[Casper] Deploy Studio

Fri Feb 6 02:09:45 PST 2009

Same for me which is a problem when a mac thats been repaired and had a
new drive put in come back with a different name. 

On the deploy studio side, i will be writting an article for MacTech on
deploy studio so will be doing research into its use, 

I would say that as a SELF CONTAINED external imaging system it could be
very good, 

My example being : 

Use Casper as normal but then take the base image and base packages and
scripts and create a self contained external USB PEN Drive Deploy Studio
setup that can be given to a technician or staff member to image a mac
offline. 

OR create a some kind of diagnostic or repair installer etc, 

Personally i can see that as being useful, 

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 Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 12:50 AM, in message
<498B332A0200003900008BB7 at gwoes4.kckps.org>, "Thomas Larkin"
<tlarki at kckps.org> wrote:

That is strange when I netboot a client and if the drive is called
"untitled" it doesn't find the target volume.  I will have to tinker
with it more tomorrow.

___________________________
Thomas Larkin
TIS Department
KCKPS USD500
tlarki at kckps.org
blackberry:  913-449-7589
office:  913-627-0351

>>> Miles Leacy <miles.leacy at themacadmin.com> 02/05/09 4:42 PM >>>
On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 5:28 PM, Thomas Larkin <tlarki at kckps.org> wrote:

> if the hard drive is renamed from "Macintosh HD" casper can't find it.

The name of the target disk isn't important to Casper Imaging, but I
believe
it does have to exist before you start your imaging process.  For
example,
you can have a target volume of "My Obscurely Named Volume".  You can
use
"before" scripts to repartition your internal disk(s), create RAIDs,
etc.,
but there will have to be a volume called "My Obscurely Named Volume" to
begin with in order for Casper Imaging to target it.

If JAMF were to change this behavior, however, you'll lose some
idiot-proofing.  As it stands, you can't target a volume that doesn't
exist
(unless you flub your "before" scripts and destroy that volume without
recreating it).

> I too, would like the ability to have a completely zero'd out hard
drive
> and be able to create partitions on the fly, choosing my own file
system
> (HFS+, HFS+J, NTFS, ext3, UFS, ZFS, so on) chopping up the drive in
> partitions and then laying it down before the imaging process, then
even
> possibly run the bless command as a post image option or lay down a
> different OS be it Linux or Windows, and lastly possibly even
configuring a
> boot loader or what not.

I believe you can do all of this via scripting (you may need 3rd party
utilities on your restore partition/utility drive/netboot image if you
want
to work with filesystems that Apple doesn't support out of the box).
GUIs
are nice though.

----------
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 5:28 PM, Thomas Larkin <tlarki at kckps.org> wrote:

> The one thing that irks me, is that if the hard drive is renamed from
> "Macintosh HD" casper can't find it.  I too, would like the ability to
have
> a completely zero'd out hard drive and be able to create partitions on
the
> fly, choosing my own file system (HFS+, HFS+J, NTFS, ext3, UFS, ZFS,
so on)
> chopping up the drive in partitions and then laying it down before the
> imaging process, then even possibly run the bless command as a post
image
> option or lay down a different OS be it Linux or Windows, and lastly
> possibly even configuring a boot loader or what not.
>
> Right now GParted comes to mind since its free, open source, and
supports a
> very large base o
f file systems.
>
> ___________> office:  913-627-0351
>
>
>
> >>> John Wetter <john_wetter at hopkins.k12.mn.us> 02/05/09 4:08 PM >>>
> Hi Dustin,
>
> An interesting take.   When I was listening to the presentation, to me
it
> just sounded like it would be a great version of Casper Imaging
utility.
>  Just for the Netboot environment to be able to graphically do all of
the
> workflows we're doing with scripting right now while imaging.  I could
> definitely see this for the imaging of being able to build the job of
> formatting, installing, patching, etc.
>
> I think the one thing lost on a good amount of the audience is that
> everything Deploy Studio does is one little corner of what Casper
does.  I
> can see huge value in it making Casper Imaging easier, but still just
a
> little corner.  I heard one person behind me say "Why do we need
Casper
> now?"  So, it sounds like there's still some education out there as
far as
> really managing Macintosh computers. > we're enterprise environments.
>
> -John
>
>
> On 2/5/09 2:54 PM, "Dorey, Dustin" <Dustin.Dorey at district196.org>
wrote:
>
> Ok so I just got back from that apple event and they demoed Deploy
Studio,
> and I'd like to point out that he compared it to NetRestore but made a
point
> to say it does not replace Casper.
> In any case for what it is, it is really really nice.  A huge
improvement
> on Netrestore and shares a lot of similarities with casper in an
imaging way
> only, you know without the management, package building, remote tools
and
> inventory pieces.   Unfortunately they did not talk about pxe booting
> non-apple hardware or anything that didn't involve building stuff off
of
> anything but apple hardware.   He did mention that there is now a Wiki
for
> documentation.  So maybe that will grow.
>
> Hey JAMF if you're reading this, one thing that was cool was the
> partitioning was built into the workflow and it supported partitioning
for
> os x, windows, and Linux pre laying down the image.   Any way to get
> preflight disk utility functions built into casper w/o having to
script it?
> -Dusty-
> Dustin Dorey
> Technology Support Cluster Specialist
> ISD 196 Apple Valley, Eagan, Rosemount
> dustin.dorey at district196.org
> 952|423|7971
>
>
>
> From: casper-bounces at list.jamfsoftware.com [mailto:
> casper-bounces at list.jamfsoftware.com] On Behalf Of Thomas Larkin
> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 3:23 PM
> To: casper at list.jamfsoftware.com
> Subject: [Casper] Deploy Studio
>
> 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 <
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> John Wetter
> Technology Support Administrator
> 
Educational Technology, Media > Casper mailing list
> Casper at list.jamfsoftware.com
> http://list.jamfsoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/casper
>

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