In Mac OS X Server 10.7.x and 10.8.x, there’s been an issue that Mac admins have run into more than once:
“I’m trying to set up Open Directory in this VM, but the service won’t enable.”
Profile Manager in 10.7.x and 10.8.x also has an known issue where it crashes when set up in a VM. The root cause is the same: Profile Manager needs to have Open Directory running and Open Directory won’t turn on.
The fix for this issue in 10.7.x Server and 10.8.x Server is simple – give your VM more than one processor. Once you give the VM multiple processors (two is fine), Open Directory should begin working. This will also fix the Profile Manager crashing issue, as Open Directory should now enable properly.
In Mavericks, it appears Apple has addressed this issue. In my testing, Open Directory no longer requires multiple processors.
Now that Open Directory can run with one processor, Profile Manager also now runs properly on a one-processor VM.
