Permissions issues OS X Yosemite Server

Question

Our Permissions on one of out OS X Yosemite Servers are borked.  We have been scrambling to get them corrected, and services are up but too many things are screwy to let it live like this.  Our issue is that Permissions are currently not being displayed properly, and any time we try to repair the permissions (manually) they don&#x27;t propagate properly.  We have tried to propagate the permissions via Terminal (as root), and in Server App itself with no luck.   Here’s an example in Terminal as just an admin user (this is not root):Server_Name:F14FAC0D-DE79-4493-BA1C-B922ADA408F2 cegadmin$ ls -altotal 2367040drwxrwxrwx@   28 cegadmin  staff         952 Jun 24 13:22 .drwxrwxr-x    58 cegadmin  staff        1972 Jun 19 17:22 ..drwxrwxrwx+   12 cegadmin  staff         408 Jun 12 08:21 .Archive-rw-rw-rw-@    1 cegadmin  staff        8196 Jun 24 11:11 .DS_Storedrwxrwxrwx@   14 cegadmin  staff         476 Jun 24 10:15 .Deleted Messagesdrwxrwxrwx@   13 cegadmin  staff         442 Jun 24 10:27 .Draftsdrwxrwxrwx+   15 cegadmin  staff         510 Jun 24 13:22 .Junkdrwxrwxrwx@   12 cegadmin  staff         408 Jun 11 17:20 .Notesdrwxrwxrwx@   15 cegadmin  staff         510 Jun 24 10:38 .Sent Messagesdrwxrwxrwx@   10 cegadmin  staff         340 Jul 27  2013 .Tjtreadway@cenergy^comdrwxrwxrwx@ 2781 cegadmin  staff     4551002 Jun 24 13:21 cur-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff           0 Nov 12  2014 dovecot-acl-list-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff          58 Jan  9 16:06 dovecot-keywords-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff    11384009 Jun 24 13:19 dovecot-uidlist-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff           8 Apr 27 15:46 dovecot-uidvalidity-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff           0 Apr 24 09:33 dovecot-uidvalidity.553a4615-rw-rw-rw-     1 cegadmin  staff     3212608 Jun 24 11:22 dovecot.index-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff   149255888 Jun 24 13:26 dovecot.index.cache-rw-rw-rw-     1 cegadmin  staff       25116 Jun 24 13:22 dovecot.index.log-rw-rw-rw-     1 cegadmin  staff       32824 Jun 24 11:22 dovecot.index.log.2-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff         336 Jun 22 08:03 dovecot.mailbox.log-rw-rw-rw-@    1 cegadmin  staff  1046478848 Jun 24 13:21 dovecot.skindex-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff     1384448 Jun 24 00:31 dovecot.skindex-1-rw-rw-rw-@    1 cegadmin  staff           0 Jul 27  2013 dovecot.sklock-rw-rw-rw-     1 cegadmin  staff        2389 Jun 24 13:21 maildirsizedrwxrwxrwx@    2 cegadmin  staff          68 Jun 24 13:21 new-rw-rw-rw-+    1 cegadmin  staff         103 Apr 27 15:45 subscriptionsdrwxrwxrwx@    2 cegadmin  staff          68 Jun 24 13:19 tmpHere is what it looks like as root:  Same Directory (Library/Server/Mail/Data/maildrwxrwxrwx@   28 _dovecot  mail             952 Jun 24 13:27 .drwxrwxr-x    58 _dovecot  mail            1972 Jun 19 17:22 ..drwxrwxrwx+   12 _dovecot  mail             408 Jun 12 08:21 .Archive-rw-rw-rw-@    1 _unknown  _unknown        8196 Jun 24 11:11 .DS_Storedrwxrwxrwx@   14 _dovecot  mail             476 Jun 24 10:15 .Deleted Messagesdrwxrwxrwx@   13 _dovecot  mail             442 Jun 24 10:27 .Draftsdrwxrwxrwx+   15 _dovecot  mail             510 Jun 24 13:27 .Junkdrwxrwxrwx@   12 _dovecot  mail             408 Jun 11 17:20 .Notesdrwxrwxrwx@   15 _dovecot  mail             510 Jun 24 10:38 .Sent Messagesdrwxrwxrwx@   10 _dovecot  mail             340 Jul 27  2013 .Tjtreadway@cenergy^comdrwxrwxrwx@ 2781 _dovecot  mail         4551002 Jun 24 13:27 cur-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail               0 Nov 12  2014 dovecot-acl-list-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail              58 Jan  9 16:06 dovecot-keywords-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail        11384148 Jun 24 13:26 dovecot-uidlist-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail               8 Apr 27 15:46 dovecot-uidvalidity-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail               0 Apr 24 09:33 dovecot-uidvalidity.553a4615-rw-rw-rw-     1 _unknown  _unknown     3212608 Jun 24 11:22 dovecot.index-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail       149257252 Jun 24 13:27 dovecot.index.cache-rw-rw-rw-     1 _unknown  _unknown       26100 Jun 24 13:27 dovecot.index.log-rw-rw-rw-     1 _unknown  _unknown       32824 Jun 24 11:22 dovecot.index.log.2-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail             336 Jun 22 08:03 dovecot.mailbox.log-rw-rw-rw-@    1 _dovecot  mail      1046478848 Jun 24 13:27 dovecot.skindex-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail         1384448 Jun 24 00:31 dovecot.skindex-1-rw-rw-rw-@    1 _dovecot  mail               0 Jul 27  2013 dovecot.sklock-rw-rw-rw-     1 _unknown  _unknown        2421 Jun 24 13:27 maildirsizedrwxrwxrwx@    2 _dovecot  mail              68 Jun 24 13:26 new-rw-rw-rw-+    1 _dovecot  mail             103 Apr 27 15:45 subscriptionsdrwxrwxrwx@    2 _dovecot  mail              68 Jun 24 13:26 tmpSo now for my questions:Why do they display different Owners : groups?Why are there certain files with _unknown : _unknown?Is there anyway to fix this? (willing to do this manually)I want to fix permissions enough to get a current backup of Mail.  I will be moving this to a new server instance once I can.

Linc Davis · Answer

Back up all data.Quit the Server application and drag it to the Trash, but don&#x27;t empty. You&#x27;ll be prompted to confirm that you want to stop all services. You won&#x27;t lose any data.If you&#x27;re using the server for DNS, temporarily change the primary DNS setting in the Network preference pane to another DNS.Put the app back where it was and launch it. Test.Revert the DNS setting, if applicable.

mdneville5 · Answer

Linc -    Thank you very much for your response.  This did indeed help me to resolve my issues.  I ran into serious issues during the Server.app initial startup after restoring it to the Applications folder.  At first, the Server.app would stall out on configuring the individual services.  Swimming through the logs, I was able to slowly able to kill processes to get the Server.App to finish.  Upon completion, the services were not working properly at all.  I knew this was going to happen because I had killed processes during install.  But I needed to have the logs in order to find the root of each issues.  Finally, after hours of searching I found the root cause of all my permissions issues.      Somehow, the external drive that is housing all of Server.App data, had the "Ignore Permissions" turned to active.  This was not visible in the "Get Info" GUI, and I would have never found it if I had not gone through this process.  In the end I had to change a few values to make it visible, and then I was able to deactivate the "Ignore Permissions".  Once that was done, I re-ran the Server.App Initial Startup, and all the permissions were corrected.