= System Admin - MacOS X =
[[TableOfContents]]

 * [http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/ HomeBrew] - package manager

== SSH connections from MacOS X time-out / hang / disconnect ==

I found ssh connections from MacOS frequently hanging and disconnecting after only minutes of no activity. I've found that explicitly setting the following in {{{/etc/ssh_config}}} on the MacOS X system seems to solve the problem:

{{{
Host *
    TCPKeepAlive yes
    ServerAliveInterval 300
    ServerAliveCountMax 5
}}}

By default ServerAliveCountMax is 0 which means that no traffic is generated. Note that just TCPKeepAlive is not sufficient. It seems necessary to include the ServerAlive* config as well (or perhaps just the ServerAlive* config would be enough, I've not tested that yet).

== Disable MacOS meta-files on external storage ==

MacOS loves to litter external storage with it's meta-data files (eg. .DS_Store). To disable this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1629

1. Open Terminal.

2. Execute this command: {{{
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
}}}

3. Either restart the computer or log out and back in to the user account.