howto reinstall/reinitialize os x server

Thanks Mark for all your suggestions...

I didn't try your latest tricks...

After reinstalling several times os x server, i realize that i have a problem with open directory (something went corrupted i think) and i cannot open network session on the server. That's why a want to erase all previous settings to start with a brand new server... (i have only 4 users so it's not a big problem to recreate them).

Yesterday, after one more reinstall of os x server, i was able to open network session on the server and my problem was solved...

But today, i'm not able to add users in the server... Don't know what's the problem with os x server (10.8.1)... But i think it's the worst server made by apple... And the badest idea i had to migrate to this...

Result: one more "1 star" rating on the app store!!!

As you can read, i'm very unhappy with os x server...

After some hour ok, i'm not able to logon with network users on any machines of my network...

It's look like open directory or ldap has a problem... but wich???

And now, network users disapears from the user list of server. I'm not able to create network or local users at all...

Mark...

What will do this command?

Mark23 wrote:

Try this if you will:

sudo rm /var/db/.ServerSetupDone

sudo rm /var/db/.ServerSetupDone will trick the computer into thinking the server has not been set up and reset your services without the need to re-install 🙂

So all your wikis, emails, etc will not be deleted this way?

Tanks Mark for your help.

I didn't try your solutions because I think I find the problem.

I populate the authorizations on my shares and it resolve (for the moment) my problem.

I think you will keep all your wikis, web pages but I'm not sure because I don't use these.

Do a backup or a clone before testing.

Dreness, does this work on lion os x server as well? I tried on mountain lion os x server and it worked good. thanks.

But I also have a lion server. Thanks in advance.

I am now for the THIRD time suffering from this glitch. I had to twice restore from Time Machine back ups to get the server back up and going. There must be some underlying issue with Open Directory.
Basically for no known reason my directory corrupts and i cannot see it any longer in the "Open Directory" area of server app. All network users are gone and the service turns off instantly after turning back on. I rang applecare and discussed with them for hours and they had NO fixes and where absolutely helpless. 1 star. So far this is absolutely one **** of a useless server app.

Does anyone have any known fixes for this issue? It is driving me crazy.

I am having same trouble.

delete server, trash library.

restart

reinstall server, and it picks up the same bad OD and DNS settings from previous install that i'm trying to get rid of

I tried

sudo rm /var/db/.ServerSetupDone

but i get error

no such file or directory

I've tried this several times, but ML Server always picks up the old data

So, this is what I ended up doing

-put ML Installer onto a FW hard drive

-reformatted my server drive

-Reinstalled ML from scratch

-Installed ML Server

-Cloned that drive to another partition on my external FW Hard drive so that I can use this as a starting point in the future.

I have a Mac Mini (#1) running ML (.8.2) on which I installed Server.app last year. When I found that it disrupted my custom setup, I uninstalled it (having ensured that none of its services remained running) by, coincidentally, following dreness's instructions. In the last few days, I have decided to reinstall Server.app (having had success installing and running it on a virtual 'Mac' (#2) running inside Parallels on the original Mac Mini. Now, after I download/install (from the App Store) and run Server.app, once I've agreed to the software licence and entered my administrator password, I receive the message "Error enabling server management. A problem was detected with Server. Please redownload Server from the App Store."

Following those instructions does nothing and the same message is repeated every time I try to run a newly installed Server.app. I have deleted /Library/Server (and emptied the 'Trash') which is not reinstated in the milliseconds Server.app runs while it ascertains it has a problem!!

The system.log shows:

Feb 26 11:34:00 miniskuell.kugro.org.uk launchdadd[61176]: FAILURE: Could not submit job to launchd.

Feb 26 11:34:00 miniskuell.kugro.org.uk launchdadd[61176]: FAILURE: Job com.apple.serverd could not be installed from /Applications/Server.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.apple.serverd, reason 2.

Feb 26 11:34:00 miniskuell.kugro.org.uk Server[61164]: ERROR: failed to enable serverd: Error Domain=kSMErrorDomainFramework Code=2 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (kSMErrorDomainFramework error 2 - An operation in the daemon encountered an internal failure. Check the system log.)" UserInfo=0x7fc999a281a0 {NSDescription=An operation in the daemon encountered an internal failure. Check the system log.}

I have rebooted and the symptoms remain!

Any clues?

Hi Jan,

Best option here and the fastest, since you want to start fresh, is to erase the hard drive and reinstall MountainLion client, then setup your network settings and DNS if needed and then upgrade the client to a server.

A lot of plists, caches and settings might have remained after you wiped some folders.

Let me know how it works out!

Goodluck

Jeffrey

Thanks, Jeffrey! However, my dilemma is exacerbated by the fact that my current mail server (installed under Server.app on Virtual Mac #2) is running inside Parallels on the Mac Mini (#1) with which I have the problem!).

Your solution may very well be the route I have to take, but I'll try other avenues first! I may even end up just running ALL the services under Server.app on the virtual machine and leave it at that!!

Janette

Hi Janette,

That setup shouldn't be a problem, reboots might even be faster and when you setup restorepoints and backups it might work out ok.

You should attempt to clone the parallels drive to an image on an external hard drive and restore that image onto the macmini. That way you get a stable OS, with all the correct settings.

Just factor in some downtime, probably a day to be safe.

Goodluck

Jeffrey