Mac has a great backup solution called Time Machine. Typically you must use like storage products but you can also use your ClearOS server to perform these backups.

The prerequisites are simple. You will need to either set up a Flexshare or have the user backup their Mac to their home directory. Simply make a connection to the share and you are ready to go. (ie cifs:servername/username)

This method has been tested on Snow Leopard. Please send us some feedback if you get it working on other version. I've been told that Lion only takes AFP for its Time Machine. If this is the case then we will have to write a different howto on that.

The bulk of what needs to be done is on the Mac itself. First, open a Terminal from the Utilities Folder under applications. Run the following command to tell your mac to allow other mounted volumes as acceptable Time Machine storage devices:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

Next, you will need to create the sparebundle file required to back up your mac. Normally the Time Machine does this automatically but you will get permission errors if you try to use the share at this point.

You will need 2 bits of information. First you will need your machine name and second, you will need your MAC (media access control) address of your network card.

• Open System Preferences… Open the Sharing (In the Internet and Wireless section). Note the name in the 'Computer Name' section. If it is greater than 8 characters, you might want to consider shortening it. I changed mine to DLMacPro.
• Next, open the Terminal program under Applications > Utilities > Terminal. Type the following:

ifconfig en0|grep ether

• Note the 12 digit hexadecimal address (ie: 00:1f:f3:52:eb:a1).

Open up the Disk Utility program Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Select 'New Image' and change the save location to save it to your desktop.

Work your way from the bottom options up:

• Image Format: sparse bundle disk image
• Partitions: No partition map
• Encryption: none
• Format: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
• Size: Custom (I have a 250GB drive so I selected 350GB)
• Name: My Backup (you can say whatever you like)
• Save As - Again, you need to save this on your desktop, you can have problems saving it directly to the flexshare or home directory. You will need to pick the name which uses the composite of the information you previously collected. On my system I saved it as DLMacPro_001ff352eba1

The file will be appended with .sparsebundle. In my case it was called DLMacPro_001ff352eba1.sparsebundle

Copy this file to the location of your choice on the ClearOS server. I copied mine to me home directory. After you have copied the file, delete it from your desktop.

I started out by opening my 'Options…' settings in 'Time Machine' to exclude nearly all my directories at first so that I can effectively test it. Under 'Select Disk…' I selected my home directory where I have copied my sparsebundle file.

Special thanks to these folks:

• https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1221879?start=0&tstart=0