Course Length:

3 Days

Course Description:

Mac OS X Support Essentials is a three-day, hands-on course that provides an in-depth exploration of troubleshooting on Mac OS X. This course is designed to give you a tour of the breadth of functionality of Mac OS X and the best methods for effectively supporting users of Mac OS X systems. The course is a combination of lectures and hands-on case study exercises that provide practical real-world experience.

Who Should Attend:

This course is for help desk specialists, technical coordinators, service technicians, and others who support Mac users. It is also for technical support personnel in businesses that use Macs for general productivity or creative design and for technical coordinators or power users who manage networks of computers running Mac OS X — such as teachers and technology specialists who manage classroom networks or computer labs.

Benefits of Attendance:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the troubleshooting process and become more efficient with available tools and resources
• Understand and use Mac OS X 10.6 features in depth, including finding additional information
• Prepare for Apple Certified Support Professional certification

Prerequisites:

Students should have basic Mac OS X knowledge and basic troubleshooting experience.

Course Outline:

• Chapter 1 - Installation
  1. Prepare and partition the drive
  2. Install Mac OS X
  3. Use the installer log files to verify a successful installation
  4. Configure Mac OS X with the Setup Assistant
  5. Update software with Software Update and Installer
  6. Tips and techniques for troubleshooting an installation problem
• Chapter 2 - User Accounts
  1. Create and manage user accounts
  2. Create and manage administrator accounts
  3. Locate directory attribute
  4. Security
  5. Password selection
  6. Keychain
  7. FileVault
• Chapter 3 - Command Line & Automation
  1. Command line essentials including navigation and file manipulation
  2. Basic scripting and automation using the shell
• Chapter 4 - File Systems
  1. File systems supported by Mac OS X
  2. File and directory ownership and permissions
  3. Disk Utility and file repair
  4. Using the command line for file management
• Chapter 5 - File Management
  1. The root volume
  2. File system layout
  3. Preferences
  4. Frameworks
  5. File types unique to Mac OS X (i.e., resource forks and packages)
  6. Spotlight
  7. File archives
  8. Disk images
  9. Archiving and restoring data with Time Machine
  10. Managing backup data
  11. How to access the data outside of Time Machine
• Chapter 6 - Applications
  1. Applications supported in Mac OS X
  2. Applications created with different developer APIs
  3. The UNIX concept of a process
  4. The relationship of processes and applications
  5. Tools to monitoring and managing processes
  6. Application preferences
  7. Troubleshooting
  8. Boot Camp
• Chapter 7- Network Configuration
  1. Basic networking configuration
  2. TCP/IP networking
  3. Ethernet
  4. AirPort
  5. Multiple network connections
  6. Appropriate use of network locations
  7. Isolating and troubleshooting network elements
• Chapter 8 - Network Services
  1. Connecting to common network resources
  2. Network Users accounts with Directory Services
  3. AFP, SMB, SSH, FTP, and WebDAV connections
  4. Bonjour
  5. NetBIOS
  6. The network browser
  7. Isolating client software issues from network issues
• Chapter 9 - Peripherals
  1. Connecting peripherals to a Mac
  2. Cabling
  3. Connections
  4. Device drivers for common peripherals
  5. Managing printers
  6. Print-job management
  7. Printer PPDs and PDF workflow
  8. Techniques for isolating cabling, driver, or application issues
• Chapter 10 - Startup Process
  1. Troubleshooting boot issues with a Mac at startup
  2. Phases of the startup process
  3. Which part of the system is active during each phase
  4. Issues that can arise
  5. Automatic process launching with launchd and login window startup items