimeJeff,

    UptimeJeff UptimeJeff Feb 6, 2016 11:23 PM in response to FamilyJens
    Level 4 (3,477 points)
    Feb 6, 2016 11:23 PM in response to FamilyJens

    You can enable the option with:

    sudo serveradmin afp:admin31GetsSp=yes

     

    Then restart AFP to activate the change

    sudo serveradmin stop afp

    sudo serveradmin start afp

     

    Note: this works for AFP only, not for SMB.

    OS X client defaults to SMB, so you either need to force AFP on the client or disable SMB on the server.

     

    If SMB isn't required, I'd take the 'DIsable SMB' route:

    sudo serveradmin stop smb

     

    If you prefer to keep SMB running, the client should connect with and afp URL

    ex:     afp://10.0.0.2

     

     

    hope that helps

     

    jeff

  • by FamilyJens,

    FamilyJens FamilyJens Feb 8, 2016 11:06 AM in response to UptimeJeff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 8, 2016 11:06 AM in response to UptimeJeff

    Thank you very much for your help Jeff,

    I know before I installed the Server it was working with afp and smb. I just installed the Server and deleted many entries in the Server GUI. Maybe there was something that brings it to work.

     

    I need the connection with smb because I use Apps like "Filebrowser" or "Fileexplorer" on iPhone/iPad. They can not handle afp.

  • by UptimeJeff,

    UptimeJeff UptimeJeff Feb 9, 2016 8:32 AM in response to FamilyJens
    Level 4 (3,477 points)
    Feb 9, 2016 8:32 AM in response to FamilyJens

    For SMB, enable administrators to see all volumes and shared folders with:

    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.smb.server VirtualAdminShares -bool YES

     

    restart SMB

    sudo serveradmin stop smb
    sudo serveradmin start smb
    

     

     

    Hopefully that does the trick :-)

     

    Jeff

  • by FamilyJens,

    FamilyJens FamilyJens Feb 9, 2016 1:57 PM in response to UptimeJeff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2016 1:57 PM in response to UptimeJeff

    Hello Jeff,

     

    now it works. But I'm wondering why it keeps working when I use

    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.smb.server VirtualAdminShares -bool NO 
    sudo serveradmin stop smb
    sudo serveradmin start smb
    
    

     

    I thought this should disable this function. I did it only to understand the problem.

  • by hunterdg,

    hunterdg hunterdg Sep 6, 2016 3:10 PM in response to UptimeJeff
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Sep 6, 2016 3:10 PM in response to UptimeJeff

    Thank you for pointing us in the right direction!

     

    I wanted admin shares over AFP ONLY, with SMB disabled, but the solution above did not work so i did some digging.

     

    The correct (TWO) settings are:

     

    afp:SpecialAdminPrivs=yes

    afp:admin31GetsSP=no

     

    SpecialAdminPrivs - Grant administrator users root user read/write privileges.  Default =no

     

    admin31GetsSP - Set to yes to force administrator users on Mac OS X to see sharepoints instead of all volumes.  Default =yes

     

    also i had to append 'settings' after 'sudo serveradmin'

     

    so:

     

    sudo serveradmin settings afp:SpecialAdminPrivs=yes
    sudo serveradmin settings afp:admin31GetsSp=no
    sudo serveradmin stop afp
    sudo serveradmin start afp
    
    

     

    http://www.manualslib.com/manual/8664/Apple-Mac-Os-X-Server.html?page=137#manual

    http://www.manualslib.com/manual/8664/Apple-Mac-Os-X-Server.html?page=140#manual

  • by hunterdg,

    hunterdg hunterdg Sep 6, 2016 3:30 PM in response to hunterdg
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Sep 6, 2016 3:30 PM in response to hunterdg

    oops, forgot

     

    afp:adminGetsSP=no

     

    adminGetsSP - Set to yes to force administrator users on Mac OS 9 to see sharepoints instead of all volumes.Default =no

     

    so:

     

    sudo serveradmin settings afp:SpecialAdminPrivs=yes
    sudo serveradmin settings afp:admin31GetsSp=no
    sudo serveradmin settings afp:adminGetsSp=no
    sudo serveradmin stop afp
    sudo serveradmin start afp
    
  • by hunterdg,

    hunterdg hunterdg Sep 6, 2016 3:45 PM in response to hunterdg
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Sep 6, 2016 3:45 PM in response to hunterdg

    AGH!  it seems there is no way for AFP to show BOTH Root volumes AND defined share points at the same time (like default behavior), if Server.app is installed...

     

    am i crazy or?

  • by Side_Step_Society,

    Side_Step_Society Side_Step_Society Sep 6, 2016 4:04 PM in response to hunterdg
    Level 2 (368 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 6, 2016 4:04 PM in response to hunterdg

    OS X Server: Allowing administrators to access all volumes and shared folders over SMB - Apple Support

     

    Agh, sorry, missed the AFP request. I'll leave this link here as it may be helpful for someone in the future.