[Casper] Advice on package naming conventions?

[Smith, William]

On 11/4/08 2:47 PM, "Ric Getter" <ric.getter at pcc.edu> wrote:

> We're a large, multi-campus community college getting ready to deploy the
> Casper Suite. We've just gone through the Jump Start and are getting ready
> to build our base images, packages and configurations. As JAMF recommended,
> we're planning on having a single "librarian" manage the entries on the
> Casper server. 
> 
> Having been involved in similar ventures, I understand the value of setting
> up a good naming convention system early in the game. We have a good system
> for naming computers already in place, but it appears that we're going to
> have a fair number of packages and a potentially huge number of
> configurations on file.

Our structure may not be of any interest to you but I do have a few
suggestions:

1. Use abbreviations sparingly.

If you have a few site codes or department codes then that's OK, but I'm
referring to applications. Trying to interpret one person's "QXP652" into
"QuarkXPres 6.52" or translate "APSCS3" as "Adobe Photoshop CS3" is a royal
pain. No one will abbreviate the same.

You have 250+ characters for file names. Use'em. Spell names fully
UsingUpperLowerCase so that they are readable.

2. Include version numbers for every package.

We have a group that likes to push minor updates every once in a while.
Instead of updating and reusing a 1.0 package I duplicate it and version it
to 1.1 or 1.2, etc.

This lets me roll back if necessary.

It also allows me to use a policy to uninstall 1.0 and install 1.1 at the
same time.

3. Determine a naming convention for different types of packages:

    Application (without serial numbers)
    Serial numbers
    Preferences

4. Include licensing in your names.

If you have a serial number file then include all or part of the serial
number in the name to identity it. Do NOT use the group name or the owner.
Licenses can be transferred between groups and people. You don't want to
have to rename a package file and change your JSS just because you're
assigning a license to a different group.


Altogether for an application like DeltaGraph I would have three files:


    Application package
        DeltaGraph5.7.3-UL-1.0.dmg

    Serial number package
        DeltaGraph5.7.3-0123456789-1.0.dmg (serial number file)

    Preferences package
        PreferencesDeltaGraph5.7.3-Comp-UL-1.0.dmg


"Comp" in the preferences package is for our "Composition" group. They would
have their own set of default preferences compared to "Mkt", which is our
"Marketing" group.

I use "UL" (UL = "Unlicensed" or "Unlimited) in names of packages that have
no serial numbers within them to let me know that I don't have to worry
about licensing for that particular package. Without the serial number
package, the application is useless.

And as a matter of habit I stick to upper/lower case letters, numbers,
dashes and periods. No spaces or other symbols, which may make transferring
to Windows servers or backup media difficult.

-- 

bill

William M. Smith, Technical Analyst
MCS IT
Merrill Communications, LLC
(651) 632-1492