Recommendations on OS X rollout/deployment.

Eickst

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 24, 2005
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I have 28 MacBook pro's that I need to image. I have a system in place for Windows, obviously, as we have over 400 Thinkpads, but now I need a way to image/deploy/install/setup all of these MacBooks.

This is our first foray into Macs, but I know linux very well so if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it.

Thanks
 
for a way to make an image of an already setup mac use SuperDuper

in order to write that image to a freshly formatted drive, you need a OS X setup CD/DVD and you need to boot the mac with it (hold C when you turn it on). That image you made earlier would need to be on an external firewire drive, because as far as I know, OS X setup won't mount anything else, even a network drive (because where else would you need to install OSX than the internal drive or an external firewire?) go to utilities menu>disk utility
select the internal drive on the left. go to the restore tab. read that and do as it says. it will format the drive and write the new image to it.
 
Make a master image from one of the MBPs. Carbon Copy Clone it onto a few external firewire HDs (more the faster). Then boot externally from the MBPs to the external drives and wipe out the internal drives. Then CCC it over. :p

Also I think the MBPs use the GUID partition table so make sure to have that type of partition on the external drives.

And the method I listed doesn't require a separate OS X setup DVD. :p
 
well, the MBP comes with a DVD, so thats kind of a moot point now isn't it :p
 
I was hoping for something over the network but I'll see if I can find a firewire drive laying around somewhere.
 
I was hoping for something over the network but I'll see if I can find a firewire drive laying around somewhere.

NetRestore from Bombich Software.

"Thank you, drive thru."
-- Beavis


Also I think the MBPs use the GUID partition table so make sure to have that type of partition on the external drives.
All Intel machines use GUID. But what you described is a total non-issue. The FW drives don't have to be formatted as GUID.

The important thing is where the image going to the Intel-based machine is created - it has to be created on an Intel machine with a GUID-formatted volume. After that, it can be cloned over to a volume formatted with Apple Partition Map and boot the Intel machine just fine. All the volumes/partitions of my external tools drives are formatted with Apple Partition Map. I have no problem booting an Intel machine with a properly created volume. That said, the same volume can't boot a PPC machine. So I have one partition to boot PPC and another to boot Intel machines - but both partitions are Apple Partition Map.

Also. . .Intel-based machines can boot from USB2 drives and Firewire drives. PPC machines only boot from FW drives and not USB2.
 
I'll take a look at NetRestore. Do you know if the network restore option requires a Mac OS X server or can I host the image on a windows share?
 
I'll take a look at NetRestore. Do you know if the network restore option requires a Mac OS X server or can I host the image on a windows share?

In the introduction, it says. . .

"Built on Apple's Apple Software Restore technology, NetRestore can be used to quickly and accurately restore a master disk image to a computer's hard disk while that disk image is hosted locally, on a network via AFP, NFS or multicast, or on the internet via HTTP. NetRestore can also be used in conjunction with NetBoot to fully automate the deployment of a lab full of machines."

Now, if you want to use it with NetBoot then yeah, you'll need OSX Server. But the way I read it, you can put the image pretty much anywhere and access it via AFP, NFS, or HTTP and do the restore from there.

I haven't had a chance to work with NetRestore, but Bombich has always made great stuff (i.e. CCC).
 
In the introduction, it says. . .

"Built on Apple's Apple Software Restore technology, NetRestore can be used to quickly and accurately restore a master disk image to a computer's hard disk while that disk image is hosted locally, on a network via AFP, NFS or multicast, or on the internet via HTTP. NetRestore can also be used in conjunction with NetBoot to fully automate the deployment of a lab full of machines."

Now, if you want to use it with NetBoot then yeah, you'll need OSX Server. But the way I read it, you can put the image pretty much anywhere and access it via AFP, NFS, or HTTP and do the restore from there.

I haven't had a chance to work with NetRestore, but Bombich has always made great stuff (i.e. CCC).

yeah I read that piece but just wanted some clarification from someone who had used it. It looks promising, if I can boot from a DVD and load the image from the network that would be great. I'll start trying this out today.

Thanks everyone!
 
NetRestore from Bombich Software.

"Thank you, drive thru."
-- Beavis



All Intel machines use GUID. But what you described is a total non-issue. The FW drives don't have to be formatted as GUID.

The important thing is where the image going to the Intel-based machine is created - it has to be created on an Intel machine with a GUID-formatted volume. After that, it can be cloned over to a volume formatted with Apple Partition Map and boot the Intel machine just fine. All the volumes/partitions of my external tools drives are formatted with Apple Partition Map. I have no problem booting an Intel machine with a properly created volume. That said, the same volume can't boot a PPC machine. So I have one partition to boot PPC and another to boot Intel machines - but both partitions are Apple Partition Map.

Also. . .Intel-based machines can boot from USB2 drives and Firewire drives. PPC machines only boot from FW drives and not USB2.

Ah..we've had problems getting Mac Pros to boot from Apple Partition Firewire drives..
 
Ah..we've had problems getting Mac Pros to boot from Apple Partition Firewire drives..

What version of OSX are you using on the FW drive? Firmware up to date on the Mac Pros? While it's possible that the problem involves Apple Partition Map volumes, on the surface I'm inclined to look elsewhere for the smoking gun. After all, Apple's restore DVDs are all formatted as Apple Partition Map, at least the last I checked.
 
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