How to determine valid Mac OS X Server `serveradmin` commands

commandcommand-line-interfacemac-osx-server

I've used Mac OS X Server's serveradmin command line interface for Server Admin.app & now Server.app for starting & stopping services, viewing status & settings, and occasionally running what few commands I can find documented on random blogs. There's a lot more that I'd like to do with it, but I can't seem to find a good reference for available commands (e.g. serveradmin command <service>:command = <...>).

The manpage has only a couple examples and, as previously mentioned, I've found a few on various Mac admin blogs, but nothing comprehensive and no mention of how to discover more. Is there a command that will list commands? Are people decompiling the binary and looking for command strings? Or, are people just using what precious few commands have been mentioned by Apple support & engineers?

Best Answer

I have not used OSX Server in over a year, but I remember that it was possible to get a command list with serveradmin --help or something like that. Also, at least for 10.6 server (the last real version) and previous, they had a whole book on command line administration in their documentation section.

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Mac – What are useful Command-line Commands on Mac OS X

say "some text"

Famously used for getting people back into their apartments, say takes your arguments and reads them aloud through the audio output device.

Ssh – How to change sshd port on Mac OS X

Every previous answer is working (as google suggest too), but they are dirty and inelegant.

The right way to change the listening port for a launchd handled service on Mac OS X is to make the changes the dedicated keys available in ssh.plist

So the solution is as simple as to use the port number instead of the service name.

An excerpt from my edited /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist:

    <key>Sockets</key>
    <dict>
            <key>Listeners</key>
            <dict>
                    <key>SockServiceName</key>
                    <string>22022</string>
                    <key>SockFamily</key>
                    <string>IPv4</string>
                    <key>Bonjour</key>
                    <array>
                            <string>22022</string>
                    </array>
            </dict>
    </dict>

Note:

To be able to edit this file on El Capitan, Sierra and probably future versions as well, you need to disable SIP (System Integrity Protection). See How do I disable System Integrity Protection (SIP).

For Catalina, even after disabling SIP, the volumes are unwritable. Use sudo mount -uw / in order to enable writing to /System. Do the change then restore SIP and reboot.

The above edit will also force sshd to listen only over IPV4.

After making any changes to ssh.plist, the file must be reloaded as follows:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist

Note that using launchctl stop ... and launchctl start ... will NOT reload this file.

The man page with more information can be found by typing man launchd.plist or using this link.

Best Answer

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Mac – What are useful Command-line Commands on Mac OS X

Ssh – How to change sshd port on Mac OS X

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