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Hardware suggestions to run Casper off of

  • April 7, 2014
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Hi All;

I haven't seen a discussion about this in the forums that wasn't several years old and was wondering what suggestions there were for running casper off of.

The current use case is imaging up to 10 machines at once of various makes and models with an ideal imaging time of <1 hour.

Currently we have an older DELL Optiplex 745 running Norton Ghost with Windows XP that's able to image unto 3 machines in over an hour and a half each and with.

While virtualization is a possibility, I think it may actually be faster and more prudent to just get a physical imaging server.

Thanks for any help,

:Theo

Best answer by rcorbin

We run the JSS on a Mac Mini Server. It's a 2.6Ghz i7 with 16GB of RAM. Running with 10.9.x Server. Now we do have it running with a Thunderbolt RAID but I don't think that is really needed. More important for the imaging part of it is what machines are you using to Netboot from and where are you hosting your packages. We have a machine at each site that does Netboot and hosts packages. Network infrastructure also really helps. 1GB links to the Netboot/package server really helps. In many cases we can netboot 30 machines at a site and built all at once. At the very least 15.

    4 replies

    R
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    • rcorbin
    • Valued Contributor
    • Answer
    • April 7, 2014

    We run the JSS on a Mac Mini Server. It's a 2.6Ghz i7 with 16GB of RAM. Running with 10.9.x Server. Now we do have it running with a Thunderbolt RAID but I don't think that is really needed. More important for the imaging part of it is what machines are you using to Netboot from and where are you hosting your packages. We have a machine at each site that does Netboot and hosts packages. Network infrastructure also really helps. 1GB links to the Netboot/package server really helps. In many cases we can netboot 30 machines at a site and built all at once. At the very least 15.

    Chris_Hafner
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    • Chris_Hafner
    • Jamf Heroes
    • April 8, 2014

    Alright. JAMFs documentation describes the following (I'll tell you what I use after). All scenarios assume that the "Server" is 1, Mac OS X and 2, running the Web App, Database (MySQL) the Primary Distribution Point (FileSharing). Mind you, NetBoot Server AND Software Update Server require a Mac OS X server or NetSUS box.
    Recommendations beyond include Gig ethernet, Fast I/O for file share (AFP, SMB/CIFS, HTTP support)

    0-499 Clients (capable of running a current OS) requires hardware minimum of:
    2 processors (2.0 Ghz+), 4GB RAM and 80Gigs of Disk Space

    500-1999 Clients (capable of running a current OS) requires hardware minimum of:
    2 processors (2.0 Ghz+), 4GB RAM and 250Gigs of Disk Space

    2000-7500 Clients (capable of running a current OS) requires hardware minimum of:
    4 processors (2.0 Ghz+), 4GB RAM and 250Gigs of Disk Space

    10000+ Clients... call please ;-)

    With that said. I support only about 650-ish clients at any given point in time, yet our hardware is significantly above the minimum spec and probably always will be. In short I run everything on two boxes currently

    1) JSS: (Hosts: JSS Web App, MySQL/JSS database, Primary DP)
    Mid 2010 Mac Pro
    2 x 2.4 Ghz Quad-Core Xeon. • Boot Drive - OWC 256GB SSD • OS • MySQL (JAMF database), • JSS (Web Apps) • Areca 1880-ix 12 hardware RAID card - 3x Seagate 15k7 SAS (RAID 0- Speed is ALL I care about, Backups happen offsite) • Primary Distribution Point lives. • Database Backups • I've bound the two Gig ethernet ports together (Link Aggregate)

    2) Casper2 (Hosts: NetBoot, Software Update Server, Caching Server and the Secondary (load balanced) DP) • Boot Drive: Standard form Apple • OS • Areca 1880-ix 12 hardware RAID card - 3x Seagate 15k7 SAS (RAID 0- Speed is ALL I care about, Backups happen offsite) • Secondary Distribution Point • NetBoot • Caching files (for Caching Server) • Database Backups • I've bound the two Gig ethernet ports together (Link Aggregate)

    Each machine keeps live copies of any relevant info form the other server so that those services may be turned on in an emergency. (i.e. The NBIs from Casper2 also live on the JSS. MySQL backups from the JSS are dropped onto Casper2 nightly... etc) Beyond that, I can't stress how important your network infrastructure is!

    Chris_Hafner
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    • Chris_Hafner
    • Jamf Heroes
    • April 8, 2014

    P.S. Your average Mac Mini would beat the performance of the Dell you're describing... Significantly. Then again, you are comparing this against Norton Ghost so It's not really fair.

    The system I'm describing above was designed to image AND manage 50-100 computers in a high demand environment. During prestage I can only manage to start 30-ish computers before the first ones are finished so I'm not really sure what the Max load on my system is. We're talking 20ish + Gig images in under 10 min.

    T
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    • theohlane
    • Author
    • New Contributor
    • April 10, 2014

    Hey rcorbin & Chris_Hafner;

    Thanks for the help! I eventually found this info after pouring over the whitepapers, but your anecdotal info was really helpful on top of that. :)

    :Theo

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