Looking for opinons on Base OS imaging

Can i ask why you have 2 images in the 1st place?

If you either compile a base OS in Casper Admin or use InstaDMG you will have a clean never booted OS that on 1st boot will create all network interfaces etc...

Regards,

Ben.

With everything prior to 10.7 I used InstaDMG to create a never booted OS
On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 10:31 AM, Nick King <nick.king at macys.com> wrote:
image that would run on either desktop or laptop computer. There was no
modifying of the image needed to run on either piece of hardware. Take
that OS image and drop it into Casper Admin, then create a configuration
that is your base.

With 10.7 I am moving away from creating OS images and simply leaving the
factory OS on the machine, and then using "thin imaging" to layer on the
applications I need. I guess if I need to re-image with 10.7, I'll follow
the guidelines JAMF comes up with to create the proper OS Image.

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

I have been using the "thin imaging" approach for the last year and it has worked very well for me. Since I have a depot that does imaging for all new equipment, I have made them a single modified quick add package that joins the out of the box machine to the JSS and kicks of a custom policy. The this imaging approach has helped deal with the inevitable surprise release of new hardware from Apple that is image impacting. It has allowed us to get these new machines out to the customers in a timely manner and give us time to build a new "baseOS" image for reimaging purposes. For reimaged machine, I am still maintaining an InstaDMG type base OS image layered with all the needed applications that match my auto build process.

Paul Austin

End User Computing, Platform Engineering

Wells Fargo | 1525 West W.T. Harris Blvd | Charlotte, NC 28262
MAC D1112-036
Tel 704 427-0903

Hi Ben,
We are currently moving to Casper Imaging from monolithic images on Netboot.
We can't use a never booted OS. I'm stripping out apps from our current build as a base,
and want to use it for both desktops and laptops.

As advised by Casper, I removed /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder and it boots
now to both a Mac Pro and MacBook Pro.

Thank You,
Nick King | Analyst II | Macy*s System & Technology
Apple Certified Support Professional ?

151 West 34th Street, 17th Floor | New York, NY 10001
(: 212.494.1884 (Service Desk)
(: 212.494.2253 (Direct Line)
*: nick.king at macys.com

Thanks, Paul.
But I need to use my current image as the base, only stripped of most apps.
It doesn't look like InstaDMG can take that already booted image and create what I need, only from OS installers.
Casper recommended that I removed /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder.
So far, it boots now to both a Mac Pro and MacBook Pro.

Thank You,
Nick King | Analyst II | Macy*s System & Technology
Apple Certified Support Professional ?

151 West 34th Street, 17th Floor | New York, NY 10001
(: 212.494.1884 (Service Desk)
(: 212.494.2253 (Direct Line)
*: nick.king at macys.com

Why can't you use a never booted OS? If you are stripping out apps from
On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 7:50 AM, Nick King <nick.king at macys.com> wrote:
the base OS image, you can do that with scripts running from Casper at
First Run. Same goes for any configuration that needs to happen to the
image before it is given to the user.

Just about anything you can do to a machine for configuration can be done
via scripts.

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

Not sure what scripts your talking about. To do what? Remove the apps?
I already removed the apps from the build, but there are several other things that happened to this build that I don't want to loose.

Yes, I could create separate installers or scripts to run at imaging, but I don't want to take the chance that I will miss something.
My priority is not to impact the business. There are so many scripts, permission changes, and other things we've done to this build going back to when we were on Tiger. For us, it's too much of a risk to use a never booted OS.

Thank You,
Nick King | Analyst II | Macy*s System & Technology
Apple Certified Support Professional ?

151 West 34th Street, 17th Floor | New York, NY 10001
(: 212.494.1884 (Service Desk)
(: 212.494.2253 (Direct Line)
*: nick.king at macys.com

Nick,

Are you suggesting that you always apply an upgrade to an already existing version of OS every time there is a new version of the OS? This would mean that you are also suggesting you don't know what changes have been made either? If not, then you must be making the same changes every time. So, Steve's recommendation of a never booted image with scripts to tailor, against making sure you edit a new operating system every upgrade is surely less dangerous and easier to correct or amend.

Sean