[Casper] Computer Name is not populating when imaging

[Miles Leacy]

Thanks for the info.
This does open up some more questions in search of a better solution...

The thought of manually building system configuration preferences takes the
wind out of my automation sails, metaphorically speaking.  I don't like the
idea of bringing over another machine's plist either.  It has potential for
cruft, which we're trying to eliminate with InstaDMG, and it makes the
assumption that we have a working machine to pull a plist from.  We probably
do, but what if you're setting up a brand new site?  I'd rather be able to
do this via scripting.

How does Apple Setup Assistant generate
the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist file?  If it
uses defaults, then we can deploy a plist that only contains the computer
name and hostname keys, and let ASA handle the rest.

If the jamf binary can query the JSS, perhaps a script that gets the
computer name and host name from the JSS, and then performs "defaults write
/Volumes/yourtargetvolume/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist
<appropriate keys & values>" would be possible.

What if, as part of the InstaDMG process, you include a script that executes
"touch
/Volumes/yourtargetvolume/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist"?
 Will the existence of an empty file allow Casper to set the preferences?

Thanks,
Miles Leacy


On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Smith, William <
william.smith at merrillcorp.com> wrote:

> With the help of the folks at JAMF (thank you, Sam) I've created a simple
> workaround to my problem.
>
> The computer name is set by Casper at the end of imaging but before
> rebooting to the imaged drive. At that point it is setting the Computer
> Name
> and Hostname in:
>
>    /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist
>
> This preferences.plist file does not exist in an InstaDMG image. It is
> created by the Apple Setup Assistant, which has never run. Without the
> presence of this file Casper cannot set the names.
>
> Our workaround is to package the preferences.plist file from an existing
> machine and include it during the imaging process.
>
> Copying the plist file from my MacBook Pro to a PowerMac MDD G4 leads me to
> believe this should work for most machines but I haven't tested any
> further.
>
> The preferences.plist file also includes your Network Locations settings,
> which location is active and your active network interfaces. Be sure to set
> these prior to packaging.
>
> --
>
> bill
>
> William M. Smith, Technical Analyst
> MCS IT
> Merrill Communications, LLC
> (651) 632-1492
>
> On 11/11/08 4:37 PM, "Steve Wood" <swood at integerdallas.com> wrote:
>
> > I am having the exact same problem and the good folks at JAMF are working
> on
> > it.  So far we haven't been able to figure out why it is happening.
> >
> > I have tried pushing just the image, without any extra apps or scripts,
> and
> > I've tried it with the scripts and apps.  Both ways yield the same
> result.
> >
> > To get around this, I've added to my post image script a piece that pulls
> > the serial number of the machine and renames the machine to the serial
> > number.  Not optimal, but it at least makes it easy to ID in ARD after
> > imaging is done, and then I can go in and manually change it:
> >
> > # rename computer to the serial number
> >
> > NewName=`system_profiler | grep "Serial Number" | awk '{print $3}'`
> > touch /$NewName
> > #NewName='system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | grep Serial | awk '{print
> > $3}''
> > scutil --set ComputerName $NewName
> > scutil --set LocalHostName $NewName
> > scutil --set HostName $NewName
> >
> > On 11/11/08 4:33 PM, "Smith, William" <william.smith at merrillcorp.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Folks!
> >>
> >> I am testing InstaDMG as a means of creating our base Mac OS X 10.5
> image.
> >> Currently, I have it creating a fully patched 10.5.5 image and that
> image is
> >> in both our production Casper 5.13 system as well as our testing Casper
> 6.01
> >> system.
> >>
> >> This 10.5.5 image is virgin until I install it with Casper. I am using a
> >> combination of scripts and packages to add a local admin user, prevent
> the
> >> setup assistant from appearing, set network preferences, time zone, etc.
> >>
> >> When I image with either Casper 5.13 or Casper Imaging 6.01 I'm finding
> that
> >> the Computer Name is not getting populated in the Sharing preference
> pane.
> >> It is completely blank. If I click the Edit... button to view the Local
> >> Hostname it shows "Macintosh.local" instead of "MachineName.local".
> >>
> >> Has anyone seen this behavior before? I've searched both the Composer
> and
> >> Casper mailing list archives but neither returned results for InstaDMG.
>
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>
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