MacBook as a server sleeping schedule

Dmytro Tus

Full Stack Web developer

When we are running MacBook as a server we need to disable sleep for the MacBook. Otherwise it will not running our pipelines until we will not login into the server via ssh.

Normally we log into our server like this

ssh username@server-name

Later we can check the status of power settings

pmset -g


## output
System-wide power settings:
 SleepDisabled          1
Currently in use:
 standby              0
 Sleep On Power Button 1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 powernap             1
 networkoversleep     1
 disksleep            0
 sleep                0 (sleep prevented by powerd)
 hibernatemode        3
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         0
 tcpkeepalive         1
 lowpowermode         0
 womp                 1

We can enable or disable sleep like this

sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1 ## mac will always awake
pmset -a disablesleep 0 ## mac will sleep when we don't use that

Creating the schelude

First of all let's create two files with scripts

## file path
/usr/local/bin/disable_sleep.sh

## content
sudo /usr/bin/pmset -a disablesleep 1

## file path
/usr/local/bin/enable_sleep.sh

## content
sudo /usr/bin/pmset -a disablesleep 0

Make both executable

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/disable_sleep.sh
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/enable_sleep.sh

Create launchd Plists

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.user.disable_sleep</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/disable_sleep.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>7</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

And for enable sleep

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.user.enable_sleep</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/enable_sleep.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>20</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Make sure both have correct permissions:

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.*.plist
sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.*.plist

Launch them

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.disable_sleep.plist
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.enable_sleep.plist

## after MacOs 10.5 the correct commands should be
sudo launchctl bootstrap system /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.disable_sleep.plist ## it is for ADD command to schedule
sudo launchctl bootout system /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.disable_sleep.plist ## it is for REMOVE command from schedule

### if you expect any issues with enabling disabling just run
bootout and then bootstrap for the specific file

Check if it’s loaded

sudo launchctl list | grep com.user.enable_sleep

Unload it (stop scheduling it)

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.enable_sleep.plist

The schedule for server is set up 🥳