[Casper] Deploy Studio

Thu Feb 5 08:07:31 PST 2009

Thanks for the vote of confidence.  While I don't claim the title "Casper
Trainer", I'll try to answer your question.  I invite anyone from JAMF to
correct me if my understanding is flawed.
Casper is not intended to image without a JSS.

If I had to, I think I could "trick" Casper Imaging into deploying an image
without a JSS by pre-caching the necessary packages and scripts onto my
external device.  I'd have to experiment a bit to see if I am correct, but
my gut feeling is that it would be possible though require doing things in
an unsupported way.  Casper Imaging having the built-in and supported
ability to cache configurations and the contents of a distribution point
could certainly be useful.  I'd recommend that anyone who finds it useful
contact JAMF with a feature request.

Deploy Studio is free, and it does provide a decent imaging solution for the
price.  When used from portable drives, it seems a bit better than having a
monolithic image deployment.  When used in its server model, it seems to be
of only slightly greater utility than using Apple NetInstall.  The
difference being that you would have to build and store
a separate NetInstall image for each "configuration" if you went with the
pure Apple solution.

As far as deploying Windows goes, I'm of the opinion that Casper is the
"best of breed" solution for deploying and maintaining Macs.  If I ever
assumed responsibility for deployment and maintenance of Windows PCs, I'd
research the "best of breed" deployment and management utility/suite for
Windows.

----------
Miles A. Leacy IV

 Certified System Administrator 10.4
 Certified Technical Coordinator 10.5
 Certified Trainer
Certified Casper Administrator
----------
voice: 1-347-277-7321
miles.leacy at themacadmin.com
www.themacadmin.com

On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 10:35 AM, Criss Myers <CMyers at uclan.ac.uk> wrote:

>  Hi Miles
>
>  I think the point Thomas was making was imaging PC clients from a Mac
> server, ive downloaded the documentation and installed the DS and for the
> mac side it is a very basic imaging and packing deployment product, but FREE
> for those that cant afford Casper, not that i can say its a patch on Casper.
>
>  As your the Casper Trainer you might be able ti tell me if you can use
> casper from a usb/ external drive without any server/network? As i am only
> 6months into using capser.
>
>  DS can support external drives, you can use scripts, install packages and
> image computers and theres even a database of known approved computers to
> image as well as a live activity monitor.
>
>  On the PC side, it installs a vmlinux pxebooter and alters the dhcp
> settings, atm i dont have a PC to test with, but from the forums allows the
> PC to pxe boot however it doesn't support all NIC's nor necessarily new or
> future PC's
>
>  I would have thought that maybe in the future with EFI that PC's and
> windows might start going that way making it easier to preboot them.
>
>  The DS does not make a PC image, its just a pxebooter.
>
>  You also need DHCP on your mac server as well as cifs or nfs support.
>
>  Criss
>
>
> Criss Myers
> Senior Customer Support Analyst (Mac Services)
> Apple Certified Technical Coordinator v10.5
> LIS Business Support Team
> Library 301
> University of Central Lancashire
> Preston PR1 2HE
> Ex 5054
> 01772 895054
>
>
> >>> On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at  9:50 PM, in message <
> ec2e75ff0902041350k58624731n26266194def6eb4d at mail.gmail.com>, Miles Leacy
> <miles.leacy at themacadmin.com> wrote:
>
>  I had a cursory look at it a few months ago.
>
>
>   My first impression is that it's an immature product/project.
>
>
>   I can't download the Architecture document from their site (the link
> appears to be broken), but if I recall correctly, DeployStudio is attempting
> to deliver features found in Casper, NetRestore and Radmind.
>
>
>   I think it's an admirable effort by the project's creators and
> contributors, however, I'll be sticking with Casper for several reasons.
>
>
>   Before Casper, I used Radmind and a collection of my own homebrewed
> shell scripts to handle deployment, software distribution, patch management
> and general system maintenance.  Tasks using these technologies are not very
> duplicatable in junior staff due to the learning curve.  That means I have
> to be around all the time.  That's bad.
>
>
>   If one of my scripts or Radmind doesn't work as expected, I have to fix
> it with no support, and I can potentially pull my hair out for days trying
> to fix it.  With Casper, I pay for support and get excellent response times
> and resolution rates.
>
>
>   I know a constructive criticism was recently made on this list about the
> Casper documentation, but this project's documentation is downright
> skeletal.
>
>   It appears that DeployStudio may have some interesting ideas regarding
> PC deployment, but I don't manage PCs, and if I ever need to manage
> BootCamp, Parallels or VMWare, I can do that through Casper.
>
>
>   If there are any specific compelling features you find in DeployStudio,
> I'd be interested to hear about them, and perhaps they can be presented to
> JAMF as feature requests.
>
>
> ----------
> Miles A. Leacy IV
>
>  Certified System Administrator 10.4
>  Certified Technical Coordinator 10.5
>  Certified Trainer
> Certified Casper Administrator
> ----------
> voice: 1-347-277-7321
> miles.leacy at themacadmin.com
> www.themacadmin.com
>
>
>
>
>   2009/2/4 Thomas Larkin
>
> <tlarki at kckps.org>
>
>
>   has anyone looked at this?  While I don't see anything it does that
>> Casper Doesn't, it does do one really neat thing.   I supports PXE
>> booting.  So, you can feasibly have PC clients netboot (or PXE boot as they
>> call it) to it and image Windows or Linux to them.  This sounds very
>> interesting for mixed client environments.  While, I have not played with it
>> yet, I was curious if anyone on the list has used it with Casper or what
>> not.
>>
>>
>>  I mean if I could also use one server technology to image all of our
>> Windows clients, that would be kind of neat.  You could then have one Xserve
>> do it all.  Casper does have some, unsupported, but working tools to image
>> Windows on a Mac.  I have used them and they do work.
>>
>>
>>  I have way too much on my plate to even attempt looking at Deploy
>> Studio, however, if anyone else has tinkered with it, what are your
>> thoughts?  I was thinking if possible down the road I may run Deploy studio
>> on my Xserves in each building for netboot and imaging the PCs only, and
>> then keep Casper for the Macs.  I really like the auto run data and would
>> not want to give that up.
>>
>>
>>  *http://www.deploystudio.com/Home.html*
>>
>>
>>  Thoughts?  Experiences?
>>
>>
>>  Thanks,
>>
>>
>> ___________________________
>> Thomas Larkin
>> TIS Department
>> KCKPS USD500
>> tlarki at kckps.org
>> blackberry:  913-449-7589
>> office:  913-627-0351
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
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