Keeping up With Apple

Welcome to the world of Apple! We've been dealing with this for years now and I honestly don't see an end in sight. Unfortunately Apple doesn't really let anyone know when a new Mac will suddenly require a new image to boot it, but a general safe guideline is that anytime they update processor types or do any significant change of video hardware it usually needs specific drivers to boot correctly. The retina MBs are a good example of that. New screens with new video hardware to drive them = new OS build to boot it.

The only tip I can suggest is to keep an eye out for posts on community boards like this one. Usually someone is "forced" to purchase and set up a brand new model immediately by the company CEO/CTO and finds out it will require a new OS build and (hopefully) posts it here or somewhere.

Also, if at all possible, consider looking at a thin imaging approach instead of a nuke and pave. It doesn't work for everyone, but if you can accommodate it in your environment, you'll save yourself the hassle of needing a new image every time Apple decides to update drivers or fork the OS build for one of their new models. Thin imaging can work well if you don't have a lot of software (or large pkgs) you need to deploy to machines or if your workplace doesn't require a very specific tight OS configuration for every Mac.

Thanks for the input, I was hoping I was just acting out of ignorance. I will just have to keep a closer eye on the forums for this kind of info.

Check out this excellent article regarding "Surviving Yearly OS X Releases" http://afp548.com/2012/05/30/surviving-yearly-os-x-releases/

I also recommend the thin-imaging approach if your environment allows for it.

Other than online forums like this one, my other suggestion is to build up a relationship with your Apple account manager if you have one.

Boone -

"Are there any good resources that track when new hardware would require a new build so I would know before we buy them what I need so i'm not playing catch up or any other tips?"

Yes, Apple keeps track. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159 "Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers"

Marnin

Ah, I had completely forgotten about that build page from Apple. Good one Marnin. That should provide some help in knowing before you get them whether they'll need a new OS build.

I would still recommend looking at a thin imaging approach though. We don't really use it here, yet, so I should talk, but we are slowly moving in that direction for a lot of the same reasons mentioned here.

I've set up thin imaging for new hardware at my site. It speeds up the imaging process - just add software, settings including the admin account and AD bind. Since we are netbooting to install software and settings, I need to make sure I have an image that will netboot the new hardware.

In our current environment we have a few "road blocks" preventing us from using the thin imaging workflow. Mainly surrounding change control and having to track so many details that may change without notice. Forunately not many companies are that inflexible, since thin imaging really is the way to go. Nuking 'n paving a fresh new Mac is just silly.

It's like meeting friends for drinks after you've already had dinner....as opposed to having dinner, meeting your friends, excusing yourself to go to the bathroom to throw up, and then having dinner again and then having drinks.

Er...something like that...

Don

It's been stated, but not in so many words: You need to run at least the build with which the machine initially shipped, and it's not a standard build. Take the Retina 13, which shipped with a custom build of 10.8.1. If you just update your base image to 10.8.1, or even 10.8.2, it won't boot the Retina 13. It's a later (custom, if you will) build of 10.8.1 with applicable updates. In this case, 10.8.2 was already far enough along that it didn't incorporate the Retina 13 (silos, man).

So, you have to build your base image on the Retina 13 if roll-up imaging isn't an option for you. Well, there's another option - don't support the new hardware until the next OS release. Typically, the following point release (in this case, 10.8.3) rolls it all up.

But, if you just want to do a one-off, surely you have your documentation from when you built your most recent base image - just do all of that work all over again on the Retina 13, and then apply a roll-up Configuration (your standard Configuration minus a base image).

For those who use thin-imaging: What do you do when a user needs their device 're-imaged' for one reason or another? Do you use the built in Recovery HD or do you eventually build a configuration with the latest OS that you can use to nuke that device?

@frozenarse In testing we found using Recovery HD was the least amount of work, albeit a bit slower than reimaging. But since the goal is to avoid having to manage many model-specific images, we were very happy to live with the few minutes it takes for Recovery HD to pull down the correct, model specific OS. No worries about model-specific anything... :)

Internet Recovery puts back the OS that shipped on your Mac, right? What about models that shipped with 10.7 (or GASP! 10.6)? You'll need that base image around.

And for those that do still have machines old enough to have shipped with DVDs, you can get the SRF number for the disc that shipped with your machine thru GSX if you have a GSX account. Just do a search for "SRF Parts" under the computer's GSX record. You'll want the last 4 digits of the part # for that disc. If you need to order the disc, you can from GSX. The SRF number is printed on the face of the disc on the left hand side towards the bottom.

I made DMG files of most of my SRF discs so I can drop them onto a USB drive when I have to do lease returns. Makes prepping a set of machines for lease return a snap.

A few minutes for Internet Recovery? In almost every environment I've seen, it takes hours for Internet Recovery to pull down and install OS X on a completely hosed Mac.

Nuke and pave still has it's uses, especially for speed for block level copying.

I guess it depends on your connection speed. We have a big pipe (most big multimedia companies do) so it doesn't take hours for us:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

The OS X download is about 4 GB large; the time required to download will vary, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

I've done it at home via ADSL and it takes many hours.

Tried it at work with our huge fat pipe, but the proxies interfere and its impossible to use Internet Recovery.

So now I stick the OS X installer onto a USB stick and hope its not needed for a new model with a special build. If we get such a machine, then may make a quick DMG of the HD before doing anything with it (assuming we have multiples and notice that right after the first is installed and before we touch the second).

I remember running a test on a 15" Retina MBP and finding it took about 20 min to pull down the 4GB installer, although I didn't time the complete install I can't imagine it took longer than an hour.

Internet Recovery isn't an option for us, since we have to track and document so many little details. If Apple changed something and we didn't catch it, it could cause major headaches for us later. We have a Depo trailer where we can image 20 Macs at a time, using NetBoot and Casper Imaging. Field techs carry Casper Imaging drives (w/o DP replication) so they can reimage from anywhere without any subnet restrictions.

If we were able to, we'd go with Thin Imaging for new Macs, and we'd continue to use NetBoot/CasperImaging for rebuilding problem Macs, and we'd use InternetRecovery/ThinImaging for those Macs that are released with unique builds. So when faced with "Forked By Apple Again" situations (read: Late 2012 models, until 10.8.3 is released) we wouldn't have to deal with making multiple model-specific images. I guess YMMV.