AutoCasperNBI - pre-release - testers needed

[bentoms]

Hi All,

Over the past few weeks I have been busy making some major changes to AutoCasperNBI, & really need some testers to make sure it's working as it should pre releasing it as version 1.2.

Changes below & URL to get the pre-release is: https://github.com/macmule/AutoCasperNBI/releases/

• Enhancement: Reduce DMG size further by using .sparseimage
• Enhancement: Check for updates before creds
• Enable Disk Utilities debug mode
• NetBoot Image Description does not get written to NBImageInfo.plist
• 10.9.x NBI created in 10.10.x won't boot
• Put Casper Imaging into Debug mode
• AutoCasperNBI reading MB as GB when calculating space
• Correct typo in TimeMachine ToolTip
• Change Add Packages/Certs to remember last location & not always change.
• "Cannot Read OS Version" from Composer captured OS.dmg's
• Add timeout for JSS URL
• Automatically Compact NetBoot Image
• Automatically Expand Image
• Update Icons for JSS 9.5
• Remove status blobs
• Detail everything in "Always Set" section
• Move to GitHub releases page & big button on
• With additional PKG's & Cert's don't revert window
• Some PKG's cannot be added
• Removed Setup Assistant.app to stop Diagnostics Prompt.
• Changed mount points to plist (thanks Frogor!!)
• Moved free space & total size calculations to bytes via plist of diskutil info, which should resolve a few issues.
• Amended size calculation as moved to sparse image requires 1/3 less space in some situations.
• Removed 1k of un-needed code
• Fixed behaviour when cancelling build.
• Renamed "Read-Only DMG" to "Restorable DMG" in GUI & logs, kept old key in plist for compatibility.
• Corrected OS Version variable, so should behave correctly.
• Replace inputLayoutID with XIB's Tag ID (Again, thanks Frogor)
• Sort out the bloody progress bar, proper like!
• JSS URL not written to plist in 1.1.6
• 1.1.6 Permissions incorrect on NBImage.plist post NetSUS DMG amendment
• Correct typo in proccess variables
• Add refresh button for JSS URL

Please log any issues at: https://github.com/macmule/AutoCasperNBI/issues or nag me at the #JAMFNation IRC

[Chris_Hafner]

Just to be clear, my working ones were captured using Composer. Not AutoDMG like the NBIs.

[RobertHammen]

What version of Casper Imaging did you use? 9.65 or 9.7? I'm heading down this path today with 10.10.3 and a new 10.10.3 NetBoot image created with the beta AutoCasperNBI...

[Chris_Hafner]

Well... I'm 99% sure I used 9.7. It's possible I accidentally used an old beta but I'm about to make another anyways!

[RobertHammen]

Try 9.65. Bet it works. Did for me.

[RobertHammen]

@amanda.wulff Has anyone reported an issue with imaging using Casper Imaging 9.7 to lay down an AutoDMG 1.53-created 10.10.3 image (single file that includes Recovery)? Seems that the OS partition gets laid down, but Recovery does not. This seems to be working fine with 10.10.3 and Casper Imaging 9.65...

[johnnasset]

Working great. I've built 4 nbi's so far, all boot nicely. More of a quibble but when the nbi is building the status window remains on top of every other application. Running on 10.10.3.

[bentoms]

@emilykausalik Kernel Extentsion issue on 10.10.1 has been fixed in next release

[bentoms]

@johnnasset It's the fun of the language I wrote it in, basically as it's not a multithreaded language.. if I make the progress bar hide.. you can't bring it to the front until the process ends & in the dock all you see is it not responding.

[bentoms]

AutoCasperNBI 1.1.8 Release Candidate: https://github.com/macmule/AutoCasperNBI/releases/tag/1.1.8

Last one before releasing to all if ok.

(Basically need to update documentation & naffing off on hols so it'll have to wait).

Please log issues on Github

[guidotti]

This is probably the wrong thread, but is anyone having issues with NBIs created with AutoCasperNBI 1.1.4, OS X 10.10.3 created using AutoDMG with iTunes slipstream? Specifically, my SMB (Windows 2008 R2) distpoint does not mount. I can mount it manually, but Casper Imaging refuses to. I am using 9.65 instead of 9.7 because of the block copy errors I reported in another thread.

Any guidance? I can move this if it does not belong here.

Thanks!

[bmarks]

That's an issue specific to Casper Imaging.app 9.65 not being able to mount SMB volumes. Downgrading the app to 9.63 should resolve your issue. I haven't upgraded to 9.7 yet, but that might address the issue too.

[guidotti]

Oh, geeze. I went back to 9.65 when 9.7 had some block copy issues.
See this thread:
https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=13977

I was unaware of 9.65 SMB Issues - d'oh!
Anything I am losing due to going back to 9.63?

[bentoms · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

I've just released AutoCasperNBI 1.2.0

Contains fixes from pre-releases 1.1.5 - 1.1.8, many thanks for those of you whom tested those for me.

• Completely disable Spotlight #48
• Correct Progress Bar logging #47
• Unsigned Kernel Extensions error when creating 10.9 NBI on 10.10 #46
• Add more buttons to success/error window #45
• Options greyed out when Imaging.app selected before OS.dmg #43
• Hidden content in success popup #42
• Replace inputLayoutID with XIB's Tag ID (Again, thanks Frogor) #31
• Sort out the bloody progress bar, proper like! #32
• JSS URL not written to plist in 1.1.6 #38
• 1.1.6 Permissions incorrect on NBImage.plist post NetSUS DMG amendment #39
• Correct typo in proccess variables #40
• Add refresh button for JSS URL #41
• Removed Setup Assistant.app to stop Diagnostics Prompt. #37
• Changed mount points to plist (thanks Frogor!!)
• Moved free space & total size calculations to bytes via plist of diskutil info, which should resolve a few issues.
• Amended size calculation as moved to sparse image requires 1/3 less space in some situations.
• Removed 1k of un-needed code #30
• Fixed behaviour when cancelling build. #36
• Renamed "Read-Only DMG" to "Restorable DMG" in GUI & logs, kept old key in plist for compatibility.
• Corrected OS Version variable, so should behave correctly.
• Enhancement: Reduce DMG size further by using .sparseimage #4
• Enhancement: Check for updates before creds #10
• Enable Disk Utilities debug mode #13
• NetBoot Image Description does not get written to NBImageInfo.plist #15
• 10.9.x NBI created in 10.10.x won't boot #16
• Put Casper Imaging into Debug mode #17
• AutoCasperNBI reading MB as GB when calculating space #18
• Correct typo in TimeMachine ToolTip #19
• Change Add Packages/Certs to remember last location & not always change. #20
• "Cannot Read OS Version" from Composer captured OS.dmg's #22
• Add timeout for JSS URL #23
• Automatically Compact NetBoot Image #24* Automatically Expand Image #25
• Update Icons for JSS 9.5 #26
• Remove status blobs #27
• Detail everything in "Always Set" section #28
• Move to GitHub releases page & big button on https://macmule.com/AutoCasperNBI #29
• With additional PKG's & Cert's don't revert window #33
• Some PKG's cannot be added #34

[matthew_johnson]

I have been using the NBI created with this tool for quite awhile.

Thanks for developing it!

The new Mac Pros will not boot from this NBI. They immediately get the Ghostbuster after selecting the boot image.

Is anyone else having this issue?

[bmarks]

Do you mean the new MacBook Pros? (I'm not aware of a new Mac Pro.) If so, you'll need to do one of two things. One, you can create a 2nd NetBoot image just for that model using a base OS disk image captured from that specific machine (via Composer, for example) or two, you can create a new NetBoot image with a base OS disk image of the current 10.10.4 beta, which is universal.

[Chris_Hafner]

You know... this thread hadn't gotten much love lately. Here's a test of our latest NBI created with AutoCasperNBI. Just a quick test of 45 units booted from a single NetBoot server in preparation for our mass student imaging next Sunday, and no... you can't see them all in the pic. (This is for those who think that 15 units NetBooted and Imaging are a lot...)

[tim_rees]

Hi Chris,

Can you share what the specifications of your Netboot server, and network equipment are to get this to work? I'm also interested in the size of your NBI, and if they are doing any work at the moment, or just booted to the NBI?

I'm only able to get 20ish clients to boot on my system at the moment, so I'm always on the lookout for how other tech's have done it better!!

Thanks,
Tim

[Chris_Hafner]

My .NBIs are anywhere between 9.13 and 9.88 Gigs. The test in the picture is in fact, imaging. Unfortunately this test proved that the particular setup I was using was rather slow. It took almost an hour for all 45 machines to finish a ~25 Gig image (Not pre-staged). We run far faster in production. Generally, 30-50 machines in <15min via pre-stage.

As for hardware: This test is using a new, rather standard MacPro with 1TB SSD. That's it for this test. Nothing special. I will bonding the ethernet ports for increased I/O as I continue testing this new unit. My normal production NetBoot server is a rather expensive MacPro (2010) with an Areca hardware RAID card and 3 stripped (RAID 0) 15k7 Cheetah SAS drives. It's fair to say it's fast. Quite capable of filling the 4GB pipe it's connected to in any event.

Network wise, my new NetBoot server is connected directly to our main fiber switch then through a fiber connection to two switches in the room you see. They're just laid behind the table. As my testing continues I will be bonding the ethernet ports as previously mentioned. My old NetBoot server (The other one mentioned above) is now the primary distribution point.

With that said, I've never had issues booting this type of volume of machines. I've been doing it for at least 5 years with multitudes of .NBIs. Some utilizing RAMDisk and some not. To me, it's all about the drive I/O (of the netboot server) and then Network I/O. Individual machines will affect this as well. In this example I am using some old school mid-2012 MacBook Pro's with 5400 RPM platter drives. SSDs make these things look like petrified slugs on the back of an overaged sloth. Additionally, in the past we have restricted Self-Service during high volume imaging to prevent the distribution points from being saturated. We do make the entire Adobe CC Suite available to our users @ ~20 Gigs and that could possibly affect things ;-)

I got needed form my company to meet their imaging requirements. Sometimes, folks don't have this option and so I've helped with some pretty low budget setups. Generally in these circumstances it has helped to get the NetBoot/Imaging stuff OFF of the primary network. So, you take your NetBoot server (and a distribution point if they aren't on the same machine), setup DHCP and DNS on some dedicated Gig+ switch somewhere and go nuts!

[Chris_Hafner]

We used AutoCasperNBI to create our production net boot images for our primary (high speed) student imaging this year with great results. Here's a small clicp of about 80 units being netbooted and imaged (timelapse). On the benches you'll see there are about 40 (19-21 second mark) at a time being netbooted and imaged. Next time I'll get a time lapse of all 365 being done (Again, somewhere between 40 and 80 at a time depending on setup). This is using only a single netboot server, more could be added of course.

YouTube link:
BA Student Imaging

If you watched it you will see that we could be doing far more, and more quickly, especially if we used Pre-Stage this time around.

[Look]

Just started using this.
Love your work @bentoms One issue I am seeing (although it doesn't actually break anything)...
Fontworker and fontd and few other associated processes are using a lot of CPU time when netbooted, it doesn't actually seem to slow anything down though.
We started with a standard never booted AutoDMG file from the 10.10.5 installer as the base if it's relevant.