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<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3">My replies are in bold:</font><br><br><br>___________________________<BR>Thomas Larkin<BR>TIS Department<BR>KCKPS USD500<BR><a href="mailto:tlarki@kckps.org">tlarki@kckps.org</a><BR>blackberry: 913-449-7589<BR>office: 913-627-0351<BR><BR><BR><BR><br><br>>>> <br><br>1. Where does one get Casper training? I called JAMF and they only offer Jumpstart training if you purchase their solution. Doesn't seem fair to the client, since JAMF is essentially forcing techs to learn on the clients' dime. JAMF also suggested 6 or more months of real experience before going for certification. There seems to be a HUGE lack of resources for techs who want to learn Casper...I would think JAMF would see the value in providing training, if only to help their product get out there. Are there any Dallas area Casper user groups?<br><font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"></font> </p>
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<b><font face="Lucida Grande" size="3">There is a CCA course, Casper Certified Administrator and I went and took it last year. I strongly suggest you jump in and use the product for at least 6 months then go to the training. That way you will have a grasp of what to do, a grasp of what you want to learn, and they will fix all of your bad habits. They fixed some of my bad habits, even though I still do them from time to time. I was hired to help run a 1:1 Macbook deployment for a school district 1 week before they deployed. That meant I pretty much hit the ground running. Josh from JAMF came out and gave me a 1 full day crash course, and that was it. That was all I had time for and I just picked up Casper as I go. It took me about 6 months of using the product to really get a full grasp. Last year I got certified, and have been using it for 3 years now. Well, going on my third year. It is not something you can just learn in a week long class, because part of it depends on how you want to use it. Let me post an example of what I did, last school year with Casper and when I reimaged 6,000 Macbooks with a dual boot image of OS X 10.5.5 and XP Pro SP2. That was with version 6 too, with version 7 and Snow Leopard it would be different, and easier.</font></b> </p>
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<u><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Lucida Grande"><i><a href="http://tlarkin.com/tech/managed-dual-booting-casper"><b>http://tlarkin.com/tech/managed-dual-booting-casper</b></a></i></font></u><b><font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"></font></b> </p>
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<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"><b>That is a prime example of what you can accomplish with Casper. What I did, Universities could not even accomplish at the time is what my Apple SE was telling me. Pretty slick.</b></font> </p>
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2. I see several Casper suites. I'm currently most interested in imaging/packaging/distribution. I've got years of imaging, packaging and distribution experience, so it shouldn't take long to learn the JAMF toolset. Can one buy the Casper suite to run in a LAB environment? Training is fine - but you do need to LAB test before deploying (initially, changes, etc.).<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"></font> </p>
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<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"><b>Not sure what exactly you are talking about, but Casper is a framework and it does whatever you tell it to and is very powerful. I manage 6,000 Macbooks for a school district and Casper is a life saver. So my users are on the go, mobile, and they go off campus and return the next day. You should always test before you deploy no matter what you do. Casper allows you to set packages, scripts, images, and so forth in a testing phase, allow only certain users to install or you can just create manual triggers for such policies and test them out manually. Like I said earlier, it does whatever you tell it to. </b></font><br><br>3. Can I get some input from those who have deployed Casper to managed/integrated environments? How is AD/OD integration impacted by Casper? Can our clients continue to use OD for policies? Can our legacy packages/scripts be used if Casper is deployed?<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"></font> </p>
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<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"><b>I am pure OD, with SuSe ED on the other side. I don't have a lot of experience but from what the mailing list says, it works well. Casper can cut out the need to even use OD servers for managed now in version 7, so it can save you the costs of buying Xserves and Server OS licenses. My personal opinion though is to use OD servers if possible. My opinion is biased of course.</b></font><br><br>4. How comfortable is everyone that Casper isn't going to be the next NetOctopus? Is there more than one person steering Casper development? Or is there a chance one person can leave JAMF to start his own company, and leave all Casper deployment folks out in the cold?<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"></font> </p>
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<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"><b>Well, anything is possible but I don't think it is developed by just one person. You need to ask JAMF this, and you need to talk to one of their reps. I don't think you are going to get any right or straight answers on this from the mailing list.</b></font><br><font face="Lucida Grande" size="3"></font> </p>
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<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3">Thanks</font> </p>
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<font face="Lucida Grande" size="3">Tom</font><br>
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