OS X Mountain Lion Server For Dummies

Attention: The Alerts Pane

Mountain Lion Server monitors several dozen items and can send you an alert for certain events, such as software update, SSL certificates that are about to expire, low disk space, the presence of an e-mail virus, and changes to the server network settings. Each alert will tell you when the event occurred and give you options on how to react. You can view the alerts by clicking Alerts under the Status section in the Server app’s sidebar. The default view is the Alerts pane, which is shown in Figure 18-9.

If you double-click an alert, the Server app displays information about the alert and Server’s recommendations in an Actions section, as shown in Figure 18-10. In the case of a software update, the Actions section will include a button to install the update.

Responding to alerts

This section describes what some of the more common alert messages mean and how you might respond to them:

Your host name or IP address has changed. This alert probably means that you don’t have your server Mac configured with a static IP address, and that it is getting its IP address from a DHCP server, such as a wireless router (for example, an Apple AirPort device). This condition will cause problems with DNS service. Ignore this alert only if you’re not running DNS service or not using a service that requires DNS.

A certificate is about to expire. This alert tells you when ...