[Casper] Computer Name is not populating when imaging

[Smith, William]

On 11/11/08 4:47 PM, "Ernst, Craig S." <ERNSTCS at uwec.edu> wrote:

> I¹m with Tom, I¹ve never used InstaDMG, I¹ve always used Composer. Any
> compelling reasons you¹d like to share as to why you prefer one over the
> other? I¹d be interested to know.

Full disclosure: I¹m an InstaDMG n00b but I love the concept. More
information about InstaDMG can be found at
<http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=ImageCreationRevolution&query=insta
dmg>.


With Composer you have to install your Mac OS system, update it, clear
recent items lists, clear recent folders lists and rotate log files. Then
you have to boot to another disk and create a .dmg file from the first disk.
You'll image your Macs with that .dmg file.

InstaDMG allows you to create that same fully patched Mac OS X .dmg file
without having to actually image a master hard disk or boot to another disk.
The concept is similar to Windows slipstreaming.


Here¹s the setup.

1. I create a .dmg master of my Mac OS X 10.5.0 retail DVD and place it into
the InstaDMG folder structure on my computer.

2. I download and place the 10.5.5 combo update and other miscellaneous
updates like Airport, Java, ARD, etc., into the InstaDMG folder structure.

3. I run InstaDMG and about 2-1/2 hours later I have a fully patched and
virgin Mac OS X 10.5.5 .dmg file ready to deploy with Casper.

This image has never been logged into. It still doesn't have a user yet and
will go through the Apple Setup Assistant (movie and all) once it has been
imaged onto a real hard drive.

I can take my original InstaDMG folder structure and add a simple text file
to exclude the extra printer drivers, translations and fonts. After I run it
again I now have my smaller Mac OS system for my Restore partition. It's
fully patched and still virgin.

If I need to update my OS images, I simply download the update from Apple,
add it to my original InstaDMG folder structure and run InstaDMG again.

This is where I stop because I prefer to use Casper to image and manage my
Macs. However, you could also add something like the Microsoft Office 2008
installer .pkg file and all its subsequent .pkg updaters to the InstaDMG
folder structure too. You'll have a fully patched virgin Mac OS with a fully
patched Office 2008 installation.


Here's why I like it.

It leaves 0% cruft behind. No remembered servers, no recent items list, no
byhost files, no user preferences, no un-rotated log files. It's perfectly
clean. And the time to create an InstaDMG Mac OS X .dmg file is comparable
to or faster than installing onto a master hard drive, updating, prepping
and then imaging that afterward with Composer. It's certainly less effort.

This goes hand-in-hand with my philosophy of installing a complete set of
software and then using scripts to customize the installation afterward.


Sorry for the long answer. I hope that explains it well.

[This would actually make for a great Casper User Group topic.]

-- 

bill

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