MacResearch

Author: Geoff Hutchison
Web Site: hutchison.chem.pitt.edu

Two of the big new features in Mac OS X Leopard Server are the new collaboration tools: iCal server, Wiki server, and a Group Directory which all integrate.

I've been waiting for these features for my new group. The wiki allows us to easily keep various bits of group information (e.g., how to run programs on the cluster, etc.). The calendar lets everyone know travel plans, group meeting times, etc.

Getting Started

First off, you must have Leopard Server. In my case, I'm running as an Open Directory Master.

Before you can do anything else, you must enable new web services in Server Admin.app

In Server Admin.app, you click on the server, then the "Web" listing. Click on the "Sites" button in the toolbar and select the site you wish to add the wiki and calendar.

Flip to the "Web Services" tab and you can enable services for Users (e.g., webmail and blogging) as well as Groups (e.g., wiki, blog, calendar, and mailing lists). By default, all users in the group can create wikis -- which is what I picked. I'll control members of the group, so I don't need to have access control over the wiki itself.

If you switch to the "Settings" button in the toolbar, you can pick the default theme template for your wiki. Naturally, as a chemist, I chose the molecular theme.

As for groups, you will also need to make sure you have created a group (e.g., in the LDAP directory) using Workgroup Manager.app

Here the key is the popup menu "Enable the following services for this group." Pick the webserver description for your group hosting. Then pick the options you want.

Wiki Away

Once you've set up the webserver and services above, you can log into the web services. If you're using Apple's Leopard Server default web pages, it will automatically enable a link to "group" in the top, and then list groups and group wikis.

For the rest of us, you go to the URL http://example.com/groups/mygroup/ where "mygroup" is the name of your group (from Workgroup Admin).

You will be asked to log in using your username and password. For this reason, I switched to using an HTTPS server for the collaboration features.

Here you can see the main features of the wiki service in Leopard. It offers a nice user-friendly way to edit (click on the pencil button), create new pages (the "+" button), follow recent changes to the wiki, and new events in the calendar.

Honestly, the wiki works much better than any other wiki software I've used before. It's extremely easy to use, which is what you'd expect for something from Apple.

When editing pages, you can add tags to the top of the page (for searching on the webserver), change the title of the page, and just type in the main area. I've indicated in this screen shot, that you can select some text, and then click in the little AJAX toolbar to add new links, new pages, etc.

There's even a button to attach any file you want. This will show up on the wiki as a small button to download the file. You're not limited to graphics -- so this is a great way to share input files for programs, shell scripts, really anything. It's a great feature for a group wiki, since I can add instructions on running programs and attach example files.

When you go to save the new edits, the comment field blinks to remind you to describe your changes. These keep a history log of changes to each page over time. If you try to close the window, a JavaScript will warn you if you have unsaved changes.

When's a Good Day for You?

The related calendar server integrates extremely well into iCal 3 on the client. There's one caveat. You need to know the correct URL. Fortunately, this DIscussions thread gave the secret.

In iCal, open the Preferences dialog and click on "Accounts." Click the "+" button on the bottom to create a new server account. Enter a general description (e.g., "group calendars") and then your username and password.

Finally, click the arrow for server options and set a manual account URL:

http://example.com:8080/principals/groups/mygroup/

Depending on your firewall, you may need to be sure this port is open. I have not had luck with Kerberos v5 or HTTPS authentication yet.

On the other hand, once you've logged in, the group calendars in iCal are great.

You will have a new entry in the sidebar (i.e., "Group" above). The name of this entry is the description you used in the Account Setup dialog. The sidebar will include your default group calendar. You can drag events to that calendar and iCal will automatically sync them to the server. Change the name of the calendar or the color -- it will sync to the server. You can also create new shared calendars, like "Marcus" and "Geoff" above. If you go to the "File" menu, you will see that the "New Calendar" item now offers an option to create on the server.

My group rapidly assigned new calendars. By default iCal will sync every 15 minutes, but you can manually refresh for faster turnaround (e.g., while writing this tutorial!).

One complaint: I have still had repeated problems with the web calendar server, which continues to complain about "error processing calendar data 210" any time I load it. A Discussions thread seems to indicate that some fixes can be found, but they do not seem to work for me. Suggestions would be welcome, but in the meantime, iCal is working great.

Any questions?