[Casper] Deploy Studio
NATHANIEL.LINDLEY at spps.org
NATHANIEL.LINDLEY at spps.org
Thu Feb 5 12:55:57 PST 2009
In version 5 of Casper we could image a computer totally offline by syncing
the JSS with an external local drive (USB or Firewire). Page 59 in manual.
However, it doesn't seem to work with version 6 though.
Nathaniel Lindley
++++++++++++++++++
Educational Technology
Saint Paul Public Schools
Saint Paul, Minnesota
nathaniel.lindley at spps.org
phone: 651-248-6861
Miles Leacy
<miles.leacy at them
acadmin.com> To
Sent by: Criss Myers <CMyers at uclan.ac.uk>
casper-bounces at li cc
st.jamfsoftware.c casper at list.jamfsoftware.com
om Subject
Re: [Casper] Deploy Studio
02/05/09 09:59 AM
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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