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<TITLE>Re: [Casper] Automating Server Installs</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>I love InstaDMG, even though I haven’t been over following the development closely. I do not add a lot to the build train, just the major updates (10.5.5 for example), the Create User package to create the 501 user, Quick Add to get the machine into Casper, the Clear Reg to clear the registration screens, and a home grown package to drop a user picture file. The only problem I’ve noticed with the image and Casper is that I am having problems re-naming the machine when imaging it to either a name already in Casper, or to the MAC or S/N. I have not investigated this yet, and in writing this I’m questioning the wisdom of adding the Quick Add to the image and not doing it on restart or something. I’ll have to test that.<BR>
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On restart after imaging I have a post image script that runs to set some small things:<BR>
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# now set the time zone<BR>
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systemsetup -settimezone America/Chicago<BR>
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# enable network time<BR>
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systemsetup -setusingnetworktime on<BR>
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# set the time server<BR>
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systemsetup -setnetworktimeserver time.apple.com<BR>
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# set sleep times<BR>
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systemsetup -setcomputersleep never<BR>
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systemsetup -setdisplaysleep 15<BR>
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# now re-run recon<BR>
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jamf -recon<BR>
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# finally, reboot<BR>
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shutdown -r now<BR>
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The script does more than that, like add another hidden user, but those are the relevant parts.<BR>
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I also use the images built from InstaDMG as NetBoot images. Makes life very easy.<BR>
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No ideas on the server side. I’ve never played around with automating a server build, simply because I don’t have a need to mass build servers.<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B>Steve Wood<BR>
</B>Director of IT<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#FE0000"><a href="swood@integerdallas.com">swood@integerdallas.com</a><BR>
</FONT><BR>
<B>The Integer Group</B> | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201<BR>
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'><BR>
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On 10/31/08 2:16 PM, "Miles Leacy" <<a href="miles.leacy@themacadmin.com">miles.leacy@themacadmin.com</a>> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>This message is in two parts...<BR>
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For anyone using InstaDMG with the Casper suite, I'd like to hear your experiences. I like the idea of never having booted my base system before dropping it. I'm curious as to how deeply we can mesh the InstaDMG concept & methodology with the Casper tool. It seems that they should be largely compatible.<BR>
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Secondly, I'm trying to automate my Mac OS X Server installs. Right now, I'm just thinking through workflow conceptually.<BR>
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If I create a Netinstall image from the OS X Server install disc, I'll still need to get a configuration file to the machine. There's the simple Apple answer of putting the configuration file on a USB key attached to the server, but I'm looking for a more automated way that won't require me to ever see the server, just to know its serial number . I've got Casper, and I want to rebuild Xserves via my iPhone at a café while on my way to more interesting things.<BR>
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One thought I had was to create a traditional image at a point before going through the server setup, and include the configuration file as a separate package on top of the image. Theoretically, at first boot, the system should see a config file present and use it.<BR>
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If anyone has any ideas, or better yet, proven workflows, I'd love to hear about them.<BR>
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Thanks,<BR>
Miles<BR>
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</FONT></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'><FONT FACE="Lucida Grande"><BR>
</FONT></SPAN><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><B><BR>
<BR>
Steve Wood<BR>
</B>Director of IT<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><a href="swood@integerdallas.com">swood@integerdallas.com</a><BR>
</FONT><BR>
<B>The Integer Group</B> | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201<BR>
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT>
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