Run ConsoleOne in Mac OS X in minutes with XQuartz

It's quick and easy to have eDirectory administration on your Mac OS X machine. This approach eliminates the need to run a Virtual Machine just for ConsoleOne. Best of all; This approach utilizes SSH which most IT admins already use on a daily basis.

I've created two approaches just in case someone wants to make this an application that can be pinned to your dock. (Which is what I did. :-) )

Prerequisites:

1. XQuartz must be installed on your Mac OS X machine.
2. You must be running eDirectory/GroupWise/ConsoleOne on a SLES/Linux Server. (NetWare was not tested here, but may still work. I honestly don't know:-( )
3. You need sudo or root privileges on the Mac OS X machine and on the Novell Server. (Only for automating the approach)

Manual Approach:

Can't get any easier than this;

1. ssh $USER@$SERVER_IP_ADDRESS -X exec /usr/ConsoleOne/bin/ConsoleOne
   (Replace "$USER" and "$SERVER_IP_ADDRESS" with your valid data. The, "-X" switch tells it to take the output of commands and pipe them in to XQuartz.)
2. Sit back and watch ConsoleOne load. ;-)

And that's it for the manual approach!! Easy right?

Double Click/Automatic Approach:

1. For this to work, you must have ssh authentication by key setup so that you don't have to enter a password every time. There's a good quick guide at the following url. http://www.linuxproblem.org/art_9.html
2. Create a quick bash script with your favorite text editor, and enter this code; (Replace "$USER" and "$SERVER_IP_ADDRESS" with your valid data.) Name it something easy to remember because we are going to call this script in a moment. Don't forget where you saved it!! I saved mine, (console_one.sh) to the root of the drive so that it's accessible to all users of my machine, which is why I needed sudo privileges.
   

   #!/bin/bash
                 ssh $User@$SERVER_IP_ADDRESS -X exec /usr/ConsoleOne/bin/ConsoleOne
   

3. Open up AppleScript Editor, (/Applications/Utilities/AppleScript\ Editor.app) and create a new AppleScript. Then enter this code into your AppleScript;
   

    do shell script "/bin/bash /$YOUR_SCRIPT.sh"

   Then save the script as an application to the /Applications folder.

And that's it. You have now made it into an application that can easy be put in to login items or pinned in your dock. ;-) I also grabbed the ConsoleOne icon from the Novell Server and modified the newly created app to include the icon.

This is my FIRST Cool Solutions submission so I hope I haven't made an ID10T of myself, and apologize in advance if I have. And if you find this helpful, please just leave a quick comment to let me know. Have a wonderful day my friends!